interview taken by: Saiful Islam and Eakub date: 16 November 2000

Transcription

1 Category: poor Initial wealth ranking: upper poor Code: GRP04 IDPM FINANCIAL DIARIES: SUMMARIES Bangladesh: Rural interview taken by: Saiful Islam and Eakub date: 16 November 2000 Site: Grampur Rastapur Principal respondent(s): Mr K and Mrs J K has a hut built on land given by his parents in law. He and J, elderly and poorly educated, have their younger son and daughter-in-law with them when we meet them but soon the young couple set up an independent kitchen (though they stay under the same roof). In poor health, K and J milk their one cow, feeding it on grass cut on their tiny patch of land. At first all seems well but then things get tough: they are ill and they have to choose between eating and paying their Grameen Bank dues. He puts his land (a tenth of an acre) under irrigated rice, but the cow too is ill and needs expensive treatment. It gives less and less milk as time goes by, and stops altogether in June (it is in calf). The couple are reduced to eating wheat flour. K is too ill to day labour. A daughter and a daughter-in-law are also in trouble and K has to try to help them - this in part explains why they give out more interest-free loans than they take. At the worst, in mid 2000, they more or less give up their independence and take their meals with one of their sons, who drives a rickshaw van. They begin to take howlats again (as well as give them), in order to sew the main rice crop. Finally the cow gives birth to a calf which is sold to their son in law, but the proceeds are used up settling debts. We say goodbye to them in September 2000 hoping that the cow will now again give good milk. J has tried Grameen Bank, Caritas and World Vision, but at present has a loan from Grameen only, and some savings in Grameen and WV. J also tries to save secretly at home, saying if people knew I had money here they d ask for loans. 1. Initial household profile: Name Relationship to household head Sex Age Highest school grade Main livelihood activity/ies (or schooling) K self m 62 none milking one cow rice cultivation J wife f 55 2 home housework Belal younger son m 18 5 rickshaw van driver Marium daughter-in-law (Belal s wife) f 15 5 home housework Other economic activities occasional day labour Note: K and J are the parents of B (GRP05). B and her husband live in the same building but eat separately and constitute a separate household. 2. Significant changes to household profile during research year: in November 1999 younger son Belal and his wife start eating separately (though they continue to live under the same roof) (altogether K and J had 6 children) 3. Residence: K born elsewhere (Jatabari), living here on in-law s land for 25 years or more 4. Tenure: own homestead land donated by in-laws, own house of mud walls and tin sheet roof in good condition 5. Other identities: Muslim 6. Public entitlements: none 7. Food habits: eat rice twice daily (never 3 times); in hardship they are reduced to eating wheat flour; later, have to accept meals from a son 8. Significant assets:

2 Asset type Description Value (if known or estimated) Homestead Land 0.15 acre 30,000 taka Farm land (state if irrigated) 0.35 acre 70,000 taka; used to rear a cow; later, for irrigated rice Home (equipment, furnishings etc) 1 bed; 1 table 800 taka Machinery hand tube-well 1,500 taka Livestock one milk cow; 5 chickens Jewellery etc 1 nose stud 100 taka Other (state) - 10,450 taka: later cow is in calf and stops producing 9. Significant changes to assets during research year: cow became ill, produced less milk: finally it produced a calf, which they sold for 2,200 taka. 10. Income pattern: Household member Income source Frequency Scale Comments both milk cow daily when in production 50 taka a day K rice farming small J sales of eggs, chickens etc 11. Expenditure pattern: Expenditure item food housing clothing education - health farming livestock other / occasional Scale taka a day repairs by own labour 535 taka total in year: e.g. 70 taka sari in February 200 taka total in year 300 to plant rice Feb 100 healthcare costs March gifts to daughter s house 200 taka from time to time (but increasingly as things get harder) Comments 12. Financial services/devices used during research year: Type MFI savings Number of instances 3 (one no longer current) Value(s) deposits of 5 and 10 a week; balances of 650 and 2,000 MFI loans 1 10,000 disbursed loan small Comments

3 Saving at home 1 multiple up to 400 taka Interest free loans taken Interest free loans given Goods bought on credit 7 40 to to 1,000 taka mostly J to family 1 small shop credit Goods sold on credit 1 calf sold for 2,200 taka: 1,000 taken in cash, rest to be paid after harvest In-kind loans given interest-free kg rice J to daughter 13. Cheating: they are still waiting for a 1988 howlat of 1,000 taka to be repaid: the borrower still says he ll pay, though 14. Comments on financial services and devices: we are too poor to take more than one MFI loan at a time (J); she stopped attending (and paying) at Grameen for a while because the staff were rude to me and to my daughter (J) 15. Recording financial service transactions: because transacting is an important and troublesome thing, I am sure to remember it, says J 16. This year compared to previous years: bad, because of loss of son s support 17. Notable events, opinions, behaviour: Events: their cow gradually stops producing milk, causing great hardship: finally it produces a calf. Opinions: in our case, if the cow is ill, then we starve (J) Behaviour: much of J s day-to-day savings is driven by the need to make MFI payments, to help her daughters, and to put money by for emergencies. Grameen staff are at first willing to let J pay late, recognising her difficulties when she s ill or the cow is not producing. Later, they get tougher on her. J doesn t put pressure on her family to repay howlats : this is because they are our own people they will pay in time. Such howlats are often left unpaid for long periods, or simply unpaid altogether. When she gets the money (on the sale of the calf) J pays off an interest free loan of 400 taka more than four years old. Transaction summary for K OF RASTAPUR (04) MFI services: MFI savings: A: World Vision. Wife J is a WV member having joined in June She says she saves there just for security in times of emergency, believing she can withdraw quickly she has no loan and says managing another loan (i.e. as well as Grameen) would be very difficult. Her balance was 650 taka in Sep 99. She deposits 20 taka in early Oct 99; 20 in late Oct; 1 only in early Nov; 10 late Nov; 20 early Dec; 20 late Dec; 20 early Jan from egg sales; 20 late Jan; 20 early Feb; 20 late Feb; 20 early Mar; 20 late Mar; 20 late Apr; 20 early May; 20 late May, from milk sales; 20 early Jun from hidden savings; 20 late Jun from egg sales; 20 early Jul; 20 late Jul; 20 early Aug; 20 late Aug from sale of hens; 20 in early Sep again by selling a hen; 20 in late Sep from egg sales.

