Me and Muhammad
Muhammad who you ask?
Well after meeting him, you wouldn’t think that he’s famous at all…
Back in December, I had the pleasure of meeting Muhammad Yunnis, the creator of Grameen Bank and the author of Banker to the Poor. He flew into Guatemala for only two days with a pretty crammed agenda. His first day was spent in Guatemala City, giving speeches to both the congressional committee and students at the public university. On his second day, Muhammad was to meet some of the women that benefit from the loans that Grameen bank gives.
The meeting was held in Los Encuentros, an intersection about 45 minutes from where I live. I arrived around 9:00 am, knowing that neither the meeting would start on time nor that Muhammad would be prompt. At the time, I was unaware of the fact that I would be sitting through a ‘dress rehearsal’ for two hours. The auditorium was absolutely packed with women and their children. I managed to find a seat on the front row, mainly because I was the only gringa present….there’s always special seating for white people. The auditorium floor was covered in grass which is absolute hell for my allergies (I have no clue why but grass is always put down for decoration, supposedly it looks nice.) The program directors were forcing women to sit in the available seats …Guatemalan women are used to kneeling on the ground so they were all crowded in front of me on the floor. I watched as women from all different parts of the region set up booths to display their products, everything from baskets to weavings to carvings, etc. It was pretty amazing to see all of these women in one room, with their typical dress and varying colors. You knew where someone was from just by their outfit…maybe that means I have been here too long because I instantly recognize the different weavings and their home towns.
So after going through the program three or four times with the audience, Muhammad finally made his appearance. He flew in by helicopter with Sandra Colom, the wife of the newly elected President back in November. Upon entering the auditorium, it was impossible to even catch a glimpse of him, what with all of the camera crews and reporters. He eventually disconnected himself from the mayhem and began making rounds to greet the women and take a look at the products that were on exhibition. It was great watching him interact with the women, giving them hugs, admiring their products. You automatically had the feeling that this man was very down-to-earth, humble, and real. He passed by and shook my hand, asking me “What are you doing here?” I’m not even sure what I said because it happened so quickly, and then there he was up on stage.
To kick off the ceremony, Grameen has a specific mantra that is repeated before every meeting which outlines the responsibilities of each of the women and their individual roles within the group. Discipline is an integral facet of the Grameen model since loans are given based on trust alone. After the bienvenidos and introductions, the women in the crowd became a little restless. I think this was probably due to three cosas: 1) the women had been sitting there for almost three hours by that time 2) the program went back and forth between English and Spanish and 3) these women didn’t have a CLUE who Muhammad Yunnis was. This is horrible for me to even write….but these women were there to either make money off their products or for the free food that was given afterwards…they could have cared less about listening to a renowned economist.
As for me, I was absolutely thrilled to be there and excited about hearing him speak. Due to the target audience, his speech was very inspirational and uplifting, celebrating the successes that these women have made with the available credit. He spoke in English of course, and then a woman translated in Spanish for the audience (however, a lot of the women don’t understand Spanish, but it would have been difficult to translate in the three or four local languages). He spoke very highly of the products that these women make, and how the uniqueness and quality should be shown and marketed to the rest of the world. He also congratulated the Grameen group on their 2 year anniversary in Guatemala and how much the program has grown in the last year. As of right now, Grameen is only present in the department of Solola (where I live), but through an alliance with a national bank (Banrural), plans are to extend to all of Guatemala in 2008 (about 20 or more departments). A key component of this strategy is definitely the support of the first lady, Sandra Colom. She was also a speaker during the program, and like Hillary Clinton, is a huge proponent of micro-credit in developing countries.
Following the keynote speakers, selected towns from the department were given the chance to demonstrate a traditional, local dance to the honored guests. Muhammad ended up moving off stage to sit with local kids and view the presentations.
Side note: It was really funny to see the difference in the chosen dances between truly indigenous towns and then the more tourist-focused pueblos. For example, Pana is home to many tourists and expats on Lake Atitlan. Accordingly, probably due to outside media influences, all of the groups from Pana were seen shaking their hips like Shakira and wearing black sunglasses to be ‘cool’. Muhammad and I actually made eye contact and shared a secret laugh. For my Nahuala ladies, these dances were extremely provocative and maybe inappropriate, but everyone seemed enthralled. Let’s just say that the more indigenous towns picked age-old dances rated ‘G’.
