Category: poor Initial wealth ranking: none: selected at random Code: DBB07 IDPM FINANCIAL DIARIES: SUMMARIES Bangladesh: Urban interview taken by: Saiful Islam and S K Sinha date: 4 December 2000 Site: Beri Bad Principal respondent(s): Mr H and Mrs M H is from Jhalkati (greater Barisal) where there is no work available. He has been in Dhaka for 15 years and living in Beri Bad since 1989. He came seeking work, there being none in the village. He has his own house, and lets out two small rooms, earning 200 taka a month on each. He is about 48 years old, married, with four children. He passed his High School exam in 1968 but his wife, M, can only sign her name. Eldest son Ripon, 25, studied to class five and now rides a rickshaw, earning about 1,000 a month. Daughter Sahinur, 10, is in class 2 at the BRAC school. Daughters Champa and Mousomi are 5 and 2. H uses a wide mix of jobs to survive. He s been a rickshaw driver but for the first few months of the research year he is too ill to drive a rickshaw so they live off the son s earnings and M goes day labouring. When H goes back to work in late January it is as a day labourer in the brick fields. After they relocate their house (due to the rebuilding of the embankment) they spend six weeks in H s home village and when they come back he does other day labouring work but sometimes finds it hard to get work. His health is not at all good and becomes virtually paralysed down one side of his body this proves expensive with as much as 20,000 taka spent during the year. They manage with a few family-based reciprocal loans and they use ROSCAs and saving up clubs, and take basic goods on credit from the shop. Their involvement with MFIs isn t successful. 1. Initial household profile: Name Relationship to household head Sex Age Highest school grade Main livelihood activity/ies (or schooling) Other economic activities H self m 48 10 rickshaw driving lets out rooms; informal scribe M wife f 40 none home housework day labour when in need Ripon son m 25 5 rickshaw driving auto rickshaw driving Khadiza daughter-in-law (Ripon s wife) Sahinur daughter f 10 in class 2 BRAC school f 20 5 home housework Champa daughter f 5 - - Mousomi daughter f 2 - - in school 2. Significant changes to household profile during research year: in February Ripon gets married and leaves home but returns quickly, with his wife. Ripon and Khadiza have a daughter born during the research year. 3. Residence: from Barisal, came to Dhaka c. 1985 and to Beri Bad 1989. 4. Tenure: own house on government owned embankment (he lets out 2 rooms): bamboo walls and tin roof in poor condition. Later he has to shift it, to a site on private land where he pays no rent. 5. Other identities: Muslim
6. Public entitlements: none 7. Food habits: 3 rice meals a day, fish once weekly, meat twice monthly 8. Significant assets: Asset type Description Value (if known or estimated) Homestead Land 0.2 acres 10,000 taka, back in the village Farm land (state if irrigated) Home (equipment, furnishings etc) 2 aces of his own land, mortgaged out 16 pieces of roofsheet no furniture 120,000 taka: later released it from mortgage for 5,000 taka 5,000 taka Other property rooms on the embankment 10,000 taka Machinery none Livestock 2 chickens 200 taka Jewellery etc nose stud 500 taka Other (state) - 9. Significant changes to assets during research year: he sold a room for 10,000 taka in February and built a new one (5,000) and released land from mortgage in his village (5,000) 10. Income pattern: Household member H Income source Frequency Scale Comments rickshaw driving letting out rooms monthly 200 taka each pm day labour brick field other day labour daily when he can t drive rickshaw daily when available 60-70 taka a day Ripon rickshaw driving daily 70 taka a day; about 1,000 a month M auto rickshaw driving day labour brick field and earth digging 11. Expenditure pattern: Expenditure item Scale occasionally daily stopped during the year after embankment rebuilding 60 taka a day earth digging, mason s helper etc 100 taka a day or so 50 to 70 taka a day from March on from January on Comments food 120 150 taka a day including fuel may be exaggerated housing 500 taka repairs
clothing 2,500 taka in the year education 500 taka for Sahinur health other / occasional 20,000 taka in the year mostly for H who is virtually paralysed on one side by the end of the research year - 12. Financial services/devices used during research year: Type Number of instances Value(s) Saving at bank 1 300 taka balance MFI savings 1 1,560 taka balance Saving at home 1 unknown Saving on the person 1 e.g. 150 taka Comments Agrani, inactive Prime Saving-up club 2 900 taka two names, H and daughter Interest free loans taken Interest free loan given Goods bought on credit 4 10 to 2,000 taka 3 200 to 700 taka 3 continuous up to 1,800 taka sourced from a howlats and so on Land mortgaged out 1 5,000 taka to release a piece of land in the village from mortgage Musti chal 1 0.5 kg a week 13. Cheating: none 14. Comments on financial services and devices: M is unhappy with the MFI Prime who failed to honour a promise to give her a loan and who change their rules frequently. She thinks keeping cash in her petticoat isn t safe but says she has no other safer option. M says they don t use a bank because banks don t encourage small savers. H says that managing money is a problematic matter if he didn t have to he d prefer not to get involved in financial services. 