Micro-credit Empowers the Poor in Bangladesh

The following eight blogs were written during and after a visit to Bangladesh between July 31 and August 4, 2008. My purpose was to spend some time with the Blind Education Rehabilitation Organization (BERDO) in Dhaka, a partner of The Advocacy Project. BERDO has developed an important and innovative model for lending small loans to [...]

The Wisdom of the Poor

In Banari Para we are meeting individuals who were hit by the typhoon which swept in at the end of last year. Many have had trouble with repayments and BERDO has extended their grace period for repayments until the end of this year’s harvest.
As noted above, The Advocacy Project launched a modest appeal for BERDO’s [...]

A Question of Health

Today we drive to the district of Banari Para, where BERDO is lending about 300,000 taka this year to 387 group members. Seventy-four were severely affected by the typhoon and they included several families with disability. The Danish Embassy in Dhaka has given BERDO 100,000 taka to help run the program. As noted in a [...]

The Investors

We’ve decided to offer some of BERDO’s beneficiaries the chance to do a modest video cameo. Several AP Peace Fellows are trying to get video profiles this summer, and we hope to build up a visual portrait for partner organizations like BERDO. I’m not sure how we will deal with editing and translation, but we’re [...]

Out of the Shadows

The village of Jagua lies off the main road, through a grove of bamboo cane, down a small brick path flanked by water on either side. The current is fast-moving on the right, and eddying on the left. The water leaves no space for anything else, from personal hygiene to small agriculture. Everything happens in [...]

BERDO’s Micro-credit Model

Our boat arrives at the port of Barisal with a thud, in the pouring rain. Small children – waste-pickers – scurry in and out of cabins collecting empty bottles, which are piled up on the jetty for recycling. We stumble off the boat, bleary-eyed and short of sleep.

It’s a short car-ride to the BERDO [...]

“I Remember the Colours”

 
It takes an hour and 30 minutes to reach the port, and the journey is wearing enough just sitting in an air-conditioned car. Goodness knows what it’s like for the beggars, who press their faces to the window when the car lurches to a halt. No one offers them money. Many of the beggars are [...]

Arrival in Bangladesh

July 31, 2008: I am visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of Saidul Huq, who runs the Blind Education Rehabilitation Organization (BERDO) in Dhaka. BERDO has been a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP) for two years.
 
BERDO has a head office in Dkaha, the capital, and three sub-offices in the districts of Tongi, Barisal and Banara [...]