Sudan & South Sudan

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.

We need your help! Beginning today at 12pm EST, voting opens in a video contest sponsored by the Month of Microfinance and the SEEP Network. You'll find some great entries -- including this one from Five Talents:

We'd really appreciate your support as we try to get out the vote! Click here to watch the videos. Click here to cast your ballot.

We hope you will also send a quick e-mail to friends, asking them to vote for Five Talents. Here's some language that you can paste into your e-mail:

Hey! The micro-enterprise development organization I suport, Five Talents, has entered a powerful video about its microsavings work into an online competition. I'd love it if you would (1) watch the video -- you'll be blown away, I promise! -- and (2) vote for it by Wednesday at 5pm EST. Thanks so much! I know they'll appreciate your support, too! Now back to regular programming!

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.)

Five Talents Program Director Suzanne Schultz Middleton snapped this photo of a cattle camp during her recent visit to Malakal, South Sudan. Malakal is one of several communities in the country that Five Talents is serving, alongside its local partners, which include the local Anglican diocese.

This interactive image links to a recent blog post about the Malakal cattle camp, to a photograph of children who live in the cattle camp, as well as to a video highlighting other aspects of our microfinance programs in South Sudan.

Over the weekend, the Washington Post ran a story about the growing attention being given to microsavings. Here at Five Talents, we were delighted to see the story because it affirms the work we've been doing for years. It also communicates a powerful truth: that learning to save can transform one's life – even in communities where women and men do not have access to traditional banks.

"There's a common, misguided, knee-jerk reaction that if you're poor, you have no assets to save," Dean Karlan, a Yale economist, told the Post. "People who are poor obviously save less, but they still save."

We've seen this for years in our Burundi program, which by June 30 will have helped more than 10,000 women and men join savings groups and build wealth where, previously, they had none. Other Five Talents programs – including ones in South Sudan, Myanmar and Bolivia – also feature the group-led savings model.

In the case of Five Talents, however, these savings "circles," as the Post calls them, are far more than glorified piggy banks. They are microcosms of self-government and hubs for compassionate community outreach.

I saw this first-hand during my recent trip to Burundi.

Each group has a constitution (a list of rules) that is created and agreed upon by the members themselves. The rules cover everything from the number of women and men who may participate in a single group, to conditions regarding savings deposits and loan disbursement. Group members also determine their own interest rates and penalty fees.

This self-determination does wonders for members' self-esteem, and it encourages discipline and order that members can then model in their individual homes.

Even more amazing, though, is what these groups are able to accomplish for others in their community. Most savings groups in Burundi create an emergency fund, which they will only tap when the group collectively identifies a needy individual in their community – often someone who is not even a part of their circle.

This photo was taken during Executive Director Sonia Patterson's recent trip to South Sudan, where she met Christina, one of thousands of women who are learning – in some cases re-learning – basic literacy and numeracy skills and participating in savings groups and business training seminars.

"Thanks to my business, I now have savings, and I know how much savings I have because I can read my [accounting] books," said Christina during a meeting with other savings group members.

Here in the US, we can sometimes underestimate the importance of being financially literate. In places like South Sudan, where war has interrupted education, many grown women and men have not been able to develop even basic math skills, like adding and subtracting.

To find out more about Five Talents' work in South Sudan, watch this video featuring interviews with Christina and some of her other fellow group members.

In February, Five Talents Executive Director Sonia Patterson returned from South Sudan and Burundi with a hard-drive full of video footage and interviews featuring women and men in our microfinance programs. We're delighted to share some of these interviews with you in a condensed, three-minute video focused on micro-entrepreneurs who work in a small community outside of Juba, South Sudan.

You'll meet women who grow cassava leaves, brew tea and coffee and sell daily staples at a market stand. And you'll hear how foundational literacy and numeracy training through our partner Mothers' Union enables the micro-entrepreneurs to make better decisions about their businesses and their families going forward.

"Before, we didn't know anything," Rose, a savings group member who lives near Juba, told Sonia. "But now in my business I can add and I can count and I can even make change."

Five Talents believes that women and men running survival businesses need more than a micro-loan. That's why we work with our partners in South Sudan first to ensure these individuals have basic literacy and numeracy skills. We build on this education by organizing savings groups and providing basic business training in areas like marketing and accounting. Over time, savings group members begin taking out small loans.

Together, these literacy, training and financial services ensure that micro-entrepreneurs have a much better chance of developing a sustainable business that can provide for their family and keep their kids in school.

Please take a moment to watch the video and then share it with your friends on Facebook.

I'm currently in Juba, South Sudan, and I want to share with you some of the amazing things I'm seeing and hearing from participants in our programs here.

As women in America, we can take so much for granted. We know how to count. We know how to read a street sign. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you could not do these basic things?

Yesterday, I was sitting in on a group meeting and watching as women wrote words like "chicken" in the dirt. The facilitator was drawing pictures, and the women were spelling out words that identified those crude drawings.

This may seem like a small accomplishment, but when a woman learns to count, read, write and save money, something shifts in the foundation of her household: The woman finds her voice, and the entire family benefits.

One man told me of the changes that have taken place in his own home since his wife has begun participating in the financial literacy and savings program we've established with our local partners.

"I want to sell a goat to buy some nails for building, but she [my wife] has to agree first," he said, adding, "Now you have to ask your wife even if you want to sell a chicken!"

What a testimony to the transformation that is taking place in households and communities all over South Sudan!

When a woman can read, write and count, she can know where she is going on the road. She can write her own name. She can follow directions on medicine packages. She can weigh in on financial decisions.

And she can learn how to save money and run very small businesses.

Ringing in my ear are the words of joy and hope from women with whom I have spoken.

"I can read a sign now, so I know where I am going."

"I can write my own name."

"You have brought us love and understanding at the same time."

As one man told me, "Change has come to the community." I can't wait to see more of this transformation in the coming days.