November 2012

Info ladies are women trained to deliver internet connection on bicycles. They go to Bangladesh’s rural areas with a computer, a printer, a camera and offer their services. It can be Skyping with a husband who works abroad, chatting with friends on Facebook, filling out a school application online. Some of their services cost a small fee, some are free and they provide information that otherwise might not be readily available. They talk about contraceptives, menstrual hygiene or HIV transmission. Or, they help farmers with the correct use of fertilizers and insecticides. In a country of 152 million where less than 5 million have access to the internet, this is becoming an essential service. Info ladies are mini entrepreneurs, usually borrowing the money for the bicycle, computer and other equipment and even after repaying their loan earn more through their fees than they would at jobs such as teaching. The program is run by D.Net who got the idea from Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus who had used something similar to introduce mobile phones. By 2016 D.Net hopes to have 15,000 info ladies. Hurrah for simplicity!

The new report State of World Population issued by the UN Population Fund points out that 222 million women in developing countries do not have the kind of family planning they need. The report not only states that family planning provides “immeasurable” benefits to women, families and communities, it also says that “family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development,” since it is known to empower women and stimulate economic and social development. But the striking contribution of the report is that for the first time it is calling family planning a right and boldly states that access to contraception is a human right given that in poor countries it improves the lives of women and children. It goes further to say that barriers to access to contraception or other family planning measures are an infringement on women’s rights. According to its authors, increasing funding for family planning could reduce the healthcare bill for mothers and newborns in poor countries. For example a further $4.1 billion could save $11.3 billion annually. Neither the agency nor its report is legally binding nor could they have an effect on national laws. Still to those of us who advocate for family planning, calling it a right is indeed welcome.

Encinitas is a small coastal town south of Los Angeles. Its school district received a half million dollar grant from a local yoga foundation to teach yoga in schools along with healthy eating and the cultivation of small gardens. The twice weekly exercises were adapted for younger participants and no Sanskrit words are being used. Shortly after they began, about four dozens parents protested and hired a lawyer who claims that the yoga poses that are being taught are leading the children to perform what are at their base prayers to Hindu deities. School officials have indicated that children can opt out of the program, and have also indicated an interest to work with the parents to do what is best for the children. I wonder if any of the parents or the lawyer they hired have ever met a Hindu. What do they know about Hinduism, or the history of yoga? What do they know about the difference between yoga as it once was in India and yoga as it has become now that it’s popular in the West? I also wonder, were I to teach someone how to kneel would I thereby be teaching them how to pray to a Christian god?