Ladies from my group in Nahuala demonstrated their ‘courting’ dance which is still done today. Women and men from the town form a circle and dance around the potential couple. The boy doing the asking basically chases his girl around, pleading with her to take him as her husband. She dances with a ceramic vase, and when she decides that she wants to be with him, she breaks the vase on the ground. This signifies that she has accepted his offer. Then flowers are thrown on the couple to celebrate the announcement. After the dance concluded, the honored guests joined in on the fun. Both Muhammad and Sandra Colom were seen dancing with the locals, twisting and turning with different partners as the music endlessly wore on.
Subsequently came the free food and the second attack on Muhammad by reporters and camera crews. I snuck out, wanting to get some fresh air and get away from the crowd. I was gonna leave but I remembered that I had some movies to lend to one of my Grameen friends. We were chatting outside when Muhammad made his exit. Imagine my surprise, when he walked right over to me and shook my hand! He then proceeded to ask me what I was doing in Guatemala, where was I from, how was I working with Grameen, etc. When I mentioned I was from North Carolina, he brought up that there were two current Grameen projects near me, one in Asheville and one in Charleston, SC. Following a comment like that, I couldn’t resist coming back with “Then I plan on sending you my resume in six months.” And he actually said, “Please do”...how cool is that!
Well after meeting him, you wouldn’t think that he’s famous at all…
Back in December, I had the pleasure of meeting Muhammad Yunnis, the creator of Grameen Bank and the author of Banker to the Poor. He flew into Guatemala for only two days with a pretty crammed agenda. His first day was spent in Guatemala City, giving speeches to both the congressional committee and students at the public university. On his second day, Muhammad was to meet some of the women that benefit from the loans that Grameen bank gives.
The meeting was held in Los Encuentros, an intersection about 45 minutes from where I live. I arrived around 9:00 am, knowing that neither the meeting would start on time nor that Muhammad would be prompt. At the time, I was unaware of the fact that I would be sitting through a ‘dress rehearsal’ for two hours. The auditorium was absolutely packed with women and their children. I managed to find a seat on the front row, mainly because I was the only gringa present….there’s always special seating for white people. The auditorium floor was covered in grass which is absolute hell for my allergies (I have no clue why but grass is always put down for decoration, supposedly it looks nice.) The program directors were forcing women to sit in the available seats …Guatemalan women are used to kneeling on the ground so they were all crowded in front of me on the floor. I watched as women from all different parts of the region set up booths to display their products, everything from baskets to weavings to carvings, etc. It was pretty amazing to see all of these women in one room, with their typical dress and varying colors. You knew where someone was from just by their outfit…maybe that means I have been here too long because I instantly recognize the different weavings and their home towns.
So after going through the program three or four times with the audience, Muhammad finally made his appearance. He flew in by helicopter with Sandra Colom, the wife of the newly elected President back in November. Upon entering the auditorium, it was impossible to even catch a glimpse of him, what with all of the camera crews and reporters. He eventually disconnected himself from the mayhem and began making rounds to greet the women and take a look at the products that were on exhibition. It was great watching him interact with the women, giving them hugs, admiring their products. You automatically had the feeling that this man was very down-to-earth, humble, and real. He passed by and shook my hand, asking me “What are you doing here?” I’m not even sure what I said because it happened so quickly, and then there he was up on stage.
To kick off the ceremony, Grameen has a specific mantra that is repeated before every meeting which outlines the responsibilities of each of the women and their individual roles within the group. Discipline is an integral facet of the Grameen model since loans are given based on trust alone. After the bienvenidos and introductions, the women in the crowd became a little restless. I think this was probably due to three cosas: 1) the women had been sitting there for almost three hours by that time 2) the program went back and forth between English and Spanish and 3) these women didn’t have a CLUE who Muhammad Yunnis was. This is horrible for me to even write….but these women were there to either make money off their products or for the free food that was given afterwards…they could have cared less about listening to a renowned economist.
