Diarist 52

Diarist 52 in 2025:
Status: wife, mother, household manager Household size: 1 (the daughter of the original Diarist 52, who died 2022)
Occupation: dressmaker Education: class 8 (original Diarist was illiterate)
Major assets: home on homestead land, sewing machine
Net income 2025: 14,670 taka (USD 121 PPP$ 458; PPP$ 1.26 per day per person): Income in kind: none
End Sep 2025 balances at formal FSPs: Savings 1,192 taka, Loans 0,
main worry about her family, May 2025: the boundary dispute with my neighbours that stops me rebuilding

This is another case where our story falls into two parts, before and after the death of the original Diarist 52, who was a widow of about 60 when we started with her in 2017 but died in March 2022 following a stroke the previous month. She was from a poor family and illiterate, and when her husband died his brother took the small piece of land he left, giving nothing to her. However, she was cheerful and resourceful and ran a tiny tea-shop on a small plot she had inherited from her parents. It turned out to be a good location when the new bridge across the river was built and a market sprang up. She lived behind the shop with her daughter, who had married but didn't acknowledge it (she left quickly when she found her husband was already married). Both mother and daughter are very religious: the daughter, though educated, refuses to read anything besides the Koran and other religious books.

The daughter has a sewing machine and makes dresses for sale. As chart 01 shows, with two incomes coming in they were in surplus most months. They even installed an improved drinking water well and made some improvements to their small building. In April 2021 the owner of the building next door made alterations to the structure, requiring them also to make repairs., and she decided to do a thorough rebuilding and borrowed money. Just before she died she closed the shop, unable to manage it any longer.

When she died we took on her daughter as our replacement Diarist. She rented the shop out at 4,000 taka a month, though she remains living in the room at the back. She continues to do dressmaking. She sought and got a job in garments factory but gave up after a few days - she was on a night shift and the travel there and back was arduous. The building work continued slowly until she decided on a more thorough rebuilding and borrowed money for that in late 2024. But a legal dispute arose over the boundary and she was unable to resume work until mid-2025. Meanwhile, her estranged husband started to show some interest in her again, visiting her a few times, but not much has come of it.

As chart 01 shows, the new Diarist 52 is surviving on lower income and expenditure levels, and very low business costs for her dressmaking.

The original Diarist 52 in her tea-shop

Diarist 52, chart 01, balance

Gifts

The original Diarist 52 received virtually no gifts and gave only very small amounts to beggars. When she died, there were gifts from local people, family, and her daughter's estranged husband. The new Diarist 52 gives occasionally to the mosque community, and also to a sister.

Diarist 52, chart 02, gifts

Loans

Both mother and daughter used loans sparingly. The daughter of the original Diarist 52 had an account at the MFI Grameen Bank and borrowed modest sums there a few times. After the death of her mother she closed the MFI account, thinking she may have difficulty with repayments if she fell sick. The original Diarist 52 also borrowed in informal ways, such as a howlat (interest-free loan) in April 2021 when they needed money for the building repairs caused by alterations made by the neighbour.

The new Diarist 52 opened an account at the local Co-operative after her mother died but hasn't yet borrowed there. She took a howlat for her unsuccessful building campaign in late 2024, and then in early 2025 started repaying it and earlier debts.

Diarist 52, chart 03, loans

Savings

The daughter (our replacement Diarist) saved into as well as borrowed from her MFI account. She used the ordinary savings account into which she deposited a long string of small weekly payments. She also had a accumulating long-term account and amassed more money there, but took it out before the term matured when her mother was ill in early 2022. After she closed the MFI account she opened a Co-operative savings account and began making occasional savings and withdrawals there.

Diarist 52, chart 04, savings

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