Singing that evokes the joy, pace and beauty of the Pacific as well as raising goose bumps and a lump in the throat. Where else does a group of soldiers arrive an hour and a half before the service for the joy of singing together in God's house? A great gathering.
Saturday 31 March 2012
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Where dignity grows on trees
Watching Kobir Udin in his nursery and you can see he’s every inch the successful businessman.
He checks the seedlings and young trees with a practised eye and gives a satisfied nod at the thousands of healthy specimens that he’s taking us past.
We’re visiting the Monowara Tree Nursery, one of the many projects supported by the Church of Bangladesh’s Social Development Programme(CBSDP).
The nursery is named after Kobir’s wife Monowara who is not the only family member involved. On the day we visited, his grandson was busy breaking open a huge pile of mahogany husks to get the next generation of seeds.
At one level we could be viewing any successful business, but actually it’s a story of how the Church’s micro-finance scheme has brought employment, dignity and hope to the dozen people the nursery employs.
Kobir and Monoware borrowed 5,000 Taka (about £50) to start the nursery and then borrowed two more slightly larger amounts – but still only around £300.
Now, when you look at their empire, you see mahogany seedlings, ranks of guava trees and many more. Thousands upon thousands of trees, in fact. And as we drove away we came across two large fields with yet more that were part of the nursery.
Bangladeshi people are never afraid to talk about how much they earn and Kobir was confident his profit this year would be in the region of £20,000 (200,000 Taka).
It was just one example of where CBSDP is helping women and men to escape poverty. It isn’t just about lending money. It’s first about teaching how to understand finance and then about how to use it wisely.
In Belghoria, a village community near Rajshahi, we met a woman who had borrowed a small amount to set up a shop selling daily essentials while her husband bought one of the ubiquitous taxis. Between them they were earning money and paying back the loan.
The three photographs show Kobir and Monowara’s grandson breaking open the mahogany husks; Mahogany seeds in their tubes ready for planting out; Monowara, holding the baby goat that follows her around the nursery, with Kobir just behind her.
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