their family who can read and write. With help from their relatives, Taslima’s parents could buy a small piece of land where they could build a hut and her mother could have a small vegetable garden. But instead, her parents choose to farm for a living. This means they have to rent farmland, for which the landlords demand half of the yearly harvest as payment. To survive during the monsoon season, Taslima’s father goes to Dhaka or Chittagong to work as a labourer. It’s a very hard life.
Taslima is determined to do things differently. One day, she plans to take out a small loan from the Grameen Bank. This is a very unusual bank based in Bangladesh that provides low interest loans to local people. The lending criteria are simple. Firstly, they do not loan money to people who already own land, a business or a tuk-tuk. Secondly, they only loan money to women. The Grameen Bank believe that women are hit hardest by poverty, and are therefore more likely to be careful how they spend their money. The supervisor’s voice interrupts Taslima’s thoughts as it echoes from the other end of the room: “What? You want to go to the toilet again? I don’t think so. You’re just trying to get out of work!”
8:00pm
Even though the normal shift of 10 to 12 hours is over, no one on Taslima’s floor is allowed to stop working. The order for 1,000 fleeces for a German company has to be finished by the end of the night so it can ship tomorrow. Tack, tack, tack, tack . . . Yet another collar seam finished! Taslima is exhausted, she can barely lift her arms, they’re as heavy as two large jugs of water. Now and again her eyelids droop and close and she daydreams, although scary thoughts keep invading her mind . . . Thoughts of water coming flooding in from all sides, bursting through the doors and the walls while her and her family lie sleeping!
Every year, her parent’s house is waterlogged by the monsoon and half-destroyed by storms and hurricanes. Because it’s always being rebuilt in a hurry, it’s built out of easily sourced materials such as mud, straw, bamboo and plastic sheeting. Last year however, the monsoon was worse than usual. A lot worse. The flood lasted for an exceptionally long time – from the beginning of July until the middle of September. The rivers burst their banks and flooded first the low-lying land and then everywhere else. At the height of the flood, whole villages looked like small islands in a huge ocean. The streets were underwater, the factories were closed . . . It was only possible to travel if you had a boat. And it got worse: even though everyone was surrounded by water, there was hardly any clean drinking water available. It was difficult to cook meals, and all the women in the village had to share the one dry stove available.
In August the water didn’t subside like it usually did, but began to rise further. Taslima’s family quickly built a small, raised platform so that the family and their only cow had somewhere safe to sleep. They were woken one night by the water rushing into the house and the mud walls collapsing. Taslima and her siblings were left standing waist deep in water. In the morning, her family left the hut and went to live with relatives in town for weeks, until the flood subsided. During this period, the only way they could survive was by taking out a loan. This was a very expensive decision. The local moneylender adds 20 per cent in interest to their outstanding debt, every month! Even now, Taslima’s parents are using some of Taslima’s wages to help pay back the debt. Tack, tack, tack . . .
“OUCH!” Taslima is startled. She has hurt her hand with the sewing machine needle. When seamstresses are tired, accidents with needles and the sharp cutting knives happen far more frequently. “That must never, never happen again!” Taslima scolds herself. Since she’s been working at the factory, her family have been better off than ever before. Taslima doesn’t ever
Taslima is determined to do things differently. One day, she plans to take out a small loan from the Grameen Bank. This is a very unusual bank based in Bangladesh that provides low interest loans to local people. The lending criteria are simple. Firstly, they do not loan money to people who already own land, a business or a tuk-tuk. Secondly, they only loan money to women. The Grameen Bank believe that women are hit hardest by poverty, and are therefore more likely to be careful how they spend their money. The supervisor’s voice interrupts Taslima’s thoughts as it echoes from the other end of the room: “What? You want to go to the toilet again? I don’t think so. You’re just trying to get out of work!”
8:00pm
Even though the normal shift of 10 to 12 hours is over, no one on Taslima’s floor is allowed to stop working. The order for 1,000 fleeces for a German company has to be finished by the end of the night so it can ship tomorrow. Tack, tack, tack, tack . . . Yet another collar seam finished! Taslima is exhausted, she can barely lift her arms, they’re as heavy as two large jugs of water. Now and again her eyelids droop and close and she daydreams, although scary thoughts keep invading her mind . . . Thoughts of water coming flooding in from all sides, bursting through the doors and the walls while her and her family lie sleeping!
Every year, her parent’s house is waterlogged by the monsoon and half-destroyed by storms and hurricanes. Because it’s always being rebuilt in a hurry, it’s built out of easily sourced materials such as mud, straw, bamboo and plastic sheeting. Last year however, the monsoon was worse than usual. A lot worse. The flood lasted for an exceptionally long time – from the beginning of July until the middle of September. The rivers burst their banks and flooded first the low-lying land and then everywhere else. At the height of the flood, whole villages looked like small islands in a huge ocean. The streets were underwater, the factories were closed . . . It was only possible to travel if you had a boat. And it got worse: even though everyone was surrounded by water, there was hardly any clean drinking water available. It was difficult to cook meals, and all the women in the village had to share the one dry stove available.
In August the water didn’t subside like it usually did, but began to rise further. Taslima’s family quickly built a small, raised platform so that the family and their only cow had somewhere safe to sleep. They were woken one night by the water rushing into the house and the mud walls collapsing. Taslima and her siblings were left standing waist deep in water. In the morning, her family left the hut and went to live with relatives in town for weeks, until the flood subsided. During this period, the only way they could survive was by taking out a loan. This was a very expensive decision. The local moneylender adds 20 per cent in interest to their outstanding debt, every month! Even now, Taslima’s parents are using some of Taslima’s wages to help pay back the debt. Tack, tack, tack . . .
“OUCH!” Taslima is startled. She has hurt her hand with the sewing machine needle. When seamstresses are tired, accidents with needles and the sharp cutting knives happen far more frequently. “That must never, never happen again!” Taslima scolds herself. Since she’s been working at the factory, her family have been better off than ever before. Taslima doesn’t ever
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