4 B: Grameen Bank. Wife J has been a GB member since Her savings balance may have been 2,000 taka in Sep 99 (reported early Dec). She deposits 15 taka in early Oct 99; 10 in late Oct; 10 early Nov; 10 late Nov; zero early Dec; 10 late Dec; 5 early Jan; 10 late Jan; 10 early Feb; 10 late Feb; 10 early Mar; 5 late Mar; 10 early Apr; 10 late Apr; zero early May; 10 late May; nothing early nor in late Jun 9 (no milk), nor in July at all, nor in Aug nor in the whole of September. C: Caritas. J was a Caritas member from June to November But she found that the workers don t visit or look after the Samity properly and the cashier is also unreliable. MFI loans: A: Grameen Bank: Wife J is a member. Her most recent loan was 10,000 taka taken Feb She stopped making repayment for about a year because, she says, Grameen workers behaved rudely to her daughter (also a member). She repays 240 taka in early Oct 99, from milk sales; 240 in late Oct; 240 early Nov; 240 late Nov from milk sales as is often the case; 240 late Dec; 120 early Jan (hardship J makes an arrangement with the Grameen worker who allows her to miss one payment to buy paddy to eat); 240 late Jan; 240 early Feb; 240 late Feb; 240 early Mar; 120 late Mar (missing another week); 240 early Apr; 240 late Apr; zero early May (hardship so she misses two payments); 40 late May (GB worker didn t want to accept this reduced repayment but J told her that was all there was from milk sales); nothing in early nor in late Jun 9 (no milk), nor in July at all: the worker remonstrates; nothing in August nor in the whole of September. Private savings: Saving at home: A: Wife J stores cash at home, thus in Oct 99 she saves 80 taka from milk sales against the next week s Grameen loan repayment. She saves secretly because people will ask her for a loan or howlat if they know she has money. She doesn t like to use Money Guards or lend out because it s not reliable (see howlat-out B below). Many years ago maybe 30 when her husband was a rickshaw driver, he fixed a hollow bamboo in the ground and stored cash in it. But when they broke it to repair his rickshaw all but a few notes had rotted away. In February 2000 she keeps 300 taka in a bundle of cloths then spends it on paddy to process and eat. In hard times in early Mar 2000 she carefully locks away sums as small as 10 taka. In late May she tells us about at least 400 taka she had secretly saved up and then gave as a howlat to her daughter. Reciprocal transactions: Howlats (interest free loans) taken: A: In early Oct wife J borrows 100 taka from a rich villager (without trouble) to help pay for her son s marriage, and repays it during the period B: In early Oct wife J also takes 150 from her elder son s wife also for her younger son s marriage, and repays in the period C: early Dec J borrows 400 from the World Vision cashier-member to buy paddy, the price being low then. It wasn t difficult to get this howlat. Repaid from milk sales next period. D: late July 2000 she borrows 40 taka from her daughter B in order to plough their land: repaid late Aug. E: early Aug she borrows 80 taka from the same daughter in order to be able to plant seedlings: repaid late Aug. F: late Aug J borrows 100 taka from a neighbouring woman in order to buy basic goods. Paid after sale of calf in Sep. G: after the sale of the calf in Sep, we hear of an old howlat of 500 taka dating back four years

5 she pays this off with the proceeds from the calf sale. Howlats (interest free loans) given: A: J reports a past experience of lending 1,000 to her second son in law who paid late and in small instalments, very annoying for her as this money was for her to pay Grameen B: Late Oct J lends 150 taka to her daughter: we don t know when or if it was repaid. C: early Nov another 30 taka to her daughter, repaid in a few days. D: in early Dec J gives a few taka to her daughter, soon repaid E: in late Feb J lends another 40 taka to her daughter, soon repaid F: in early Mar she lends 75, and repayment is delayed, causing her problems: 40 repaid in early July and 35 in late July. G: early Nov on her way back from Grameen meeting J is stopped by a neighbour who wants to borrow 30 taka: J declines H: J in early Apr gave 70 taka to her daughter-in-law and got 50 of it back quickly. By July she has written off the other 20 taka. I: J lends 40 taka to another daughter also in early Apr not clear if and when repaid. J: J lends 24 taka to her daughter-in-law in late Apr. Writes it off as non-recoverable in July. K: Then in late May (despite problems at home) another 400 to youngest daughter B. This 400 was saved up slowly and hiddenly from milk sales over a long period. The howlat was quickly repaid and the cash used to buy paddy to process and eat. L: And 50 taka to her son in the same period (late May), also from milk sales Goods and services on credit: Goods bought on credit: A: In early Mar J takes a little credit from a shop (for oil and salt) but pays up quickly. Goods sold on credit: A: in late Sep they sell the calf for 2,200, but take only 1,000 in cash and agree to wait until harvest time for the rest: the buyer is their son in law. In-kind loans: In-kind loans given interest-free A and B: In early Oct wife J lends a kilo of rice each to her two daughters C: in early Dec J lends 2.5 kg of rice to her daughter