Perhaps you already have 5 books on your must-read list for 2013. Or maybe you have more like 50. Either way, we hope you'll read at least a couple of the following picks over the next 12 months. We're recommending titles that approach poverty from a variety of perspectives. Whether you are a development specialist or someone who simply loves a good story, we have you covered.
The Dragon's Gift If you're interested in Africa and would like to learn more about the aid and investments that are flowing into the continent, then Deborah Brautigam's The Dragon's Gift is a must-read. The author has spent decades studying China's investment and aid packages to African governments. Besides offering a timely and ground-breaking analysis of China's activity on the continent, Brautigam also provides context so that we can understand how China's approach to aid and investment differs from that of the United States and other Western nations. For a great review of the book, click here.
Where China Meets India If you'd like to learn more about one of the countries where Five Talents works, we recommend this book about Myanmar (Burma). Last year, the Burmese government made news by launching a series of reforms, including a loosening of media controls and an embrace of democratic elections. What was once one of the most closed societies in the world was suddenly opening its doors to the West and inviting investment to help spur development. Where China Meets India, by Thant Myint-U, is an engrossing travelogue that shows just how fast Myanmar is changing.
A Free Man If you want to read a profile of an individual who is struggling to escape a world of poverty, look no further than Aman Sethi's A Free Man. The author, a correspondent for The Hindu, focuses his non-fiction narrative on the life of a homeless day-laborer in Delhi, India. The fast-paced story takes the reader into a world that few of us in the West have ever seen. Esther Duflo, co-author of Poor Economics (another great book that we have written about), calls Sethi's book "a beautiful work of journalism," adding: "What starts as classic ethnography becomes a gripping story, and ends as a homage to a lost friend."
Through the Eye of a Needle If you enjoy history and would like to learn more about the early church and Christians' view of wealth and poverty, read Peter Brown's acclaimed Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD. Brown, a respected historian, excels at evoking the life of the ancients through colorful prose and through profound readings of saints like Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome. As Christianity Today puts it, Brown lets us "hear the heartbeat of late Roman and early Christian civilization."
When Helping Hurts If you'd like to learn about how the Christian church has helped – and hurt – the cause of the impoverished around the world, then pick up Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert's When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself. The book was re-released in 2012 with a new foreword and two new chapters. Readers interested in learning more about the philosophy that informs Five Talents' approach to micro-enterprise development will find this book particularly helpful.
We're excited to share with you our 2011-2012 Annual Report for the fiscal year running from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. Click here to download the PDF.
In the report, you'll find all of the latest financial figures and program statistics, as well as stories, photos and highlights from every one of Five Talents' programs.
The report also features beautiful illustrations from one of our volunteers, Laura Bauder. So a great big thank-you to Laura, who also took on the task of designing the report.
Every so often, we highlight interesting articles and books that touch upon microfinance, poverty or international development. Today's list includes some back-and-forth involving one of America's top newspaper columnists and a new book about one man's experiences in the microfinance industry:
Over at The Atlantic, Max Fisher has collected a rare public back-and-forth between The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Ugandan writer-entrepreneur Teddy Ruge about the media's coverage of Africa. It all began when Ruge responded to a Kristof tweet promoting a column on the "Rise of Africa". Ruge wrote: "... @NickKristof wakes to the idea that Africa is Rising. Hey Nick, I've been writing that line for 5 years now." Kristof then fired back: "Then I beat you to it: I wrote my first 'Africa is rising' piece in 1997." Click here to read the rest of their exchange, in which Ruge states that if Kristof "did nothing but write about Africa is Rising from now on, it'd take u decades to reverse damage u've done to our image." Ouch.
The Five Talents UK office recently put together a new video about our Uganda program's 2012 expansion into Kitgum, a town in the northern part of the country. Here it is -- with a huge thank-you to Thomas White for his work on the filming of the project.
In late May, Five Talents Executive Director Sonia Patterson spent time with micro-entrepreneneurs in our Uganda program.
Here's an Instagram photo of Alice, in Kampala. She told Sonia that her sewing business has helped to transform her life -- and pay for her children's school supplies.
"I am who I am because of Five Talents," she said.
Sonia heard stores like Alice's again and again, and in the coming weeks we will be sharing more of those here on this blog.
Click here to read more about the Five Talents Uganda program.
In lieu of our regular "Weekly Window" post, which features a photo of the week, we are posting one piece of a new photo puzzle, featuring a shot from Uganda by the photographer Thomas White. The remaining seven puzzle pieces are on our Pinterest and Instagram accounts.
Collect all eight and re-pin (or post) them to your own Pinterest or Instagram account by the end of the week and we will send you an exclusive set of postcards featuring Five Talents photography.
Every week, we do our best to tell you the story of Five Talents, its mission, and the communities where we work.
Much of what you'll find here in the blog and on the Website are summaries of what we do and stories about those who have benefitted from our programs.
However, Web users are increasingly looking for visual storytelling as well.
Perhaps you've already discovered that you can spend hours on a site like Pinterest. Maybe you've downloaded the Instagram app to your smart phone. Both of these exploding platforms are hubs for people who love to share photos – and view them.
That's why, in recent months, Five Talents has made an effort to establish itself on each of these networks. On Instagram, for example, you can find exclusive shots from our program in Uganda by photographer Thomas White. On Pinterest, we have created "pin boards" featuring our favorite books, quotes from the field, and more.
If photography and visual story-telling is your thing, we hope you'll follow us and share our content.
Click here to view our Pinterest boards. If something catches your eye, you can support Five Talents by "liking" and re-pinning the photo on one of your own boards.
If you have a smart phone with iOS or Android, you can download the Instagram application, or "app". Once you've set up your account, you can follow Five Talents and "like" our photos by double-tapping on them.
In the coming months, we plan to leverage these unique platforms for some very cool campaigns – including art contests, virtual puzzles, and more.
The Dragon's Gift
Where China Meets India
A Free Man
Through the Eye of a Needle
When Helping Hurts
Every week, we do our best to tell you the story of Five Talents, its mission, and the communities where we work.
