it started with a sewing machine...

The Seed Effect from Seed Effect on Vimeo.

why sudan?

sudan's civil war, between the north and the south, was one of the longest of the 20th century, lasting over 50 years. before the north/south comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, 2.2 million southern sudanese had been killed and millions more displaced living as refugees in neighboring countries.  for those who remained, the impact of this widespread injustice on the south struck in the form of extreme poverty, illness, and an overall breakdown of infrastructure. (for an engaging narrative on this conflict, check out “what is the what” by dave eggers)

in 2006, the UN development programme reported the following on the post-war status of sudan: “poverty is widespread in sudan. UNDP’s 2006 human development report ranked the country 141st among 177 countries.  according to a recent  joint world bank- UNDP mission, about 60-75% of the population in the north, and 90% of the population in the south is estimated to be living below the poverty line of less than $1 a day.”

since 2005, humanitarian efforts have been valiant to reach the poor and disenfranchised in south sudan, but unfortunately, these efforts have merely skimmed the surface.  with such widespread poverty and lack of governmental support, the demand or need for aid and development dramatically outweighs the supply.  to quantify, per my research, there are less than a dozen documented mfi’s operating in south sudan compared to the hundreds issuing loans in places like india and mexico. (mix market, microfinance gateway, kiva)  these statistics give evidence to the world bank’s estimate that only 4% of the worldwide demand for microloans is currently being met.  

and these are just a few of the poverty statistics... 

sudan also lies in the 10/40 window, an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-christians globally, as it is estimated that 95% of the people in this region have never heard the gospel.  not surprisingly, this region is also home to about 80% of the world’s poorest.  

seed effect exists to serve the poor, the lost, the marginalized communities around the world.  i guess that answers that question... 

how it all began

the seed, if you will, for seed effect was planted during a trip to sudan in december 2007. the goal of the trip was simple and purely spiritual. partner with the local church, share the gospel, and plant new churches.  and, well, we did just that and it was amazing. along the way, though, we couldn’t help but notice the poverty. physical poverty i mean. children with tattered clothing, bloated bellies, open wounds... you get the picture. it got us thinking. should we do something? can we do something? 

enter jesus. did you know that there are over 2000 verses in the bible that reference the injustice of poverty? and did you know that not one of them says to walk by without doing anything? a quick venture into scripture and we answered our first question. but the second question, can we do something? it took some more thought. i mean, we knew it wasn’t as simple as handing out money. we’ve all seen the effects of that. so we looked for something more, something that addressed the problem without creating more problems. that’s when we read about microfinance. small loans to the poor, big impact on poverty. it’s been tried and proven to be true. (mr. yunus can show you his peace prize to prove it.) i guess that’s when we found the answer to our second question. maybe we can be a part of addressing this whole poverty thing. 

but then there’s more. enter jesus, again. can we really address just the physical poverty? i mean, if we don’t introduce them to our maker, the one who truly gives life, have we really impacted poverty at all? then it hit us. through e3 partners, we have a direct partnership with the local church. we can meet the physical needs with a loan program, plant the seed of spiritual growth during the process, and send them to the church to grow. seed effect. planting seeds that overcome poverty- both kinds- the physical and the spiritual. 

join us? plant a seed. be a part of the seed effect.