Indonesia

We post to this blog three times a week, on average, but even regular visitors to our website are unable to catch every single article.

Below, you'll find a list of our most popular blog posts from the last month. If you've been away for a while, these program updates will get you caught up in no time.

If you're unfamiliar with Five Talents' microfinance programs, then this is a great place to start learning more about the nature of our work. As you'll soon find, every program is unique. Some are savings-led; others are credit-led. Some have a literacy and financial education component. Some target communities in urban slums. Others work in extremely rural, un-banked communities.

All of our programs are empowering women. All are helping parents to develop a sustainable micro-enterprise that can improve their quality of life and help their children to stay in school. All are bringing folks living in impoverished communities a chance to save money, take out a small loan, and learn basic business skills, like accounting and marketing. And all program participants are reminded of their God-given dignity and encouraged to use the unique gifts their creator has placed in their care.

Please check out any of these program updates you have missed, and share your favorites with folks on Facebook and Twitter:

Mother's Day is almost here, but it's not too late to express your thanks and love to the special women in your life, while also empowering mothers in Five Talents' microsavings and microcredit programs.

Here are a couple of ways that you can make Mother's Day extra-special this year:

• Submit a photograph of your mom, grandmother or aunt to be published on Five Talents' "Talented Moms" Pinterest board. Every photo is a $5 donation to Five Talents! Once we post the photo, you can share the Pinterest board with your loved one. She'll be delighted to see herself among the ranks of the world's most "Talented Moms"! To submit a photo, e-mail it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or tweet it to @FiveTalents along with the hash tag "#TalentedMoms".
• Send your mom, grandmother, aunt or wife a Five Talents "Love Always Hopes" eCard that will empower a woman in the country of your choice -- Peru, Bolivia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Burundi or South Sudan.

Click on the icons below to jump to stories and a video about Five Talents' program in and around Jakarta, Indonesia.

Five Talents partners in Indonesia with GERHATI. The organization was founded in 2002 by Five Talents, the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and the expatriate Anglican community of All Saints Church in Jakarta.

GERHATI offers two loan products to its clients. The first is the Trust Bank Loan Program. Loan sizes range from $53 to $214. The second loan product, Small Business Loan Program, is available to existing GERHATI clients who improve their business, are diligent in repayment, and finish the Trust Bank Loan Program. These loans can go as high as $500.

This short Five Talents USA video ad is featured in Episode 70 of Anglican.tv's current affairs Web show "Anglican Unscripted." A generous donor covered the cost of the 15-second spot, which features footage from our work in Indonesia, South Sudan, Burundi and Bolivia.

Click here to watch the complete "Anglican Unscripted" episode. (The Five Talents ad appears around the 8:20 mark.)

When Tina lost her factory job in Jakarta, Indonesia, her children, Putri and Willy, also lost the funds they needed to cover school fees for books and uniforms.

Tina, 40, needed to act fast. But her options were limited. While her husband continued his work as a driver in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, Tina opened a small salon. Unfortunately, it was one of many in the neighborhood. While she was skilled in cutting and styling hair, her business did not survive, in part due to the cutthroat competition on her street.

So Tina took Putri and Willy with her to Cileungsi, a suburb of Bogor, which is about 60 km south of Jakarta. She once again set up a salon, and once again, it failed to generate any income.

Many people might have despaired if they found themselves in Tina's shoes, but she did not give up. Her children's future depended on her finding a way to make money.

It was around this time that she learned about Five Talents' local partner in Indonesia, GERHATI. The project in Indonesia maintains three core programs that provide financial support, training, and technical assistance to poor entrepreneurs.

One thing that distinguishes Five Talents from other microfinance organizations is our focus on under-served communities. We don't work in places laden with traditional banks and large for-profit microfinance institutions. We focus on the poor who live well off the beaten path and who have little or no access even to basic financial services.

One such community is in Bekasi, Indonesia, a slum area outside of Jakarta. In January, the city and some outlying slums, including Bekasi, suffered devastating flooding.

Our partner on the ground, GERHATI, which Five Talents helped to found in 2005, recently sent us photos of their efforts to aid local Bekasi residents. These pictures offer a glimpse into an under-served community that's desperately in need of basic financial services and training that can empower micro-entrepreneurs and equip them for success.

GERHATI staff put together bags of food and essential goods for people in flooded Bekasi.

GERHATI staff load the bags into trucks.

Bekasi residents wade through the flood waters.

In this photo taken by David Middleton for Five Talents, a woman tends to her food business on a side street in Bekasi, just outside of Jakarta, Indonesia.

Five Talents partners in Bekasi with GERHATI to set up savings and loan groups, provide loan capital for small enterprises and train micro-entrepreneurs in basic business skills and financial literacy. Group members and their community also have free access to health clinics organized by GERHATI.

This photo taken by David Middleton for Five Talents captures a typical alley road in the Bekasi neighborhood outside of Jakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java.

Five Talents partners in the country with GERHATI, an organization that was co-founded by Five Talents, the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and the expatriate Anglican community of All Saints Church in Jakarta.

Click here to watch a video profile of the project in Bekasi, which provides savings and loan opportunities, business training for micro-entrepreneurs and free health clinics for group members and others in the community.