YMCA lends support to Bangladesh cash lifeline

-11/11/06

Amina Begum, is a mother of t


YMCA lends support to Bangladesh cash lifeline

-11/11/06

Amina Begum, is a mother of three children who can barely read, and is not sure of her exact age. But life for this 30-something woman has undergone a transformation since 2001 – writes Anto Akkara for Ecumenical News International.

That was the year when Begum joined the Jamuna women’s development council at Mathura Para village in the Qutabpur district of northern Bangladesh.

“My husband respects me a lot now and consults me on every major decision,” Amina Begum told ENI.

That was after she earned more than 20,000 Bangladesh taka (300 US dollars) for the family over from the three cows she has sold after she took to breading cattle with a 4000 taka loan from the micro-credit program run by the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) chapter of Bogra – 250 kilometres north of Dhaka.

After repaying the loan in a year, Begum has stepped up the amounts she has borrowed and even helped finance her husband in his rice farming, enabling him to fend off greedy money lenders who can keep villagers locked into perpetual debt with exorbitant interest rates.

“I also have savings of 4500 taka in my account,” Begum said proudly, while her youngest child clung shyly to her torn sari.

Apart from earning for the family, Begum said her association with the YMCA’s micro-credit programme has boosted her self confidence and she can now write her name after taking literacy classes organized by the women’s group.

“We don’t allow the group members to put their thumb impression when they sign something,” said Swapon Soren, who coordinates the micro-credit programme for the Bogra YMCA. As a result, Soren noted, one of the first tasks for YMCA field workers is to teach each new member the alphabet and how to write their names.

Apart from development the programme starts in impoverished villages, it has also helped bring attitudinal changes to some who believe in antiquated practices backed by conservative people from the country’s Muslim community that accounts for 83 per cent of Bangladesh’s 147 million people.

“We never had the courage to object when we were married off at very young age. But, now, we are empowered to oppose child marriage at any cost,” said Sifali Akthar who belongs to another micro-credit group at neighbouring Dholar Kandi village and who was married at the age of 13.

Even if a rich groom working in Gulf countries comes along with an attractive proposal for a girl below 18, Akthar said the women’s groups would oppose such a marriage and would even boycott a family if it went ahead with it.

“This [micro-credit] is one of our major activities now,” Robert Robin Marandi, general secretary of the Bogra YMCA and a Baptist, told ENI.

The micro credit programme started in late 1990 and now covers 2,500 families – with 108 women’s village development councils and each group has a membership of between 20 and 30 people.

“We wanted to depart from the typical YMCA culture of running guest houses and organizing seminars,” said Marandi. The Bogra YMCA was founded in 1981 and also runs a school in Bogra as well as a tourist home which supports the group’s social welfare programmes.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches]


YMCA lends support to Bangladesh cash lifeline

-11/11/06

Amina Begum, is a mother of three children who can barely read, and is not sure of her exact age. But life for this 30-something woman has undergone a transformation since 2001 – writes Anto Akkara for Ecumenical News International.

That was the year when Begum joined the Jamuna women’s development council at Mathura Para village in the Qutabpur district of northern Bangladesh.

“My husband respects me a lot now and consults me on every major decision,” Amina Begum told ENI.

That was after she earned more than 20,000 Bangladesh taka (300 US dollars) for the family over from the three cows she has sold after she took to breading cattle with a 4000 taka loan from the micro-credit program run by the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) chapter of Bogra – 250 kilometres north of Dhaka.

After repaying the loan in a year, Begum has stepped up the amounts she has borrowed and even helped finance her husband in his rice farming, enabling him to fend off greedy money lenders who can keep villagers locked into perpetual debt with exorbitant interest rates.

“I also have savings of 4500 taka in my account,” Begum said proudly, while her youngest child clung shyly to her torn sari.

Apart from earning for the family, Begum said her association with the YMCA’s micro-credit programme has boosted her self confidence and she can now write her name after taking literacy classes organized by the women’s group.

“We don’t allow the group members to put their thumb impression when they sign something,” said Swapon Soren, who coordinates the micro-credit programme for the Bogra YMCA. As a result, Soren noted, one of the first tasks for YMCA field workers is to teach each new member the alphabet and how to write their names.

Apart from development the programme starts in impoverished villages, it has also helped bring attitudinal changes to some who believe in antiquated practices backed by conservative people from the country’s Muslim community that accounts for 83 per cent of Bangladesh’s 147 million people.

“We never had the courage to object when we were married off at very young age. But, now, we are empowered to oppose child marriage at any cost,” said Sifali Akthar who belongs to another micro-credit group at neighbouring Dholar Kandi village and who was married at the age of 13.

Even if a rich groom working in Gulf countries comes along with an attractive proposal for a girl below 18, Akthar said the women’s groups would oppose such a marriage and would even boycott a family if it went ahead with it.

“This [micro-credit] is one of our major activities now,” Robert Robin Marandi, general secretary of the Bogra YMCA and a Baptist, told ENI.

The micro credit programme started in late 1990 and now covers 2,500 families – with 108 women’s village development councils and each group has a membership of between 20 and 30 people.

“We wanted to depart from the typical YMCA culture of running guest houses and organizing seminars,” said Marandi. The Bogra YMCA was founded in 1981 and also runs a school in Bogra as well as a tourist home which supports the group’s social welfare programmes.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches]