Following the suppression of a political demonstration in Dhaka yesterday, today started with a hartal (national strike) from 6am to 2pm. Shamim and Islam decided discretion was called for, and the day’s itinerary was hastily rescheduled. A fleet of rickshaws was summoned, and we set off in convoy for a few mile ride out of town to Carmichael College. The College is a grand affair set in extensive grounds and attracts 17,000 students from the surrounding area or in halls of residence, who pay 45 Tk / month for tuition.

Our arrival soon attracted a crowd of students, and we chatted with small groups about where we were from and what we were doing. We were duly invited to meet the Principle, who had carefully arranged for his head of English to be present, tell us about the college, and answer our questions. They were very proud of one of their alumni, an early leader of the feminist movement, whose allegorical work (in English) “Shultana’s Dream” was highly commended to us.

We could have easily spent all day there – the students were keen to practise their English (a compulsory subject) and it was good to have a chance to talk directly to people without an interpreter. However, it was back in the rickshaws, and off in convoy to the headquarters of RDRS, an NGO originally created post-liberation to look after the many displaced people in the area. Between 1994-1997 the management was transferred exclusively to Bangladeshis, and the organisation now supports the rural poor in 10 districts. RDRS now provides a range of services to the rural poor such as healthcare (support for pregnant mothers; leprosy; TB…); microcredit; advocacy programme for the poor; and agricultural support (the introduction of new crops).

We emerged from the RDRS building to find the rickshaws had disappeared (alas) and the coach was waiting to take us back to lunch at the motel. After a quick meal, it was back to the coach for an hour’s drive to Saidpur, an area near the border which had suffered badly during the liberation. We drove down a maze of narrow streets, crowded with shops and people, to arrive at Action Bag Handicrafts. Action Bag was set up by an American charity MCC in 1976 to provide employment for women whose children were attending MCC’s clinic. When MCC pulled out of Saidpur in 1991, Action Bag was sufficiently well-established to run as a business, although it continues to receive help with distribution and marketing from overseas NGOs.

Action Bag now produces a range of over 50 bags, mostly from jute, employing 36 producers all year round. They operate at a profit; the producers’ management committee decide on how to use the surplus – some is distributed among the producers at Eid, and some goes to a retirement fund. The producers work at home and come in twice a week – I noticed one lady setting off home at the end of the day with her sewing machine under her arm. Their premises were light and airy, arranged round two courtyards,

From there, it was a short drive across town to a sister company, Eastern Screen Printers, spun off from Action Bag in 1986 when designers from Oxfam had helped revitalise the product range. ESP were busy printing cards on paper and fibre when we visited – they showed us screen making, and then watched the various teams printing, folding, and cutting.

We talked to a number of the girls about what working at ESP meant for them. Nardeen’s father had died when she was small. When her mother became ill eight years ago Nardeen was taken on by ESP and she was now supporting her four sisters (her mother died a year ago). She saved enough to enable her elder sister to get married; she had been married for one year and was still supporting her own family from her earnings. It was noticeable that although she was happy to tell her story, she didn’t stop working to do so – more cards means more pay.

There was a huge variety of cards on display, each handmade and unique. Buying cards is something we all do many times a year. Buying Fairtrade instead of factory cards is a completely trivial change, and yet it makes such a huge difference. These girls and women were supporting entire households from their earnings. How could I ever buy a factory card in future?

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