Homage to an adopted son of Bangladesh

Mr. Alvaro Sarrmiento

It is Monday, November 12, 2012. I have just come to learn that last night, Don Álvaro Sarmiento, the former Bangladeshi consul general in Spain and the co-founder of La Fundación Latino Grameen (the Grameen Trust in Spain) died suddenly in his sleep. He was going to be 84 in February, next year.
At times, I may sound too sentimental to some of the readers regarding this piece but I hope they will find ways to forgive me for this emotional incontinence because, besides being a distinguished adopted son of Bangladesh who served in the Bangladeshi community in Spain so well and for so many years, Álvaro was also my best friend.
As I write, my heart is aching and tears are welling up in my eyes. And I can assure you that I am not a man who cries easily.
Álvaro was born in a conservative Spanish family in Zaragoza, the seat of the prestigious Spanish Military Academy. His father was a general, who served in the Spanish army as a close collaborator of General Franco, the former Head of State of Spain.
Álvaro studied engineering and earned his doctorate in industrial engineering in 1974. Then using his family connections went into business and became very wealthy. He learnt how to play the piano in a professional manner and took lessons to appreciate works of art. Soon he married into an equally wealthy family and had children. Until then there was nothing in his background to indicate that he had any interest in the poor people in his home country, and far less in the immigrants coming from a far-away poor country called Bangladesh.
A chance encounter in Madrid in the early 70s with a Bangladeshi student called Monir ul Islam (now the internationally recognised artist Monir) changed all that. By his own confession, Álvaro found Monir and his sketches rather exotic. This was the beginning of a strange friendship between a penniless immigrant artist and a wealthy businessman, who belonged to the ruling elite of the Spanish society.
It also marked the beginning of Álvaro's transformation from a fun-loving classist to a generous philanthropist, who became genuinely interested in the welfare of people who were less fortunate.
Other changes came in quick successions. By mid 80s there were already hundreds, if not thousands, of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants trying to earn a living by selling cheap garments and other cotton wares at street corners in most of the major cities of Spain and this phenomenon was creating a tension between the governments of Bangladesh and Spain.
Neither of them had any diplomatic mission in each other's country. Since it was very expensive to open and run a full-fledged diplomatic mission in Madrid (the embassy in Paris had jurisdiction over Spain), the then Government of Bangladesh decided to look for an honourary consul in Madrid to take care of the growing Bangladeshi community in Spain and to open up the possibilities of bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Spain.
This was not an easy task. The chosen person had to be wealthy enough to pay for all the expenses of running a consulate from his own pocket and also had to have a genuine interest in helping poor immigrants.
Because of his friendship with Álvaro, Monir recommended him for this position to General Abdur Rahman, the then Bangladeshi ambassador to Paris.
Álvaro took his job seriously and for eleven years (1986-1997) he served the Bangladeshi community in every way possible. He issued innumerable passports, gave legal support and personally attended them at immigration centres.
Sometimes he also gave them small sums of money to get by temporarily. Later he helped their children to obtain scholarships so that they could pursue higher studies.
Álvaro became so fond of Bangladesh and its people that he visited the country fourteen times, three of them in the company of Queen Sofia, who happens to love Bangladesh, too. He had been to every nook and corner of Bangladesh. He came to know Bangladesh so well that he often used to give geography lessons to me, a native son of this very land.
He loved our food, our traditional handicrafts and cotton wares. He had truly become a son of Bangladesh, albeit an adopted one. In 2010, in recognition to his services to Bangladesh and Spain and at the recommendation of Ambassador Arturo Perez, King Juan Carlos of Spain appointed him as a Comendador de la Orden del Mérito Civil. It is a pity that the Government of Bangladesh has not yet found it appropriate to honour him with a similar award.
I must end this article here and now because in a newspaper, space is limited. But I must confess that a deep sense of loss has taken hold of me and I am having difficulty in getting rid of it.
I feel, somewhat irrationally, that I should have had the opportunity to tell Álvaro personally before he went away for good, “Although you are gone, your legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of generations of Spaniards of Bangladeshi origin, who love you and owe so much to you for your selfless dedication to the community.”
But alas, now it is too late.

The writer is a columnist for The Daily Star.