May 2011 Blog Posts (13)

Today was a great day at work!  Although the office's Internet was still not functioning, I brought in my Tigo modem that I use in my apartment, so I was able to be productive.  I kind of want one for home...it's so useful!

My first order of business was to fill out a survey for the International Finance Corporation, one of the World Bank's entities.  The survey was about innovate financial inclusion models that could be used to promote the Global Partnership for Financial…

Today, I was up once again at 6 am!  I was out the door by 6:30 and, thanks to Caroline's wonderful directions, safely made it to Kawe, where I transferred dala dalas to complete my journey to work.  In total, it takes about 45 minutes.  It is fairly confusing for me to figure out when to get off, as so much looks alike: little shops with Coca-Cola and Pepsi signs lining dirt roads.  But with people's help, I am told when to exit the cramped bus. 

I got to the office around…

So yesterday, I literally slept until 4 pm.  I guess that's what it takes to recover from jet lag.  Anyways, I had scheduled to speak with my parents at 5 pm my time, 10 am their time.  I ended up speaking with them for 2.5 hours!!! I miss them sooo much.  I am relatively independent, had no problem going to school 8 hours away from home, and have been taking trips alone since junior year of high school.  That being said, I am now half way around the world and living alone for the first…

As my sleep schedule is way off, I had the opportunity to Skype with my sister and college friends at 3 am my time!  It was great to hear people from home!  At 6:30 am, I headed out the door.

I kid you not, there were roosters crowing and live chickens were crossing the street!  I was suprised how many people were up at this hour, already hard at work.  In New York, the subway was just starting to load up with professionals around 7 am.  I started my voyage to work, making my…

So to be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of Qatar.  And after a 12 hour flight directly followed by a 12 hour layover followed by a 7 hour flight I was SO READY to finallyyyy reach my final destination: DAR ES SALAAM.

When I got to the airport, I held my breath when passing through customs.  I had already gotten my visa at the Tanzanian embassy in DC and just had to fill out an East African travel card.  Still, I had heard stories about bribes and detention.  Literally, it…

So today began my nine week trip to Tanzania to work with SELFINA, a MFI that pioneered microleasing.  Here is an article by a Kiva Fellow that does a great job explaining the organization: http://kivanews.blogspot.com/2007/12/selfina.html.  This opportunity was presented to me thanks to the Student Initiative Fellowship (www.thestudentinitiative.org) and is funded both by this…

Prof Yunus should be made Chairman of Grameen Bank

Emdadul Haque

At last, Professor Muhammad Yunus has resigned from Grameen Bank to avert further conflict with the government. The deputy managing director of the bank Nurjahan Begum will function as the acting managing director until the appointment of a new MD.

What is more shocking is that Finance Minister AMA Muhith has ruled out the possibility of appointing Prof Yunus as the chairman of…