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 =)
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 =)
