Dear Five Talents Friends and Family,
You are in my thoughts and prayers in these disorienting times. As our Five Talents staff and board have spent extra time in prayer these days, I am deeply encouraged by the gift of being part of such a caring community in this time of uncertainty. Thank you for being a part of this community as well.
Each day, and sometimes each hour, brings news of the rising toll from the Coronavirus. And the Coronavirus poses a tremendous challenge to our partners around the world as the people we support are so vulnerable. Our partners are working in fragile regions with little access to healthcare while serving those living in extreme poverty. So, despite the serious challenges, Five Talents continues to find ways to do our work to serve and empower those most overlooked.
Wisdom for a Difficult Season
Fortunately, the lessons of Lent can guide us during these difficult times.
“And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
”
Walter Brueggemann writes in “A Way Other Than our Own” about this scripture:
The usual way of being in the world is anxiety, of being pressed and harried and worried, and that in turn leads to a stance of defensiveness and fear and a determination to keep what we have. Anxiety that believes that we best get what we can and keep what we’ve got. Characteristically, Jesus asks a question which doesn’t require an answer because it’s so obvious: which of you, by being anxious, has ever added an inch to your lives? Jesus suggests another way:
“Seek the kingdom and God’s righteousness. ”
Reflecting on this scripture, Brueggemann offers us a prayer: Free us, Lord, from our obsession with ourselves long enough to care for others; to be so concerned about the well-being of the human community that we don’t have to worry about our place, our church, our class, our values, our vested interests. Help us to know the joy and freedom of putting all our trust in you. Amen.
Continuing the Fight Against Extreme Poverty
While life might feel like it’s on pause now, poverty does not take a break. During these difficult times we at Five Talents feel in our bones the need to keep caring, to keep working, to keep sharing love with anyone in need. So, here is what we’re doing to keep going, to keep serving:
Our little US team began working from home March 18th, in line with government advice. Although none of us have experienced any illness, we felt this was an important step to safeguard not only our staff, but also the most vulnerable in our own communities.
We postponed all Five Talents events and trips, until at least May, but we are working on alternative ideas to keep you all engaged and inspired! We believe keeping in touch with one another is more important than ever now, and we'll be sharing some ideas with you.
Our work on the ground and our concern for members of savings groups remain our priority. Thankfully, in our program countries so far, only a small number of cases of the Coronavirus have been reported (we find this website useful for tracking cases globally). However, we are concerned that the numbers will rise, and weaker healthcare systems in many of the places where we work will be overstretched. We are in regular touch with international program staff, and as always, and we have asked them to take care and follow local government advice and travel restrictions.
If our trainers cannot travel to remote villages to train and support savings groups, and if savings groups themselves can no longer gather together, clearly much of Five Talents' valuable work will have to pause. We have committed to continue paying the salaries of our trainers as long as we can, even if they cannot travel to train. Our trainers will continue to be in touch with the new savings group leaders in remote village by cell-phone, providing encouragement and mentoring from afar.
More positively, we know our programs have been building communities and resilience for 20 years now, and these essential foundations will help our members face emergencies just like this one. We are also using this as an opportunity to share learning between programs via phone calls, and some program staff are embarking on online courses - something they don’t normally have a lot of time for!
Challenges AND Opportunities
We are determined to be positive throughout this pandemic; we will use it as an opportunity to explore new approaches to training and new ways to engage with you, our supporters. And we hope to strengthen our community in the US, taking a page from the wonderfully strong communities we see in our programs around the world.
We also recognize there will be tough times ahead, and as always, toughest for the most vulnerable both here and abroad. For those of faith, we ask you to pray: for members of all our programs; for those working to keep essential work going; and for everyone affected by the Coronavirus.
Thank you again for your continued support. We are so grateful to have supporters like you, and we wish you and all those you love health and resilience. We are grateful for your continued partnership. You have made all the difference in the lives of those we serve.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Dale Stanton-Hoyle,
Executive Director