Visiting Microfinance Group Meetings Around Lahore, Pakistan

These days it's hard to find rosy headlines about Pakistan, with some in the media even suggesting it is now the most dangerous country on earth – a dubious honor. The worst part is that such claims are less journalistic hyperbole than a reflection of dire circumstances. Pro-Taliban anarchists are encroaching on major cities, public spaces are under attack, the poor are stifled, women’s liberties are endangered, and largely ineffectual security check points are everywhere.

But in the midst of all that is going wrong, it was so heartening to see that the wonderful people themselves have by and large not changed. I spent most of a recent trip to Pakistan in Lahore, which is the major city of the Punjab Province.

The people of the Punjab have traditionally been raucous, fun loving, and wildly hospitable, and those I met while visiting BRAC microfinance meetings around Lahore were no different.

The meetings took place indoors, at the home of a beneficiary from each group. It was in some respects a typical house call, with refreshments offered, declined, further insisted upon, abundantly declined, and then brought out nonetheless. Considering temperatures during the summer in Lahore routinely exceed 113 Fahrenheit/45 degrees Celsius, I didn't mind the soda. Additionally, I was feeling the heat from good natured ridicule of my Urdu - which has an irrepressibly American accent.

Despite seasonal temperatures, the beauty salon and tailoring businesses seemed to be thriving, as most of the microfinance borrowers were directing their loans to those ends and there had been no defaults out of either group!

As of May 2009, BRAC Pakistan had dispersed over $7,000,000 in microloans in the provinces of Punjab, NWFP, and Sindh . While this is a challenging time for the nation, we are looking forward to increasing the scope of our microcredit operations and other poverty alleviation programs including programs in health and education. Hopefully our work will be able to preserve the very unique character of people in this part of the world.