Diarist 71 in the year up to July 2025:
Status: son, brother Household size: we are treating him individually
Occupation: serving at a tea/snack shop Education: none
Major assets: smartphone
Net income year to Jul 2025: 463,075 taka (USD 3,859 PPP$ 14,413; see text for income per person):
Income in kind: none
End Sep 2024 balances at formal FSPs: n/a
main worry about her family, May 2025: the debts from paying for our son to go overseas
We recruited Diarist 71 rather late on, at the end of 2017. He was an unschooled youngster of 18 and was serving table at a snacks place where we often took our breakfast. I was interested to see that though he couldn't read he had a Facebook account and seemed to be able to navigate his way around it. He had been at the snacks place for about 5 years already and earned 150 taka a day, plus his meals, 7 days a week from about 6.30am to closing time at 9 or 10 at night.
Unlike most of our Diarists he was not the money-manager of his household, so we tracked him just to see what a young man in his position does with his money. However, he was usually giving 100 of his 150 taka a day to his father and felt proud that he was thus supporting the education of his younger sister (then 12) who was doing well in school. There is a younger brother, not then properly in school. His father, who can read a bit, is a self-employed carpenter with back pains and can't always work (he does not have a very good reputation in his Hindu settlement, being thought of as a bit lazy and possibly a drinker). Like most families in the settlement they have their own house on their own land, very simply furnished and with a TV and DVD player that no longer work. There' was an unmarried aunt as well as his mother, too, in the 6-person household.
When Diarist 71 was six he fell into the nearby river. His grandmother jumped in to rescue him but drowned. Diarist 71 has since learnt to swim. Just before we started with him an aunt had been killed in a road accident. There are times at home when no-one eats much other than Diarist 71's shop meals. But his wage has increased, more rapidly recently. In 2018 it was 200 a day. He saves (see below) and when he spends it is usually to buy a better phone. In the 2020 Covid lockdown the snack shop had to close but he found work at a more remote, hidden, shop. On his return, his wage dropped down to 150 taka again, but only temporarily, and in 2021 there's another raise, to 250.
One day over breakfast he told us he'd like to start his own shop, or get some skills training, or go abroad. He got himself a passport. He bargained, at first angrily, then successfully, for more pay. By the end of 2023 he was planning to take medical tests for Malaysia. He opened a bank account (other than the Co-op where he had been saving for many years). He started raising funds for an agent and in 2024 went on a 3-day preparation course at a Technical College. On May 15th 2024 he flew to Malaysia. His father received the first remittance, 30,000 taka, in July, and started planning the sister's marriage. She has now married and is pregnant.
His father subsequently became our replacement Diarist.
Diarist 71 in our office
Diarist 71, chart 01, balance
While we had our original youngster as our Diarist there was only one significant gift, when his father gave him money for a passport. Otherwise there were some very small token gifts between family members. Don't forget, though, that Diarist 71 donated much of his shopincome to his family, mainly to support his sister's education.
Things changed as a consequence of his going to Malaysia. Our new Diarist, his father, was able to send a good gift to his daughter when she became pregnant. He also gave lavishly to a neighbour when they had a wedding: maybe he enjoyed showing off his new income from remittances.
Diarist 71, chart 02, gifts
The original Diarist 71 maintained an account at the Co-op for many years, mainly to save (see below). He twice took small loans from that source, once to attend a festival. He almost never asked for advances from his employer - we recorded only one case, soon repaid.
Things changed as he prepared for his migration. Working with his father, they got an MFI BRAC account holder to on-lend to them and his sister gave a howlat. Later his father joined BRAC, and took a loan in his own name to repay the remaining proxy loan and sister's howlat.
Diarist 71, chart 03, loans
The original Diarist was more active with savings at the Co-op, depositing frequently. He took a little out to buy a phone but he mainly saw his savings as long-term. Twice he built up a balance, then shifted it, in two stage, to another provider (the MFI Grameen Bank) to get a better rate of interest. He began to save larger sums each week.
When he left for Malaysia he withdrew his savings to help pay the costs.
Diarist 71, chart 04, savings