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Since 2002, Five Talents has been working in under-served communities outside of Jakarta, Indonesia with its local partner, GERHATI. In this video, filmed and produced for Five Talents by David Middleton, you'll get an inside look at the transformation that is taking place in the capital city of the world's fourth most populous country.

GERHATI, an acronym in the local language for "Gateway of Hope for Human Transformation," was conceived and developed jointly by Five Talents, in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and the expatriate Anglican community of All Saints Church in Jakarta in 2002. The GERHATI Foundation, located just outside of Jakarta in Bekasi, Java, is registered as a cooperative and started operations in April 2005.

Five Talents and its partners provide not only micro-loans, but also business skills training, spiritual support, free health care opportunities and even workshops on personal care. As with all of Five Talents' programs, people of any or no faith may participate.

In 2013, Five Talents plans to expand into another Jakarta community where traditional money lenders have annualized interest rates as high at 800 percent.

During Suzanne's recent visit to Malakal, South Sudan, she came away excited...

There’s a great story unfolding in the lives of some local Washingtonians...

One of the ways Five Talents distinguishes itself from other organizations, such as Kiva...

We recently blogged about Carolina, who runs two micro-enterprises in Tanzania. Here, she's working at her poultry enterprise, which produces about 30 eggs per day. She also runs a soap-making business that targets the university student population in her community of Iringa.

Carolina is in her 4th loan cycle, and her most recent loan of 200,000 Tsh ($125) was used to improve the cleaning process for her poultry project.

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.

In September, we began a new video series featuring Five Talents staff and volunteers talking about the organization's mission and how it resonates with them on a personal level.

In Part 1, McKenzie Butler, a program officer, speaks about the concept of empowerment and what that actually looks like in the lives of many of the women we serve.

In Part 2, Kimber Slater, an administrative assistant at Five Talents, speaks about the God-given dignity that every human being can tap to better his or her life -- and the lives of loved ones.

Last Friday, we invited you to help us spread the word about an awesome matching gift opportunity. Every $5 donation made on October 5 was matched by a generous donor – in the hopes that we could use the offer to introduce Five Talents to new friends.

Thanks to you, October 5 was a huge success. By giving, "Liking" our Facebook posts, and e-mailing your friends, you helped us to raise over $1,000!

Think about it: In an impoverished country like Burundi, $1,000 covers the cost of providing loan capital, savings opportunities and business skills training for about 40 women and men!

We as a team feel so blessed by your support. Thank you for encouraging us. And thank you for helping us serve hard-working micro-entrepreneurs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In this photo, Hidaya is preparing the legumes that she uses for her pastry business in Tanzania. She sells her pasties at a nearby school and to others in her community. Before joining a savings and loan group with Five Talents' partner, the Mama Bahati Foundation, Hidaya could not afford to buy the legumes in bulk. Now, with the help of a loan, she is able to buy her ingredients in bulk and, thus, save money and increase her profit margin.

Today, you can double your investment in the life of a micro-entrepreneur!

Every $5 donation made on October 5 will be matched by a generous donor!

Five dollars may not sound like much. Nowadays, it's the cost of a good cup of coffee.

But when your $5 gift is matched, it becomes the size of a small micro-loan!

If you've been looking for a way to introduce a few friends to Five Talents, this is it. Invite four friends to join you in donating $5 each, and your combined $25 gift will become $50. That's the equivalent of five small micro-loans!

Pretty awesome, right? Click here to make your $5 gift today!