Nearing the end

It has been a long time since my last post! For that, I am sorry. There has been a lot going on, so there is lots to tell you about!

Although the order of things is likely to be wrong in this message, there are certain events which warrant talking about. First of all, the situation with Prof. Yunus: Since my last message, the Court has upheld his dismissal, although he has still maintained a certain level of engagement with the institutions he created. It is tough to say exactly what the long-term impacts of this episode will have, but thankfully so far Bank operations have not been very disturbed. As I mentioned, there was some speculation that borrowers would be encouraged to default on their loans with Grameen Bank. To my knowledge, that hasn't been the case although there are maybe good reasons why; when the Bank was established in 1984, the Government invested an initial amount, giving it 25% ownership of Grameen Bank. It has since this time maintained 25% votership on the Board of Directors, although its financial ownership dropped to 3.25% since the Government never re-invested in Grameen Bank. Recently, the Government invested enough to bring its shares back up to 25%, despite the Bank's financial self-sufficiency. It is curious to consider why, after nearly thirty years, the Government has suddenly taken such an acute interest in the affairs of the Bank.

Secondly, I got the chance to visit the Liberation War Museum about a month ago with some of the other Interns. This was maybe my favorite touristy-type activity in Bangladesh, because it gave me the chance to learn a lot more about the history of this country. Although I think I did know the Independence war was fought against Pakistan, not Indian, I learned a lot more about the reasons why. Urdu is the language of Pakistan, but in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) the language is Bengali, otherwise called Bangla (Bangladesh means something along the lines of "the country of Bangla"... I'm sure that's not the translation but you get the idea). Additionally, all the financial assets of East Pakistan were controlled by the West Pakistani government, meaning while West Pakistan flourished East Pakistan became even more destitute. What I didn't know before visiting the Museum was the scope of the conflict; lasting only about nine months, millions of Bengalis died in what should be recognized as a genocide. Men, women and children, regardless of their direct involvement in the rebellion, were tortured and lined up to be shot in killing fields across the country. One such killing field was located in Mirpur, the district where I live in Dhaka city. All of the skulls and bones displayed at the Museum were collected from this killing field; needless to say it wasn't easy coming back here, imagining people lined up to die along what might now be Mirpur Avenue. I have since read a great book called "A Golden Age" by Tamima Anam, which is a fictional story about a mother's love and the war.

I got to read that book on my trip to the Sundarbans, which is the very trip I missed due to equatorial unrest in February. It was wonderful, relaxing, and the noise of the boat aside very peaceful. I was actually kind of glad not to see any Bengal tigers, as they are very dangerous. In the next few months, somewhere around 100-150 people will die collecting leaves from the forest to make the roofs of houses, or world-famous honey; in places like India and Nepal, such gatherers wear protective head gear to prevent deathly attacks from behind by their tigers, but in Bangladesh they wear no protection. We did go see a kind of sanctuary, or reserve, in one area of the Sundarbans where they were breeding crocodiles and also had Sundarban deer and monkeys for visitors to feed and look at. Unfortunately, even in this beautiful natural park there is still a lot of garbage; on the hiking trails, in the reserve, and in the water itself. The Sundarbans are currently in the running as one of the world's new seven wonders. I worry that if it becomes a large tourist attraction, the problem will only get worse and it could be destroyed. The government regulates the number of people a single boat can bring into the Sundarbans, but it wasn't clear if the number of boats were regulated; we saw probably 30 large boats in our three days there, so I can't help but wonder if that regulation does much at all. One evening, 15-20 boats were all anchored in the same bay. It was a great trip though, and a much-needed respite from the craziness of Dhaka. Which I largely still haven't quite adjusted to, although traffic jams do seem slightly less insane.

I am heading back to Canada in just four and a half days. Although sometimes the trip has seemed to crawl, looking back it's hard to believe I've been here a quarter of a year! Despite being a very challenging cultural adjustment, I have learned a lot and I know I will look back on this time positively. For that, I am thankful. I am in the last phases of my report, and hope to get some feedback on it as early as tomorrow (although with a few fact-checking things to do, it may not be until Monday).

