Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to both of you for being here.
Mr. Counts, I had the opportunity three years ago to be in Bangladesh and actually spent an hour with Muhammad Yunus. I have a signed copy of his book, and we had a very interesting discussion.
Bangladesh is a country of about 140 million people. The population there has exploded since their independence 40 years ago, so they have an enormous number of challenges ahead of them.
I had the opportunity to visit a number of the Grameen Bank projects. I have to tell you that I also had an opportunity to visit many of the BRAC Bank projects, because they took us out as well.
I wonder if you could share with the committee some of the stories that I had the opportunity to hear. One woman started off with a loan for five chickens, and I think she now owns half the village. She has a three-bedroom house for her family, she has indoor plumbing, and she has several little shops. I wonder if you could talk about some of those stories. Microfinance in Bangladesh is now about 20 years old, so can you tell us some of the stories of people who have moved from microfinance loans to creating what have become real enterprises, and can you tell us what impact that's having not only on the individual but on the family and the community at large?