wfn.org | LUTHERANS, SAVINGS AND SILK MEAN DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 30, 2000

LUTHERANS, SAVINGS AND SILK MEAN DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH
00-FE-05-SP

     DUMKI, BANGLEDESH (ELCA) -- On a typical day at a medical clinic
in southern Bangladesh, the waiting area is already filled by early
morning.  Mothers with babies or young children fill the room.  The
children noisily play with each other.  The women, all of whom are
draped in colorful saris, sit on benches waiting to be seen by one of
the clinic's doctors.
     The setting is in Dumki, where Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh
(LHCB) operates a hospital and medical clinic.   Residents from the
surrounding area come for medical exams at the outpatient clinic, and
the hospital is equipped to deliver babies and perform surgery.  LHCB's
mission is to improve the quality of life for Bengalis, especially women
in rural areas.
     One of the women, Monowora, walked to the clinic with her husband,
Shorap, from their village of Muradia, four miles away.  They brought
their 4-month-old son, Abraham, to the clinic because he was sick.
     Like many Bengalis, Shorap grows enough rice to feed his family
and sometimes a small amount to sell.   Many families in rural areas
have no access to medical care.  Shorap and Monowora said they heard
about LHCB a long time ago and came for help.
     The staff of LHCB is a mixture of Muslims, Hindus and a few
Christians.  They treat patients as diverse as they are.
     Abraham will receive treatment, but his five-year-old sister,
Asthma, will not.  Although she is also feeling ill, Asthma will not
receive medical attention because girls and women in Bangladesh are not
given the same social status and attention as males.  Abraham's parents
wanted to be sure he remains healthy "for the future of the family
name."
     While Monowora and the other patients wait to see a doctor, a
video is played in one corner of the waiting room.  It shows a woman
demonstrating, in the patients' native Bengali language, how to wash
hands in a proper and hygienic way.  This is one form of education LHCB
offers residents of the rural areas.  LHCB also brings education
directly to people.
     LHCB is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's
(ELCA) long-standing presence in Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim
country.  The ELCA Division for Global Mission (DGM), with financial
support from the ELCA World Hunger Program, works in Bangladesh through
LHCB and Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS).  LHCB and RDRS strive to
improve family incomes, food resources and social conditions.  Both
emphasize women's empowerment to help achieve these goals.
     Many times women are effective catalysts for change and
improvement, said the Rev. John L. Halvorson, coordinator of the ELCA
World Hunger Program, Chicago.  They become economic players, helping
them to improve the quality of life for their families and communities.

CHALLENGES IN BANGLADESH
     More than 35 percent of Bangladesh's population lives below the
country's poverty line, and 29 percent lives on less than $1 a day,
according to The World Bank's 1999 World Development Indicators.
     Bangladesh is located in eastern India and is surrounded on nearly
all sides by India.  It is a flat country, slightly smaller than
Wisconsin.  Three river systems, including the Ganges, flow south
through the country into the Bay of Bengal.  This geography and a
monsoon season that lasts from June to October cause annual floods that
often result in deaths and damaged crops.   The country is home to
nearly 127 million people, and the population continues to grow.
Availability of food is a constant concern.
     Religion is a dominant part of Bangladesh's culture.  About 88
percent of the people are Muslim and 11 percent are Hindu.   Christians
make up less than one-half of 1 percent of the population.

