Introduction: As part of our Grameen training we were required to interview a borrower and document their case beginning with their initial involvement with Grameen to where they are currently. Each case is unique and some involve significant obstacles–but the stories that the women told us revealed perserverence and a strong sense of hope despite the adversity and challenges they faced.

Case Study of Yasmine Begum*

The hut had a tin shed roof and a thick wooden bed with a sheet on top of it. Along the inner beam of the house sat a dozen or so aluminum vessels for cooking and collecting water. We sat along with eight children who smiled at us. We had been trying to track down Yasmine for several days. As is the case in village life, the community is fairly small and everyone knows everyone. We sent a someone from our field office to Yasmine’s village. Business had not been good was the message that kept coming back. Our field instructors were intent on us meeting Yasmine because they said she had a real story of hardship. We were told she was a survivor. After a few days, in the early afternoon we got the word that Yasmine was at her home and was willing to meet with us.

We walked down the dusty road, over the bridges, past the grass field where cows grazed next to young boys playing cricket. Past the square water lake where people bathed. One by one children came to sneek a peak at the interesting guests. Yasmine decided to conduct the interview in her neighbor’s house because her hut was too hot, she said. The little eyes stared at our every move.
I glanced out the barred window where my field classmate was sitting. There sat the lady of the house (Yasmine’s neighbor). Her glistening coconut oil stranded hair hung freely as an elderly woman picked the lice out of it.

Every few minutes this loud, hoarse voice came from this beautiful woman sitting on the chair. She was perturbed that so many children were in her house. I sat swapping the heat away with my folder of notes. My classmate listened intently until she noticed a teenage boy out side dangling a live chicken by one leg in an attempt to playfully get her attention. This was village life. Only when we slow down can we appreciate its subtleties. Mrs. Yasmine sat, calm as she recounted her life over the course of the past 15 years. She was only 32. This is her story.

I joined Grameen fifteen years ago after I got married. I have three sisters and one brother. I attended school up to fourth class. My father focused on work and did not emphasize education. My father was a farmer and owned 1.4 acres of land. He grew different vegetables: onion, garlic, beans, carrot, potato, and cauliflower. We also raised poultry and livestock. During my childhood I used to help my father by pouring water on the cultivated land. I would help take lunch to my father. At that time, there were no economic hardships in my father’s house. He would always buy us dresses at festivals and holidays.

Then we fell on hard times. My father was involved in a land dispute and our economic condition became low. My father married me when I was seventeen to a boy from a poor family who would take me. There was no dowry during my wedding as my husband did not own any land. But my father gave me a pair of earrings, [that was all he could afford]

When we got married my husband worked on a boat and earned 900 taka per month. (15 US$). At that time we had no house, no land, nothing. We weren’t well off, but we also weren’t too poor. I did not work, but took care of my in-laws children.

One of my aunties came and told me about Grameen Bank. When I joined Grameen, I had no assets. We rented a small house. After two months after marriage, my husband decided that he needed another job. He took a second job pulling a rickshaw. He had to rent the bicycle rickshaw and he earned 20-30 taka (50 cents per day).

My first loan was 1,500 taka (26 US$) for potato trading. I would buy potatoes and then sell them in the market or to other households. This was not successful.The second loan was 2,000 taka to purchase a new rickshaw for my husband. 1000 taka we took as credit from the rickshaw owner. It took us three months to pay this off.

My third loan as for 3000 taka (52 US$) for potato cultivation. This year the weather was bad and there was a heavy rainfall. I suffered a big loss on the potatoes, they were all rotten that season. I paid back the loan from the income earned by the rickshaw. The fourth loan was for 4000 (69 US$) taka also for growing potatoes. We did better that year. The income from this loan we used to build a house. It cost us 7000 taka (120 US$)

My fifth loan was 8000 taka (138 US$) to buy a cow. I milked the cow and sold the milk. But after 44 days, the cow died from an illness. I had great difficulty repaying my loans. I did not give up. I began to roll beedies (cigarettes). I earned 6 taka (a fraction of a cent) total. I was paid 2 taka for each 1000 cigarettes I rolled. After 52 weeks I repaid my fifth loan.

My sixth loan I used for the trading of saris, petticoats and blouses. It was for 10,000 taka (172 US$). However, I made a profit of 25,000 taka. Then my daughter fell ill with scabies and a severe skin infection. I had to spend 8000 taka on her treatment. I took her to Dhaka [city] because there was no clinic in my small village. Then I fell ill. I had arthritis and joint pain. I couldn’t work. I spent 17,000 (293 US$) taka for my treatment because I had to stay in the hospital for four months.

My seventh loan was for 11,000 taka for clothes trading. I made a net profit of 8,000 taka after full repayment of loans. With this I improved my house, we added cement pillars to hold the house in case of bad storms, we made a new kitchen, a fence and a sanitary latrine [toilet].

I kept taking loans. By the time my I received my 10th loan for sari trading I was nearly caught up on paying all my loans. I would go door to door selling saris to other village women.Then tragedy again happened. I gave birth in my village and my baby was delivered by a traditional birth attendant [as we had no proper midwife]. She used a pair of rusty forceps to deliver my first son. He died after only one month and four days. He died from tetanus. I spent another 18,000 taka on the hospital visit. Some of the money I owed back to the moneylender. It took me two years to repay that loan.
I finally took another loan and purchased a cow. After six months, I sold the cow because the cow’s milk was few. However, she had a calf which I kept.

Now we are doing okay. We will be with Grameen for a long time. I have good relation with my husband. He encourages me to stay with Grameen. I am the main source of income for my family. We have five hens, one calf, and we eat three meals a day. We have rice with vegetables and dhal in the morning and we eat meat at lunch and the same for dinner. I have two children. I feel like I am struggling but I won’t give up. I feel that profit and loss are like two brothers. One is profit, one is loss. You can’t have one without the other.

What keeps me going is that I know that if one year you have a bad crop, the next year it will be better. It is a cycle. So is life. As my children get bigger, the expenses also increase. I want to increase my income. I want to give education to my children. I want to give marriage to my daughter.