Anyways, that's it for now! Love you all =)

Minutes turn to Months

My new guilty pleasure is Ke$ha's acoustic song, Goodbye. I think I've added about half the hits on the play count in the last few days... kind of embarrassing, but it's amazing and actually shows her talent compared to the dirty girl act she's got going on in all her other stuff.. although it does make for a good show! That is, it WOULD make for a good show if the venue had liquor and the crowd wasn't 90% made up of preteens and their unhappy parent chaperones. BUT, it was still a great night out with my bestie Ayla last summer, and Drangonette opened for her which was awesome!

Iiiin other news, I thought I would update everyone on my situation. I have finally booked a flight home, and will (hopefully... fingers crossed and wood-knocking etc!!) get back to Ottawa on April 8th at 6:30 pm. I'm hoping my boyfriend won't be in an exam, because I really want him to be at the airport when I get there. I am excited to get back to my life, but I hope that doesn't get in the way of making the best of my last three and a half weeks in the Desh.

You might remember that about a month ago I was supposed to go to the Sundarbans, which is where all the Bengal tigers live. It's actually in the running for the new Seven Wonders of the World, so if it's awesome I will make sure to let you know so you can vote to put Bangladesh on the tourist map! I am going with two American girls and a German girl, so a little smaller group but still a fun gang so it should be a great, relaxing weekend on a boat ("I'm on a boat," anyone? Anyone?).

Aside from that I am still busily working on my Grameen Trust report, which to date is a whopping 30 pages and growing quickly. I'm learning more in writing it than I did collecting all the information for it, so it's kind of an exciting process. Today I applied for a job at Canada Post's call center (I know, I know, but it pays over $20 an hour!) and I sent Ayla my cover letter for her to look over, and she said, "Did I ever tell you that you have a very pleasant writing style?" A great complement, and I hope the same is true for my report! I was to make it engaging and interesting, so hopefully my writing style allows me to do that. I'm realizing that I'm running out of time, so my productivity has to take of exponentially in the next week and a bit so I can get a draft in, and make changes before I fly the heck outta here!

It's been a great experience, I don't want to downplay that I've learned a lot and that it's been a phenomenal learning opportunity, but three months in a small hotel room in an overcrowded developing country is a long time. I hope that I will look back on this semester with nostalgia and happiness, but right now I'm ready to be home, back in my apartment with my kitten and in the same city as my social life. Speaking of which, I have created a Facebook event for a big homecoming party on April 9th, and I am very excited about the number of people who have already responded! It's awesome to know that I have so much support back home and lots of people to share my adventures with. I love you all!

A disgusting time to be in Bangladesh

I don't know how many of you have heard of the recent events at Grameen Bank, but regardless I will spell them out here.

In November 2010 a Norwegian documentary accused Yunus of redirecting aid funds to a few other Grameen companies.  Since then, the government of Bangladesh has been giving 100% effort to continue the defamation campaign started by this documentary, which has since been disproved.  Since my time here, Yunus has appeared in court for a defamation case filed against him in 2007 which accused him of adversely impacting minority opposition politicians from his comment that politics in Bangladesh are about the power to make money. The case hasn't progressed since 2007, but he was summoned in early 2011. 

The government has also taken up a case of adulteration of Grameen Danone through a food inspector, charging Yunus and the director of Danone among others. There is also a case against a business Yunus' family owns saying they benefited from their contracts with Grameen Bank, but in fact they are a provider of printed materials and none of Yunus' family have received dividends or profits. 

The most recent events are the most deplorable.  On March 2nd, Prof. Yunus received a letter from the Bangladesh Bank (which owns 3.7% of Grameen Bank) that he had been relieved of his position as Managing Director of Grameen Bank. They say that since he is over the retirement age of 60, he has to go.  He is 70... why ten years late? They also say that the central bank never approved his election as MD... in 1983 and again in 1990. According to a statement by the Finance Minister, the Board of Directors approved waiving the retirement age for Yunus; the BOD includes three members of the government, one who acts as Chairperson.

At this point, his lawyers are arguing that the ordinance contradicts at least three articles outlining his rights in the Constitution of Bangladesh. Prof. Yunus published a letter saying that he will go, but just wants time to set the affairs of the Bank in order and avoid the highly likely chaos his sudden departure would cause.  He wants an interim position for a specified period of time and then he will leave. 

