Grameen Phones and Anwara Khatun

Anwara Khatun joined Grameen Bank in 1987 and is now the “village phone lady” for Chamurkhan. Grameen Telecom, a non-profit member of the Grameen family that is a major shareholder in GrameenPhone, concentrates on assisting one Grameen Bank borrower in each village to set up a “village pay phone” that is profitable to both the owner and the company. Grameen Telecom now provides cellular phone service in more than 1,000 villages. Anwara Khatun is now a successful “village phone lady,” but when she first became a Grameen borrower she was living in absolute poverty.

Anwara was married in 1964 and, as is the tradition in much of Bangladesh, lived with her husband’s family in Gazipur for a year and a half before her father-in-law told them they could no longer live on his property. This created a great hardship for Anwara and her family, and her husband, a manual laborer, wasn’t able to provide three daily meals for his family. In a recent interview with Grameen Foundation USA Program Assistant, Nurul Alam, Anwara reflected, “In Bangladesh, a laborer family does not have any social dignity as well as no easy access to food. Sometimes we could manage to feed our family, sometimes we couldn’t. We were dependent on neighbors and relatives.” One neighbor told Anwara about Grameen Bank in 1987 and advised her to join. Anwara said, “After that I made inquiries about Grameen Bank and talked it over with my husband; he allowed me to join Grameen Bank.”

Anwara has received 13 general, five seasonal and one housing loan from Grameen Bank. She used her general loans for cattle raising, land leasing and paddy husking. She used her seasonal loan to grow vegetables, and built a house with her housing loan. Anwara also received a loan to install a tubewell to provide uncontaminated drinking water. Anwara’s husband, who passed away three years ago, had cancer and their family relied on Anwara’s income to provide for their basic needs as well as his cancer treatment (which cost approximately US $5,000). Their eldest son has been working in Singapore for the past five years and has sent 600,000 taka (US $11,765) to assist his family. This money, as well as a portion of Anwara’s income, has been invested in their land. She now owns 10 katha (.8 acres) in Gazipur. In 1997, Anwara withdrew 10,460 taka (US $205) from the Group Fund savings to install electricity in her house and to pay for her children’s education expenses. Her middle son is earning his BA (honors) at Titumir college in Dhaka, and her youngest son just finished the Secondary School Certificate Examination. Her daughter is working towards her MA at Jagannath College in Dhaka. While Anwara has received no formal education, she can write her name and knows the alphabet.

Anwara learned of the Grameen phones in a center meeting, a weekly meeting for loan disbursement and repayment. She commented, “My one son has been working in Singapore for five years. I had a plan to get a telephone connection for talking with my son from time to time, but I couldn’t afford it. It is very tough to access a regular phone, a cell phone is beyond thinking in rural Bangladesh.” The Bank worker encouraged Anwara to purchase a phone and she spoke with her husband and eldest son who both encouraged her to do so. In order to purchase a Grameen cellular phone, Anwara received a 23,500 taka (US $460) leasing loan. Anwara has earned about 100,000 taka (US $1,960) in the three years since she purchased the phone. She charges 100 taka (US $1.96) per minute for an outgoing international call and 5 taka (US $0.09) per minute for an incoming call from abroad, and 2 taka (US $0.04) per minute for an incoming domestic call. Her net income each month is between 2,000 and 7,000 taka (US $39-$137). Her average monthly air time bill is 5,000 taka (US $98). With the revenue from the phone, Anwara has purchased a television, a freezer, furniture and other items for her house.

When asked how her life has changed since she purchased the phone, Anwara replied at length.

After receiving the Grameen Phone, our socio-economic condition has changed significantly. Our social dignity and financial position has been changed unexpectedly. Grameen Phone brought about a lot of progress in my family. Basically, I had no experience in operating a cellular phone. To make a call over the telephone was completely beyond my capacity. Now I am able to connect an international telephone call without any help from another person. It is a great achievement. Every day many people come to me to send and receive messages over the telephone. When I had no telephone, I had to go a long distance to call and talk with my foreign living son. Now I can talk with him frequently by cellular phone whenever I want. I am very pleased and happy to get such an opportunity. It doesn’t feel like he lives far away, all the while he is very close to me. Apart from this, now we are invited to all kinds of ceremonies in our village. In emergencies such as electricity failure or accidents, people come to me to send an urgent message to the police station and other offices. My social acceptance and dignity have been raised a lot due to the cellular phone. Everybody in our village wants to keep in touch with me and my family.

When asked about her future plans, Anwara said that she intends to start a multiple training center where women and unemployed, educated girls could learn more about modern technology. She concluded the interview by saying, “I hope that with the help of Grameen I will be able to implement my plan.”

To speak directly with Anwara about her experiences, you may reach her on her cellular phone: (88-017) 510-004. For a nominal fee to cover the costs of airtime as well as labor, Grameen Foundation USA will provide a translator to assist in communications. Please contact Grameen Foundation USA at 202-628-3560.