15. Recording financial service transactions: H says I m used to keeping things in my memory and sometimes I write it down. 16. This year compared to previous years: worse, because of my increasing illness and the expense it caused 17. Notable events, opinions, behaviour: Events: H is ill when we first meet him and not driving his rickshaw much: they live of the son s earnings. Son Ripon marries and moves away in February, and stops helping with the household expenses, but is soon back. Ripon tries his hand at driving an auto rickshaw but has an accident. In late May they shift their house because of the embankment rebuilding and can t earn at all: he gets 2,500 taka compensation and builds a new room for 1,900 taka of this. In June and July they
have an extended stay in his home village his first return in 12 years. Behaviour: H stores all his cash with his wife M. 18. Transaction summary for H AND M OF BERI BAD WEST OUTSIDE (07) Formal bank services: Saving at bank: A: H has a dormant account at Agrani Bank, no transactions for two years, balance about 300 taka. (In late Oct M says they don t use a bank because banks don t encourage small savers) MFI services: MFI savings: A: Prime Social Development Society (an offshoot of Federal Savings, a failed slum bank). M is a member since June 1999. 10 member group. She deposits 150 savings in late Oct 99. But she doesn t trust Prime who don t stick to their word and keep changing their rules. She plans to withdraw her balance. Early Nov H reports they have stopped depositing: Prime worker Farzana promised a loan but never gave one. Late Nov we hear Bibi has withdrawn 1,300 from her balance of 1,560 taka, but got this in instalments, not all at once. Private savings: Saving in the home: A: M reports they use an old suitcase for storing cash at home. Saving on the person: A: In late Nov H says he trusts his wife to keep any spare cash and she keeps it in the pocket of her petticoat. Early Dec M keeps income from day labour in her petticoat. In early Feb she has 100 taka tied into her sari. In early Mar there is 150 taka in her pocket. Savings clubs: ROSCA: A: H is in a 20-taka-a-day ROSCA, deposits 100 taka in early Nov (was ill and couldn t afford the remaining 50): draw will be 7,000 taka and he hopes to start a grocery shop since he is getting too ill to continue his rickshaw driving. Members are rickshaw drivers and petty businessmen. He puts in another 120 taka in late Nov (taka which they withdrew from Prime when M left that NGO see above). The ROSCA collapsed before he take his prize but he did get his money back about 6,000 taka in early December 1999. This was immediately spent on his health treatment and household needs. Saving up club: A: early Nov H pays 20 taka into a 2-taka-a-day saving-up club (couldn t afford the other 10 taka). He says that as 2 taka is a small amount he can save several days-worth at a time. Deposits come from rickshaw earnings. In early Dec we hear that he and his daughter hold memberships and he is paying 4 taka a day for a total of 120 in the period (sourced from son s rickshaw income). No deposits in late Dec, H too ill to pay. 4 taka a day deposited early Jan. On Eid eve in early Jan the ASCA was dissolved and members each got 900 taka, including H and his daughter. Spent on Eid goods. Reciprocal transactions: Interest free loans (howlats) taken: A: H took a howlat of 2,000 from a relative in Aug 99 and repays 1,000 of it from cash withdrawn from Prime late Nov. Was supposed to repay balance Jan but failed, and it is still outstanding at end of the research year. B: in early Dec H takes and quickly repays 30 taka from a neighbour for household uses.
C: in early Dec H takes several tiny howlats from tenants and repays them 20 taka, 10 taka. D: it his village home in late Jul, H borrowed 500 taka from a brother to buy food. He repaid in late Aug. Interest free loans (howlats) given: A: early Jan H lends 200 to a friend, repaid late Jan. B: in early Mar H gave a howlat of 500 to neighbour Ansar Majhi and got it back in late Apr. C: early Apr M gives 700 to her elder sister from brick field labour wages, repaid late May. Goods and services on credit: Goods bought on credit: A: late Dec H takes and repays 10 taka on credit to buy tea and betel nut. B: in late July we hear he takes another 100 taka and we guess he borrows regularly. Repaid early Aug but then he takes another 1,000 taka worth. C: in early Sep he is again in debt by 1,800 taka to the shopkeeper. Land- or housing- related: Land mortgaged out: A: in early Feb H sells a house on Beri Bad for 10,000 taka and uses 5,000 to release from mortgage a piece of land in his village. In kind transactions: Musti chal: A: M saves about half a kilo of rice a week which she uses mainly to give to beggars or to feed her chickens.