The government has gone too far on this one. Obama and other American politicians, as well as the majority of the international community, stand behind Yunus. He has done amazing things for Bangladesh- which is said to be one of the reasons the Prime Minister hates him so.  He can get meetings with people she cannot; she lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize, which he won. He is critical of Bangladeshi politics, and shuns the Bangladesh elite whereas the politicians cater to them.  Regardless of the personal politics involved in what has become known as Hasina vs. Yunus, he has made incredible steps in the alleviation of poverty the world over, and his ideas will have a lasting legacy in Bangladesh and around the globe.  Being so unceremoniously removed from the company he built is a slap in the face to the honorable Prof. Yunus, but also to the Grameen Bank and the microfinance industry. Many much more valid critiques of his work should be recognized, considered, and utilized to improve the pursuit of poverty alleviation, but he himself has dedicated his life to microfinance.  He is a deserving Nobel Laureate, a contributing scholar to fields as diverse as economics, development, and human rights, and he deserves better than the reproach he is receiving in being kicked out of Grameen Bank. His request is not to operate indefinitely as Managing Director, it is now to be accorded a small shred of dignity in organizing an honorable departure from his life's work.

The verdict should come soon, I will amend this post accordingly when it is delivered.  What a sad time to be here, witnessing the disembowelment of such an amazing family of organizations. Not above reproach, but surely deserving of some level of respect.

EDIT------

So, it's happened. The court upheld the termination of Muhammad Yunus, supporting its grounds that the Central Bank never approved his 1999 unanimous appointment as Managing Director and that he is ten years over the retirement age. In a complete breach of judge neutrality the justice made comments supporting the position of the government, clearly confirming the obviousness of the political motivations of the attack.

Yesterday (Tuesday, March 8th) when the decision came I was working from the hotel, but I learned this morning that Grameen staff formed a human chain in front of Grameen Bank on Mirpur Ave in protest. I participated in the second human chain today. We all stood on the edge of the sidewalk, holding signs and banners in support of Yunus and opposing the actions against him. We stood quietly and peacefully for a half hour beginning at 1 pm, with armed soldiers facing us in the middle of the street. Apparently the government fears violent protests, but against whom in the street in the middle of the afternoon I am not quite sure.

The fear is that the government will now encourage borrowers not to pay back their loans. This, combined with the likelihood that non-borrowing depositors will withdraw their savings, has created fear of major economic crisis for the Bank which could eventually lead to its destruction. There is also the possibility that staff will quit in protest, but I hope that doesn't happen as it will harm no one but the Grameen institutions.

This is a country with a socially and politically conscious population; I have seen it firsthand in protests against the government such as the hartal a previous blog post described, and I am now experiencing it through Grameen activism and support of their leader.

It is going to be a very complex and challenging transition for Grameen, and I will keep you posted on major events and issues as they arise.

Accessibility in Dhaka

I decided to write about some of the health issues I am seeing here in the city. Apart from the fact that all residents hack and hork loogies like it's a religion, there are many things here that are very challenging to see.

Wheelchairs are nonexistent on the streets, I assume largely because the sidewalks are awful and people in wheelchairs wouldn't be able to get anywhere.  It's quite surprising the number of amputees in the city, all using crutches of varying quality- most of the time people rely on bamboo sticks which is actually quite impressive to see.  They put them behind their armpits and hold on to them quite far down.  This is especially interesting to see in the case of double leg amputees.  Old people use walking sticks and tend to walk on the roads. 

That said, in Mirpur where I live the sidewalks have greatly improved since my time here.  In the two weeks leading up to the Cricket World Cup, sidewalks on both sides of Mirpur Avenue were redone manually with layers of bricks covered in hand--mixed cement; having mixed cement with shovels in Mexico in 2009, I am amazed at the speed in which sidewalks materialized over the course of those two weeks.  Women and men laid the bricks, then women filled in the spaces with sand, dirt and garbage before the cement was laid down, patterned lengthwise in bars with long pieces of plywood.  It does stand to prove that this city has the capacity to improve its infrastructure, although without the Cricket World Cup it appears the motivation is nonexistent.  They also repainted all the black and white bars on the edges of the high sidewalks between Mirpur and Gulshan.  The city spent no one knows how much on decorations for the World Cup, in the form of Christmas lights draped over sidewalk fences and road lights, new "gardens" where the potted plants sit in formations around wooden cricketers, and lanterns. 