As for me, I was absolutely thrilled to be there and excited about hearing him speak. Due to the target audience, his speech was very inspirational and uplifting, celebrating the successes that these women have made with the available credit. He spoke in English of course, and then a woman translated in Spanish for the audience (however, a lot of the women don’t understand Spanish, but it would have been difficult to translate in the three or four local languages). He spoke very highly of the products that these women make, and how the uniqueness and quality should be shown and marketed to the rest of the world. He also congratulated the Grameen group on their 2 year anniversary in Guatemala and how much the program has grown in the last year. As of right now, Grameen is only present in the department of Solola (where I live), but through an alliance with a national bank (Banrural), plans are to extend to all of Guatemala in 2008 (about 20 or more departments). A key component of this strategy is definitely the support of the first lady, Sandra Colom. She was also a speaker during the program, and like Hillary Clinton, is a huge proponent of micro-credit in developing countries.
Following the keynote speakers, selected towns from the department were given the chance to demonstrate a traditional, local dance to the honored guests. Muhammad ended up moving off stage to sit with local kids and view the presentations.
Side note: It was really funny to see the difference in the chosen dances between truly indigenous towns and then the more tourist-focused pueblos. For example, Pana is home to many tourists and expats on Lake Atitlan. Accordingly, probably due to outside media influences, all of the groups from Pana were seen shaking their hips like Shakira and wearing black sunglasses to be ‘cool’. Muhammad and I actually made eye contact and shared a secret laugh. For my Nahuala ladies, these dances were extremely provocative and maybe inappropriate, but everyone seemed enthralled. Let’s just say that the more indigenous towns picked age-old dances rated ‘G’.
Ladies from my group in Nahuala demonstrated their ‘courting’ dance which is still done today. Women and men from the town form a circle and dance around the potential couple. The boy doing the asking basically chases his girl around, pleading with her to take him as her husband. She dances with a ceramic vase, and when she decides that she wants to be with him, she breaks the vase on the ground. This signifies that she has accepted his offer. Then flowers are thrown on the couple to celebrate the announcement. After the dance concluded, the honored guests joined in on the fun. Both Muhammad and Sandra Colom were seen dancing with the locals, twisting and turning with different partners as the music endlessly wore on.
Subsequently came the free food and the second attack on Muhammad by reporters and camera crews. I snuck out, wanting to get some fresh air and get away from the crowd. I was gonna leave but I remembered that I had some movies to lend to one of my Grameen friends. We were chatting outside when Muhammad made his exit. Imagine my surprise, when he walked right over to me and shook my hand! He then proceeded to ask me what I was doing in Guatemala, where was I from, how was I working with Grameen, etc. When I mentioned I was from North Carolina, he brought up that there were two current Grameen projects near me, one in Asheville and one in Charleston, SC. Following a comment like that, I couldn’t resist coming back with “Then I plan on sending you my resume in six months.” And he actually said, “Please do”...how cool is that!
Tagging along with him were the directors of both the Guatemalan program and the Nahuala branch, and since I know them pretty well, they were giggling at me because they knew I wanted to meet Muhammad and also that I wouldn’t mind getting a job with Grameen after it’s all said and done. They ended up seizing my camera from me and snapping a picture of ‘Muhammad and me’.
Even though I wasn’t able to get into an in-depth conversation with Muhammad, I did question him about the increasing number of microcredit institutions in Guatemala and the fear that these women were beginning to solicit loans from multiple paths. His response was that the other institutions purposely have a high interest rate in order to make money off the poor. Grameen, however, isn’t interested in ‘making a buck’, but seeks to provide a low enough interest rate to where women can rise above the poverty vacuum. These women will migrate towards what Grameen has to offer, forcing other institutions to provide the same.
Even though I wasn’t able to get into an in-depth conversation with Muhammad, I did question him about the increasing number of microcredit institutions in Guatemala and the fear that these women were beginning to solicit loans from multiple paths. His response was that the other institutions purposely have a high interest rate in order to make money off the poor. Grameen, however, isn’t interested in ‘making a buck’, but seeks to provide a low enough interest rate to where women can rise above the poverty vacuum. These women will migrate towards what Grameen has to offer, forcing other institutions to provide the same.
On my way out, I ran into a guy that is doing a documentary on Muhammad. He was from California and had been traveling around with him for quite awhile. (His name is Bill Megalos if you ever get to catch his work.) He pointed out that I should absolutely launch my resume to Muhammad when I finish up here, and it was quite evident of his admiration for both the man and his work.
So that’s my claim to fame in Guatemala!
posted by Carin Robinson @ 2:14 PM
<< Home