SAVINGS GROUPS OFFER OPPORTUNITIES
     Besides its health-care program at the Dumki clinic, LHCB operates
"savings groups" in the villages around Dumki.  These savings groups
give women a means to save their individual incomes and increase their
savings power by pooling with the savings of others.   It allows
participants to borrow from the savings pool to start businesses.
     LHCB employs 20 women as "group organizers" in villages where
savings groups exist.  Wearing a teal-colored sari as a "uniform," each
group organizer visits two or three groups a week to collect the savings
from women and keep the books.  Every week women contribute five taka,
the equivalent of 10 or 12 cents.   When enough savings is amassed,
women in the group may borrow funds to buy a cow or goat to produce milk
to sell, for example.
     In the village of Bapasham Angaria, Hawa Bagum worked an old,
foot-powered sewing machine that her village's savings group purchased.
      "I am using money I earn from the sewing machine for our family
and for my children's education," she said, her hands busy pushing a
dark piece of cloth through the machine.  "The rest of the money I'm now
making I put back into the savings group."
     Too busy to look up from her work, Bagum continued, "I am happy
that my children are getting an education."
     Women must repay the loans they receive from their savings group.
The rate of repayment is high, mainly because of the cooperative nature
of the savings groups.  Participants view repayment of the loans as a
group expectation.  If one woman falls behind on her payments, other
group members will often help her.
     Mahamuda Begum is a group organizer.  A Muslim, she has found
herself working for LHCB with Muslim women and women of other faiths.
She encourages them through education to take on a stronger economic and
social roles.
     Sitting on a straw mat on the ground before the 20-some group
members in South Muradia, an all-Hindu village, Begum gives instruction
on proper hand washing after collecting  money for their savings account
and carefully recording it.
     "I pray every morning for this work with the group organizers.  I
beg God for strength to help me do this job.  I pray that I can do a
good job and help people in the villages," said Begum.
     Begum recalled how she came to LHCB.  "My desire was to become a
medical doctor," she said.  "But suddenly my father died.  When this
happens here in Bangladesh with a middle-income family, dreams of
becoming a doctor are not possible.  After completing primary education,
my family wanted me to get married.  I got married.  But I still had
this dream to help people.  Suddenly, I found Lutheran Health Care
Bangladesh.  I've come to know that Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh is a
service-oriented organization.  When I learned that they were going to
appoint some group organizers, I applied and got this job."
     On Tuesdays Begum and another group organizer board one of LHCB's
speed boats for a half-hour trip to Amirabad, a remote village on a
tributary of the main river near Dumki.  At these "mobile clinic" sites,
group organizers bring medical care to villages and work with residents
on disease prevention, sanitation and improving nutrition.  Residents
have small kitchen gardens and are encouraged to eat more vegetables to
improve their health.
     On one Tuesday in May, 60 patients visited the mobile clinic.  One
villager, Muhammed Abbas, brought a friend to the clinic for treatment
of a cyst.   He said the doctor gave his friend some medicine, and now
he is well.  "Certainly I would come," Abbas said when asked if he would
visit the clinic himself if he were sick.
     Ed and Karen Scott are ELCA missionaries supported by the World
Hunger Program.  They have served on behalf of the Lutheran church in
Bangladesh since 1973.  They have directed LHCB since its beginning in
1995.  The Scotts' ties to their Minnesota home are still strong, since
LHCB also receives major financial support from a consortium of 23
Minneapolis-area congregations.
     The Scotts explained that the savings groups have evolved into a
forum for the education of women in rural villages.  Besides being
empowered by saving money, women are taught other skills at their weekly
meetings.  Group organizers give lessons on hygiene practices, care for
babies and literacy.
     Karen Scott recalled one visit with a woman in a rural village.
She asked the woman how being in an LHCB savings group had changed her
life, and what her hopes and dreams were for her role in the savings
group.
     "She stood up and, rather than sitting with her head covered and
looking away from the men, was able to directly face them and say, 'In
our group we have stocked this fish pond, and now what is going to stop
us? We are going to do two or three or four -- maybe even five -- fish
ponds.  You know, we are talking even about starting our own sawmill.'"
     "I just couldn't believe it," Karen said.  "It was amazing.  These
women two or three years ago wouldn't have had this as a dream or a
hope."  Women in this group, according to Karen, received support from
the men of their village.
     "That's bringing in not just the women," she said.  "We don't want
to focus just on  women.  That is bringing in the family.  And that is
my hope and dream."

RANGPUR DINAJPUR RURAL SERVICE OFFERS HOLISTIC APPROACH
     Like LHCB, RDRS focuses on development work and provides disaster
relief when necessary, such as in 1998, when Bangladesh experienced its
worst flooding in 100 years.
     According to Hasna Hena, project coordinator, RDRS concentrates on
keeping people out of poverty.
     "The development approach of RDRS is a holistic approach," Hena
said.  "Our aim is the rural poor.  To reach this goal, RDRS is
providing necessary skills, understanding, confidence, institutions and
serves the poor.  [It builds the] social and economic infrastructures so
that they can tackle their own problems."
     RDRS has 418,962 direct beneficiaries, and its indirect
beneficiaries number about 40 percent of the region's population of 6.2
million people.  It employs more than 1,500 staff and 2,500 volunteers.
RDRS is the largest nongovernmental organization in the region.
     Because of its size and influence, RDRS was the flagship
development program of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a Geneva,
Switzerland-based organization of 141 Lutheran churches around the
world, that, among other functions, carries out relief and development
work in 22 countries.
     Until 1998 Bangladesh was one of the countries where LWF operated.
In that year, RDRS was nationalized and control was turned over to many
of the Bengalis who had risen through its ranks over the years.  RDRS is
still dependent on funding from LWF.  The ELCA World Hunger Appeal
provides RDRS financial support because of the church's membership in
LWF.  The ELCA is considered a core program partner along with several
northern European Lutheran churches.

