A Volunteer Perspective on CRWRC Bangladesh

Ali Symons, who volunteered with CRWRC in Bangladesh for 6 months as a grant writer, editor and story transcriber, provides a report of her work and the CRWRC projects in Bangladesh.

Dear Friends:

Here I am (pictured at right) peeking out from a CNG—my usual mode of transportation here in Dhaka—to say hello. I wanted to thank those of you who have been supporting me financially or in prayer, and also to share a bit of what’s been going on here.

Stability and Instability
Dhaka is a slam-bang city, filled with people, colour, and noises. But remarkably, after almost four months I have settled into a routine. I’m working at the CRWRC office full time, doing regular editing, grant writing, and story transcribing. I have also found a home with a friend of mine, Alana, in a pleasant apartment close to our office. I now have a lot of stability here, which I am grateful for. I find that I need these consistent elements in my life in order to face the challenges of Bangladesh.

But this stability is a luxury that most Bangladeshis don’t have. The average Bangladeshi earns just over $1 Canadian a day, barely enough to survive on. These people work incredibly hard: they drive rickshaws, sort through garbage, carry bricks, or work in garment factories. Yet despite this hard work they still live a hand-to-mouth existence. Things like stable housing, good footwear, or even schooling (only free up to the primary level) are too expensive for these families.

What Do You Have?
One solution to this poverty is to give people money. But Bangladesh has received millions of dollars in foreign aid, and it is still one of the world’s poorest countries. Many development organizations here, including CRWRC, are focusing on a “self-help” approach. This means that we try to empower people so that they can work to address their own problems.

Today my supervisor, a wonderful Bangladeshi woman named Kohima Daring, showed me a Biblical model for self-help. It happens in 2 Kings 4, where Elisha is approached by a woman in need. In fact, this woman is at the end of her rope: her husband has just died and creditors have come to take her children into slavery. She begs Elisha to help her, probably hoping that he would pay off her debts. But Elisha instead asks “what do you have?” The woman is taken aback: she only has one jar of oil to her name. Elisha then instructs her to pour out this oil into all her empty containers. To the woman’s delight, the oil flows in abundance. She fills up so many jars that she can sell them and live off of the profit.

In our Bangladeshi projects, we help people use what they already have available. We encourage them to save even 10 taka (20 cents Canadian) weekly, or we organize trainings to help develop their skills, maybe in sewing, or leadership. For many of the people I’ve met, their greatest resource is their fierce desire to survive.

Alea and Self-Help
Here’s a story that shows how the self-help approach works. This woman’s name is Alea and she and her husband grew up in rural Jamalpur. In 1988 they were married and enjoyed a good financial situation. They owned four rickshaws and even had savings in the bank.
Yet the family’s security began to unravel when Alea fell ill. She had water in her lungs and couldn’t work for several years. Desperate to save his wife, her husband sold everything they had to pay for medical fees.

Alea eventually recovered, but the family found themselves in near destitution. They moved to Dhaka, where they rented a small room and her husband worked as a rickshaw driver. The family lived this way for six years, working hard and dreaming of going back to their home village.

One day, Alea heard about a CRWRC self-help group that was meeting in her community, and she decided to start her own. The group met weekly to save a bit of their own money (for some this meant skipping a meal or working an extra shift). They also received weekly lessons on literacy, finances, health, as well as justice and rights.

Alea started to gain more stability in her life. Using her new management skills, she started a bag-making business. After two years her group distributed their savings and she and her husband were able to buy several rickshaws. They could now dream big: Alea began to pay for her son’s training as a mechanic, and they started a savings fund to buy land in Jamalpur. 
But Alea’s profit was more than financial. She took a special interest in the health lessons offered by CRWRC and decided to go for extra training. Now she works as a community health volunteer in her slum area, educating her neighbours about basic hygiene, nutrition, and how to care for pregnant mothers. Alea now feels she can be a part of good changes, both in her own life and in her community.

God is Good
Please give praise and pray for CRWRC’s work. All of these good stories happen because of God’s good intervention in people’s lives. I would also appreciate your specific prayers for my health and safety as I visit more of CRWRC’s projects in northern Bangladesh. I am still so excited and happy to be here, seeing and learning a lot. Thank you again for your support, and also for letting me share these stories with you.

Yours sincerely,

Ali Symons

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