January 7th: BRAC intro

BRAC Intro

"You cannot transplant development ideas when our countries are of different weather and soil"
"Go to the people, talk to the people, and go to work"

Well it was my first day at work today. We didn't get into our houses until really late last night, and when the car was picking us up (after forgetting us) the driver's phone was ringing and he gave it to me to answer. I don't speak Bangla, so this didn't make sense to me, and all the interns kind of looked at each other, but when I picked up his ringing traditional Nokia phone the person on the other end said "Allison? Is this Allison Burkholder?" and I felt like a spy. Answering "This is she" the other interns were surprised and laughing a little. Considering we never know what is going on with BRAC it was almost expected that a Bangla-speaking man would just call us in our mystery transport and have a note with my name on it waiting in the car, telling us to report to the office at 845am.

So we woke up early today and came to BRAC. Mrs. Chowdhury asked that I wake up at 6am for a 9am workday. How much sense does that make? I took a cold shower on account of the non-existent water heater and came out to the table for breakfast. She had the peanut butter. How the hell did she do that? I ate for like 10 minutes, then the servants brought a pot of tea, then an egg... I dont think they would have stopped if I didn't tell them. So anyway, I was done at 7am for my 845 car-ride. And I just sat with Mrs. Chowdhury reading the English-version paper while she read the Bangla one. I accidentally had Stephen Colbert's book, I am America (and so can you!) on my backpack. She picked it up and I looked like a teenager trying to defend herself when her parents found her stash. "Uh..my friend gave that boo-- its sarcasm. no one thinks that way. its a joke? ummm. here. lemme have that. [snatch. awkward sitting time. dart to hide it inside my suitcase]" After hanging out with her last night, this morning, and after work today, I have really come to love her company. Our conversations, forced as they may be, are interesting and quirky and strangely loving. She talks to me about missing her family, specifically her husband... and today she called me family. If I am worried about missing my family, I needn't worry. While I talk to her about things to get her mind of her husband she wants to talk to me about Bangladesh to make things easier.

Since moving in, she has shown me many people. She has three woman servants and two male ones and she's had a few houseguests as well. Her granddaughter is autistic and can't really speak so her servants take care of her, and her colleague from working in the special olympics came over today with her 36 year old son who has down syndrome. He spoke great English and worked for the artisan shop BRAC had founded in the city. Apparently they are great friends with the founder of BRAC, Mr. F.H. Abed--craZY! I am going to visit my new "best friend" at work one of these days.

In the middle of our paper reading, a man from her mosque came to read from the Quran "in honor of her husband's soul." I was sitting there and all of a sudden the sound of his voice and the calls of the stray dogs and goats outside made everything an out of body experience. I was trying to read the paper and look unaffected, but all the while it was like I was in a movie with a similar soundtrack to the one in typical movies based in the middle east.

Wow. First three hours and already insane. Well, then I went to work at BRAC. Mr. Rahman (Rahman-Bhai) gave us an all-day intro to the program. We saw representatives from all four core-programmes: microfinance (economic development), health, education, and human rights and legal services. My main interest is in microfinance, and I think I learned a lot today. Here are a few notes:

BRAC: Building Resources Across Communities, since 1971 post Liberation war

Microfinance
99% of borrowers pay back on time
Small loans in the form of training, funding, and capital
(When a borrower managed to successfully produce from the cow she had financed but was met with an inferior demand market, BRAC offices agreed to buy the milk from the woman and sell it in the urban setting/ use it in its own training centers and eateries. = BRAC goes out of its way to put borrowers in a profitable position. It wasn't likely that BRAC would see losses from the purchase (actually they could buy at subsidized rates), but the woman created income and stimulated her neighborhood economy)

BRAC-participating villagers meet in village organizations (VO) meetings every week. There, they bring money to meet weekly savings targets and to pay the required installments for any loans they may have out at the time. Villagers discuss other BRAC programs and how things are going for them, inquire about the skills they are being offered, and recite 18/10 promises (the pledge varies according to which level of savings they have achieved). In the event someone cannot pay back a loan, the village is expected to just do its best to pay it back and the rest is considered a loss for BRAC. This is something that blows my mind. How is there still a 99% payback rate when only social pressure dictates performance? I suppose Bangladeshi social pressure is pretty influential.

Anyway, I have to go to the field tomorrow already. There is a 5 hour drive to Mymensingh, a town north of Dhaka where we will see (in context) all the programs we have learned about. I;m pretty pumped.