THE INCREDIBLE HUNGER-FIGHTING SILK WORM
     RDRS's agriculture-based programs include fish farming, raising
ducks and teaching farmers to raise efficient, diverse crops.  One 
long-standing project of RDRS is sericulture or silk production.
     RDRS has been operating a sericulture program since 1977.  Its
purpose is to provide women with income from a source other than the
agriculture sector of Bangladesh's economy.
     The sericulture project centers on a small, white worm about an
inch long.  Women such as Fulfuli Rani work in nearly all stages of silk
production, beginning with hatching the worms from tiny eggs to weaving
fabric by hand.
     The process begins in rural villages, where many women work
together to cultivate mulberry trees.  Worms are fed the mulberry leaves
and are raised to a cocoon stage.  The cocoons the worms weave around
themselves are made of a single strand of silk 3,000 feet long, the
equivalent length of 10 football fields.
     Women separate the thread from the cocoon.  Both their homes and
small factory settings are used for this process.  The cocoons are
softened by boiling, and several strands are brought together and wound
onto looms, ready for weaving.
     On this day, Saleha, a young woman in a bold purple and green
sari, crouched on the floor with several other women in a large room in
front of huge piles of naturally golden cocoons.
     "I have been working with silk worms for three years," she said.
"Previously I worked only in the house as a homemaker.  Now I have a
job, and this has changed my life."
     Saleha said all of her four children are reading.  "My hope for my
children is that they will complete their educations and some day find
jobs."
     In 1999, RDRS employed nearly 3,000 women in all stages of silk
production.  RDRS began training women in 1997 in the final weaving
stage, and soon the organization will start helping women market and
sell their product.
     Shati, another worker in a small factory, said the 30 to 35 taka
that she earns a day makes a big difference in her family's income.
"With the money I have made working with RDRS, I have been able to
purchase goats, chickens and ducks."
     "My husband is a rickshaw puller.  He has been able to purchase
his own rickshaw.  We have also been able to purchase a small piece of
land for a homestead.  One day we would like to build a house on this
land.  Right now, we are living on another person's land."
     Women display their product proudly   yards of smooth silk in a
variety of colors and patterns.  Nothing in the process is wasted.
Women are able to spin even the inferior thread into shirts and other
fabric.  Last year, women produced 1,874 pounds of silk yarn and 9,449
yards of raw fabric.
     Najma works with the weaving process.  "Now that I work here at
RDRS, the additional income has really helped me to make a better life,"
she said.  "Today I am able to make a contribution to my family because
now I can earn some money from here.  With the money I am able to buy
cloth, food and other things."
     RDRS is helping Najma and other women find roles in the workplace,
a place they've never been before.  They are earning money and
contributing to their family's income.  Najma's husband, Mohammed, works
with her and agreed that there are benefits to the silk production
project.
     "I am happy because both my wife and I are earning money.  After
selling the cloth, I can make more quality cloth.  And, I can earn more
money than before.  This will bring a positive change in our family's
life."

[*Stephen Padre is the associate director for Internal Church
Communication for the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal.   He
traveled to Bangladesh this spring.]

     News photos to accompany this story are available on the Web at
www.elca.org/co/news/images.bangladesh.html
--------------------

To support LHCB or RDRS, gifts may be given to the World Hunger Appeal,
P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.

The Fall 2000 MOSAIC, the video magazine of the ELCA, will feature LHCB
and RDRS.  Costs and subscription information can be obtained by calling
800-638-3522, ext. 6009, or on the Web at
www.elca.org/co/mosaic/current.html.  The fall issue is available
September 1.

A new annual ELCA World Hunger project for Sunday schools will be
available in September.  It will feature a different country each school
year, beginning with Bangladesh in 2000-2001.  Basic printed materials
will be included in the Fall 2000 Hunger Resources Packet, which will be
mailed to all ELCA congregations in September.  A Web site and
children's version of the Fall 2000 MOSAIC will also be available.  For
more information, call 800/638-3522, ext. 2764.

                          -- 30 --

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html