Alleviating poverty in Bangladesh

Ratankandi is a thin, sandy strip of an island that sits in what is known in Bangladesh as the Jamuna river and in India as the Ganges. Every year the island floods and the 100 families living on it know that it is only a matter of time before Ratankandi is washed entirely away. They are among the poorest people in the country.
But 40 women among them now work for a thriving company called Hathay Bunano (translates as hand-made) that sells hand-knitted baby clothes and toys to customers in Europe, Australia and the US.
A nearby primary school is the only regular service that the government provides for them. There is no electricity, no clinic and only one very simple little kiosk-shop.
On average, the several million people living on Bangladesh's river-islands, known as chars, are forced by the destructive power of the river to move home at least five times in their lives.

The work is done in a simple, one-roomed tin building that Hathay Bunano rents from a villager. The women sit on the floor, some with their babies beside them, and knit the different products.
Hathay Bunano employs more than 3,500 women across Bangladesh
Their quirky designs are winning more and more customers abroad. At the moment the women are working on finger puppets of animals, rattles that look like biscuits and large, soft, red-square robots.
The decision to work on Ratankandi island was made by Hathay Bunano's British-Bangladeshi founders, Samantha and Gollum Morshed.
They felt that if we could create export quality products in the middle of nowhere, where there is no electricity and no other services, they could create these products anywhere.
"We have chosen to work in rural areas and some of the hardest areas of Bangladesh in order to provide employment for people who really need it. We believe very strongly that the most effective way of alleviating poverty in this country is by creating employment."
So far, they have been amazingly successful. Hathay Bunano began operations with a tiny investment of $400 and 12 trainees in December 2004.
It now has a healthy and growing turnover and employs more than 3,500 women at 32 sites across Bangladesh.
The Morsheds are confident of weathering the global economic storm as orders are still coming in.
All profits are put back into the company and the women can earn 25% more than the Bangladesh legal minimum. They are also able to spend their earnings in their own villages, where it will really help.
By comparison, most of the five million workers employed in Bangladesh's thriving garment export industry have had to leave their rural homes to work in the factories.
They spend a large chunk on the wages on paying rents, even though most end up in slums.
The Morsheds believe their business model - of taking jobs into the countryside - is a more effective way of tackling poverty. They also think their approach has a more sustainable future than that of non-governmental organisations, which rely on handouts.
"Unless you make a profit I think it is impossible to help people in a long-term sustainable way. The strength of our organisation is that regardless of whether we receive any donations we will sustain and continue to grow," Samantha Morshed says.

Archbishop urges parents re-think

Attitudes towards parenting need a radical re-think, the Archbishop of Wales has said.
In a speech to the Church in Wales' governing body in Llandudno, Dr Barry Morgan said parents must work hard to spend quality time with their children.

He said: "In our busyness and self-absorption we have simply lost sight of the big picture."
Dr Morgan said children were facing "huge social problems" and growing up in a society which fostered "greed".
Parents should be given help and advice to support them through difficult times, Dr Morgan added.



Dr Morgan said: "The recession is not something we can lay at the door of 'them' - the drunken youngsters, unmarried mothers, knife-carrying youths, anti-social gangs..."
"Its causes well and truly belong to 'us' - comfortable Britain."



Parents may know the "real needs" of children, said Dr Morgan, but "frequently refuse to recognise that these often come at a personal cost to our own needs and desires - be they compromises in our earning capacity or career development, or commitment to work at a relationship.
Children are the "responsibility of both parents", who should work hard to prevent family break-ups, he said.






Dr Morgan, 62, who is married with two children, stressed: "I am not saying that a woman's place is in the home. Fathers are no less important than mothers in a child's life.
"Nor am I saying that parents must stay together at all costs.
"Where there is a high level of conflict that cannot be resolved, or an abusive relationship, the child would obviously be better served if the parents separate."



He said children and young people are facing "huge social problems", exacerbated by the credit crunch, because they are growing up in a society that fosters "greed and individualism".



Turning to sex education, Dr Morgan said: "We have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe."
He said that schoolchildren should be taught about the commitment and responsibility involved in parenting, alongside education about sex and contraception.
Dr Morgan said: "We need to be teaching these basic concepts, as well as parent-craft, from an early age.
"Particularly to those who have not experienced it first hand, and not simply informing them about the mechanics of a sexual relationship and contraception divorced from the basic concepts of love, responsibility and self-respect."




http://www.bridgnorth-anglican.org/

Synod to discuss woman bishops

The governing body of the Church of England is to open a meeting which will consider how to introduce women bishops to the Church.
The decision to ordain women as bishops has already been made in principle, but the Synod will consider specific plans.
This will include a system of male alternatives for parishes which reject oversight from a woman.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster is also to address members on relations between the two churches.
The Synod decided last summer to press ahead with the ordination of women bishops, angering traditionalists by denying them the legal right to opt out of the control of a woman bishop and into special dioceses headed by male alternatives.
However, a draft law to be discussed this week would provide for male "complementary" bishops, to look after parishes unwilling to accept a woman.
Some traditionalist clergy say they will join the Catholic Church if they are not given sufficient exemptions from serving under women bishops.
When he addresses the Synod, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, is expected to express his regret about divisions in the Church of England.
The cardinal is expected to say that Catholics need a united Anglican Church to work for shared Christian aims in Britain.

www.bridgnorth-anglican.org

Church response to the recession

The Church of England General Synod is preparing for a special debate next week on the causes and the impact of the recession. Many parishes have seen a big increase in people looking for help.

Already churches are including the growing levels of unemployment in their weekly and daily prayers.
The subject is mentioned in sermons. It will not be long when every one of us will know a friend, relative or neighbour whose life would be devastated by the impact of the recession.

Is the church becoming a greater focal point in these recessional times?
It might be the loss of employment, the lack of income from savings or even the total loss of savings altogether.
So what are we to do?
We need to be vigilant
Churches are well placed both geographically and socially, in the communities where they exist, to get to know fairly quickly who and how local people have been affected.
Their response is critically important.
A great deal more emphasis on pastoral care and support by both lay and ordained members of churches needs to be put into action; ready to visit, listen, advise and help those badly affected.
The age of proclamation has gone.

It is out on the street that the Pastors can really make a difference
The new imperative for churches of all dominations, is to engage in incarnational ministry; the kind of ministry established by Christ Himself.
By going to where the people are, in the market places, the workplace, hospitals, schools etc; church members will find plenty of individuals in need of support and help.