Back to health things, I have recently discovered what arsenic poisoning actually does.  While I assumed it would degrade internal systems, which I think it still might do, it disfigures the face and causes the skin to change color. In a country of varying shades of brown, the WHITE splotches are actually a very important social issue.  Young girls with arsenic poisoning are unmarryable, and old women tend to wander the streets alone, bringing a whole new dimension to the fashion of dreadlocks.  Beggars thus result not just from economic issues, but from social stigmas and gender issues.  Divorce is also an important precursor to economic instability.

One of the most obvious accessibility issues is the fact that no building here is one storey.  If you cannot get up the stairs, many restaurants and shops are inaccesible.  A few have intermittent access to escalators, while some others have elevators, but unless you are in a mega mall you generally have to hoof it.  Interestingly, I have yet to see a disabled employee at the Grameen building despite the elevators. Speaking of which, the other day I was in an elevator when the power went out and thankfully it didn't plummit from the 17th floor where we were, but it was still a relatively scary experience.  There was also a political murder last week, so life in the third world continues its excitement.

That's it for now, back to my research!

Love, Lesley (aka Lasli)

Listening to Ke$ha as I post... cultural immersion for the win...

I am feeling a lot better than I was a few days ago, probably because of my very quiet weekend in the hotel.  On Friday when I was supposed to be on a boat in the Sundarbans I went for a pedicure and a massage, so that wasn't the end of the world.  I found a great parlor in Gulshan when I was preparing for the wedding and I said I would go back, and I am very glad I did- the manager said she had missed me because of my smile and she is very sweet, she gave me the best masseuse at the salon who was a guy and was amaaazing.  I will for sure be going back, although probably not next week as they seem to think lol! My heels were very grateful for their treatment and I now have pretty neon pink toesies. 

Other than my sympathy day-at-the-spa, it's been very laid back with lots of sleep, some movies, and some time on my research project for Global Politics.  I got through most of my articles as identified for my proposal but I have found some other ones I will need, which I will be going through later.  Soon I hope to start getting organized to write! For Grameen Trust, I only have one more Build-Operate-Transfer project to research in detail, then I will fill the holes in a few other projects and get down to the writing business for that as well! I don't know if I will have much opportunity to research in detail some of the other stuff going on at GT but I would like to.  It all depends on how quickly I can get access to documents and people- especially Prof Latifee.  Tomorrow I will be busy finalizing my proposal to Carleton for the Students for Development program, and then that is one thing done, off my list, and out of my hands. I do hope that goes through, because I think Grameen is a great organization and has a lot to offer students who will work hard and get things done.  All in all, things are trucking (or rickshawing) along and soon it will be back to classes and work (if I can find a job...) in the Great White North. I am halfway through my placement; six weeks down, six to go.  Exciting times!

Big Disappointment

I have been sick to varying degrees for the past couple of weeks, and I was unable to go on my trip to the Sundarbans tonight. I'm quite upset about it as I have been looking forward to it for weeks.  But, I will go for a massage tomorrow, spend some serious time on my research projects, and get in touch with my Canadian contact about where I should go see a doctor.

That's it for now, early bedtime for me. 

xox

Holud and Wedding!!!!

Alright, I have postponed long enough in writing about my Bengali wedding experience! So here it is. 

Wednesday was Marco and Daniela's last day in Dhaka as they decided to go back to Italy a week early.  We went for lunch and spent a bit of time together, and then I had to hurry to get my hair and makeup done so I could go to the parlor near Sana's house to get my Sari put on. But, miracle of miracles, I will still there on time! To put on a Sari, you have to wear a long skirt and a little belly shirt blouse, and then the sarilady (lol) does her foldy-uppy thing and turns you around a few times, a few tucks here a few pins there and poof! You are Sari'd. Ten to fifteen minutes later. When I got to Sana's house all the family was running around with last-minute things, and the other bridesmaid equivalents all showed up looking lovely.  We all sat around with the bride, who said she felt like a color palette all done up in her outfit, makeup and bells and whistles.  She looked amazing, although not like herself! She really is so lovely, and is very kind.  The first day we met she hugged me, and the first thing we talked about was her asking me to participate in the holud.  All of the Bengalis I have met are really nice, and friendships form really quickly which is great. 

