The story of Huchhu Fatima
(December 13, 2004)It took a potent mix of volunteerism and economic theory for faith, and dignity of life to be restored.
Huchhu Fatima was below the poverty line even before her daughter died delivering a fourth child. Faced with the crisis, the son-in-law ran away. This was in 1998. Left to look after her three surviving grandchildren with no means of income, she lost her mind and earned the title "huchhu". In Kannada, the word means 'mad'. Life went on.
In 1999, Vinatha Reddy, a Montessori teacher, read a review of the book Give Us Credit by Alex Counts. It was about the now famous Grameen Bank movement in Bangladesh that has restored faith, dignity and hope among rural women using micro-credit. A brainchild of Professor Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank is now the largest NGO in the world. Vinatha wrote to him, and he invited her to see the work of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. She returned to Bangalore, consumed by the desire to start a similar movement. The initial funding of $35,000 came from Professor Yunus. Only the poor, it seems, are blessed with the power to give! Grameen Koota, which means 'village gathering' in Kannada, took wings in Avalahalli.
The micro-credit movement works like this: Grameen Koota folks arrive in a village. They call the women folk and explain the concepts of self-help, saving, investing and borrowing for productive purposes. After dispelling fears of fraud, political motives and religious conversion, they are trained for a week in self-management and learn to sign their names. A 'husband's workshop' is conducted separately.
By the end of the week, the women - in groups of five - are ready. They get unsecured loans averaging about Rs 6,000. Today, 50 per cent of the women use the money to buy livestock, 45 per cent use it to finance small business, and 5 per cent use it for agricultural purposes. Members bring in more members, and the unit of five becomes a support group that begins to learn fiscal management. Despite these being unsecured loans, the repayment history has been near 100 per cent!
When the Koota came to Avalahalli and groups were formed, no one took Huchhu Fatima. She was considered temperamental because of the tragic incidents in her life. Her hopelessness had made her like that, fighting with anyone she came across. The villagers could not trust her to manage anything - how would she ever repay a loan? But Grameen Koota does not interfere when members choose new members. During a visit by Vinatha Reddy, Huchhu Fatima came and gave everyone a piece of her mind - she was, after all, a daughter of the village! How could she not be allowed to join the movement? Everyone relented, and she was given a cautious entry with a credit of Rs 4,000.
That day, Huchhu Fatima became just Fatima. She used the money to buy cloth and went to sell it in nearby villages. Once a week, she returned to attend the proceedings when the bank came to the village. In the open air, among a cluster of hamlets, quarry workers, vegetable sellers, shopkeepers and goatherds sat in a circle. It began with a pledge the members took to abide by the rules, help each other and use the money for productive purposes. Then, passbooks come out, deposits are made with soiled notes and jingling coins. Those who need a loan state the purpose. The villagers and the bank folks decide and disburse the loan. At 8 a.m., they read out minutes of the meeting and, with the same pledge, the bank closes.
Fatima Mohammed will never make it in the list of any international magazine's Top 500; she will not receive an 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award. But she does not care. What matters is that the dignity of life, once denied to her, has been restored - not by a government or charity but by a movement that uses a potent mix of volunteerism and economic theory. In it is the key to eradicate the poverty for one in every four Indians languishing below the poverty line. Grameen Koota has delivered the proof of concept. Now, government and big business need to come and meet Fatima to know how her spirit can be replicated.
