leaving on a jet plane

(In this photo: Poni, a Sudanese wife and mother, runs a restaurant near Wudu market in Kajo Keji. Although she works hard, Poni does not currently make enough profit to put all of her children in school. In an effort to better provide for her family, she will be attending Seed Effect's upcoming Loan Orientation Seminar and applying for a loan to invest in her business.)

In less than 48 hours, Team Seed Effect (Stateside) will be on a plane to Sudan… After months of hard work laying the foundation for our Seed Loan Program, we are ready to launch to a group of eager entrepreneurs!

Before we give the details of our trip, however, we’d first like to thank all you Seed Effecters out there who have partnered with us to make this a reality for the women and men of Kajo Keji County, South Sudan. God has used your generous support, faithful prayers, and willingness to invest in the lives of the poor in a mighty way as we now embark on an incredible journey to plant the seeds that overcome spiritual and physical poverty in the lives of these individuals!

We ask now that you would please join us in praying for this community- that God will reveal himself to them through Seed Effect’s loan program and that we will be willing and able to serve as the hands and feet of Christ by empowering them with the tools to generate an income to provide essentials like food, clean water, adequate healthcare and school fees for their families.

Now for the trip… During our stay, we will be working with the Sudan team to host our first Seed Effect Loan Orientation Seminar for a group of 15 potential clients that have qualified for our program based upon poverty status and other criteria. The goal of this seminar is to train them in microfinance and sound business practices and also help them to develop a viable growth strategy and plan for their business. Upon completion of the seminar, these entrepreneurs will be eligible to work with our Loan Officers to apply for a loan. Our goal is to soft launch the program to this initial group with a follow-up launch to the community within the next 6 weeks.

In addition to the seminar, Trey Hill will be shooting footage for an upcoming Seed Effect video, the entire Seed Effect team will spend a couple of days in the field with the e3 Partners church planting team, and we will be working hard to implement the educational component of our Seed Loan Program.

With so much to accomplish in the next few weeks, we would love it if you would join us in praying for this trip, Team Seed Effect, our future clients, and the implementation of our Seed Loan Program!

Again, thank you so much for your ongoing support and partnership! Oh, and be sure to become a fan of Seed Effect on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date as we're on the field.

a report from the field

As I blogged a few weeks back, after months of hard work and coordinating with our ISP and installers, the Internet was finally connected at the Seed Effect compound in South Sudan! One of the drawbacks, however, of high-speed Internet in an area with little to no infrastructure is the monthly cost. In order to offset this cost, Seed Effect has launched the only Internet Café in Kajo Keji county, providing access for close to 200,000 people this week!

Below is a report from the field written by our Program Development Supervisor, Heather Sumner:

This week marked a huge milestone for Team Seed Effect: SUDAN. As you know, the Internet was finally connected a few weeks ago. Since then we have still had some problems configuring our Internet Café software. This week, however, we resolved these issues and were finally able to open to the public! Upon our launch, we advertised in the community by hanging up flyers, making announcements over the loud speaker in the main market and on the local radio station, Grace FM.

Here was our announcement:

SEED EFFECT INTERNET CAFÉ IS NOW OFFICIALLY OPEN!!! COME AND USE THE FASTEST INTERNET CONNECTION IN KAJO KEJI! SEED EFFECT INTERNET CAFÉ IS LOCATED ON THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WUDU COMPOUND. CHECK YOUR EMAIL AND EXPLORE THE WEB IN THE QUICKEST TIME FOR ONLY 130 SHILLINGS PER MINUTE! COME AND BE CONNECTED TO THE WORLD!

This is an exciting time for the team because of the impact that this Café could have on the community of Kajo Keji. Who knew that a small, isolate village in South Sudan would have access to high speed Internet?

- Heather Sumner, Program Development Supervisor