We went up to the rooftop (which looked incredible! Such a huge difference from the plain cement just a few days before) and took some pictures, practiced some of the dances on the stage, and mulled around.  Many of the guests had already arrived, but nothing gets started until the groom's family gets there.  The groom himself doesn't actually officially attend the holud, just as Sana didn't go to his, but Jamil did crash the party later on in the evening. All his family arrived together, done up beautifully although I didn't get any good pictures of them.  All the "bridesmaids" line up to greet them with candies, and I was responsible for the white beads which you give to all the men while the women get red ones.  They all come with gifts for the bride and their family, so after pictures had been taken of them at the stage we took them all downstairs. So we went to Sana's house with the gifts and got the bride, who comes in under a long scarf-type thing carried by her family and friends.  We brought her upstairs and then the festivities started!

Sana had made videos of her family, herself, the happy couple, and her friends.  We watched all the videos, and then the dancing started! After over a month of rehearsing, we finally took to the stage for the enjoyment of the large crowd. The girls are beautiful dancers.  Some songs were more serious, but some were really fun and goofy, like the one where the girls pulled up the groom's brother and danced around him and another where one of Sana's male friends was pretending to be Jamil, with his name written across his Punjabi as he danced.  It was so much fun! Everyone loved the dances, and at the end asked for more! Of course no encores were prepared, so the formalities started. 

I don't know all the details, but the groom's family all feeds the bride sweets and puts tumeric on her face for good luck.  It was a shame to see her beautiful makeup messed up with the bright yellow, but everyone had a blast smearing it all over her face!  I watched for a few minutes, but she was up there for probably close to an hour and a half so after a few minutes we all went to eat.  The meal was traditional Bengali food, a rice and chicken dish you eat with your hands and some sweet rice and other goodies.  There was also fresh coffee.  People started to leave at this point, maybe around 11:30 or midnight.  Everything was done by about 1 am, and Sana emerged from her bathroom all cleaned off, a totally different person! As a lot of her family was staying at their house, she and I and four other girls all slept in the parlor on a mat on the floor, with two on the couches.  The girls talked late into the night. Sana wasn't planning to sleep as she still had to prepare a lot of the gifts for Jamil's holud the next day, but she fell asleep.  Not that I can blame her! She was exhausted, and said she could sympathize with the brides on shows like Bridezilla.  When I woke up around 5 am, one of her best friends was up decorating candles with jewels.  The other girls went home in their PJs probably between 9 an 10, and Sana and I snoozed a bit longer.  Her family came into the parlor to look at all the gifts, so I got up and we all chatted about the differences between theirs and Western weddings and lifestyles, which was a great discussion but I think one I will keep private. She and I ate breakfast as she was decorating some gifts, and then she went into her room when her in-laws arrived with her beautiful wedding jewelery as they aren't supposed to see her until the wedding after the holud.  I kept trying to leave, to no avail! Her family loves company, and loves to feed their guests, so I had breakfast, goodies and lunch all before finally leaving at almost 1:30 pm. 

As I mentioned, the bride doesn't go to the groom's holud and vice versa, so I didn't end up going to Jamil's holud as I didn't really know anyone who was going.  The Friday of the wedding, I went to a spa near Sana's house, just down the street from the Australian Rosie's flat where I was planning to sleep that night. She hired a car for the evening, so I ended up just coming back to Mirpur but I got ready at her place.  I had an awesome massage and a facial, and also got my hair done which all cost me less than 30 bucks... with great service! Wouldn't it be nice if that kind of deal existed in Canada?

The wedding hall was done beautifully, and waiters served each table as guests sat down to eat so you didn't have to wait for the food at all.  There were hundreds of people and I only got to see Sana for a minute or two, and we didn't end up staying that long. I got to wear another Sari though, and it was nice to see all my new friends again. 

That's about it I think, I will add pictures to this post later on but my internet is being very slow. Love you all!

Lesley