In the business of orphan prevention

Back in November, I was in Sudan for the launch of Seed Effect's first microfinance site. During this trip (my 5^th in 2 years), we finally handed out loans to our first 19 clients. It was an incredible blessing to be there and to see the joy on their faces as they and their families were empowered with renewed hope for their future. On this day, we prayed that they might come to know Christ and know him fully and that our Seed Loan program would be the catalyst that empowers them to overcome poverty.

I can honestly say that I will never forget this day for as long as I live.

But when I think about this trip, there is one other day that haunts me… a day that in a way threatens to overshadow the joy that I saw on the faces of these women and a day that serves as a constant reminder of just how important our work is.

Important enough to mean the difference between life or death.

On the day before Loan Day, we arrived on our compound to find our local staff in tears and the doors to our Vocational School closed. Early that morning, one of the women that had attended our school went into labor under a tree outside her tukul. There were complications, and without the money for medical care, she died that morning under that tree.

As is typical with my Type A, driven personality, I honestly didn’t really begin to process all of this until later. I mean, I was busy getting ready for Loan Day. (Horribly callous, I know, but sadly true nonetheless.) Of course, I was sad for the women that were close to her, sad for her family and those that she had surely left behind, but it wasn’t until later that the gravity of this really hit me.

At the time, we weren’t sure what happened to the baby. We heard mixed reports- some that the baby lived, others that he died. Either way, the lack of resources available to this family left this mother dead and this child either dead or orphaned.

A couple of weeks after we returned from our trip, we received an email update from one of the volunteers working at the orphanage in town. Here is his update:

“Today, I cried for the first time on this trip. Only a couple of weeks ago, we received an infant at the orphanage. Rose Yangi gave birth to her fourth child. Because of complications with the birth, Rose passed away. She named him Geri Evans and he was brought to the orphanage… This past weekend, we noticed that Geri was becoming ill. After being admitted to the hospital, we learned that he was not urinating nor defecating. As he spent some days in the hospital his condition worsened. Yesterday, Thursday, Nov. 19, Geri stopped breathing. The hospital staff attempted to administer oxygen into his body, but they were not successful. Geri Evans Anthony passed away at approximately 5:00PM. Today, I attended the burial of Geri’s body and the brief service that followed. As I stood among almost 100 other people, I began to feel the weight of the family’s mourning. Geri’s body was buried only a few feet away from his mother’s grave. Women were wailing. And I found myself praying for this father who has lost both his wife and his son within three weeks… All the people of South Sudan have come to know death very well. And because of this, I have come to appreciate life all the more.”

As I read his words, I realized that this was the same woman that had attended our Vocational School, carried her 5^th child to term, and lost her life under the tree that morning.

If we had been a few months earlier with our Seed Loan Program, would this have happened? Would Rose be alive? Would Geri still be alive and would he and his brothers and sisters still have a mother? If, after her vocational training, she had received access to a microloan, invested it in her business, built relationships with other women that were committed to supporting her, generated a higher income, learned more about health needs and how to better access medical resources, and been able to better provide for her family, would this have had a different outcome?

The day I received this email, was the day that I truly began to understand what we were doing at such a deeper level. The stakes are high. Really high. Of course, it's all in his hands. He doesn't need us but he can use us... the more available we are, the faster we work, the more we spread the truth, the more funds are raised, the more women are reached, the more families are impacted, the less children are orphaned, and the more lives are saved.

There’s just so little time and so much to do…

-Missy Williams, ED Seed Effect

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:37-40

Photo by Trey Hill

2009: a year in review

From many firsts to some untimely deaths and a few shocking scandals, 2009 was quite a year! This year, America inaugurated the first African American president in our country’s history. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died unexpectedly at age 50. America and the rest of the world experienced the worst economic recession since the 30’s. Slumdog Millionaire surprised everyone and won 8 Oscars. There was a boy that supposedly got lost in a balloon and Tiger Woods definitely had the worst year of his life.

And, while all that was going on, Seed Effect began working alongside the local church and some incredibly resilient and hard-working women in a budding village in a forgotten country where life went on as normal despite all of the firsts, the scandals, and the deaths. This year, Seed Effect launched a microfinance initiative that will bring hope to a community where life as normal means fighting for your life and the lives of your children and struggling to earn enough to pay for malaria treatment, put food on the table, and provide an education for your children that might change their lives and change their definition of normal.

This year, we celebrated another first as we empowered our first group of 19 women with the tools necessary to transform their lives and provide for their families…

One of those women is Sokale Benai, a humble Sudanese store-owner, wife, and mother of 8, who joined a Seed Effect Cell Group called “Mondu Busan” meaning “Waiting for Blessing” and received a micro-loan and business training from Seed Effect. Before the loan, she sold maize flour, beans, onions, and saucepans. With the loan and the education she received from our Training Seminar, she added live lambs along with a variety of breads, sodas, eggs, and rice to her inventory in an effort to diversify the marketplace and meet the needs of her customers. This additional inventory has enabled her to generate more sales, earn a larger profit, and better provide for her family.

Now, as we celebrate 2009 and ring in 2010, we hope you’ll join us in praising God for such an incredible year! What started with a life and impacted a family now has the power to transform a community in the year to come as we turn 19 women into hundreds more. Join us? Plant a Seed. Be a Part of the Seed Effect in 2010.

it started with a sewing machine...

The Seed Effect from Seed Effect on Vimeo.

seed effect loan day!

Today, Seed Effect disbursed our first loans to a group of 19 Sudanese women. These seed loans will empower these women to provide for their family in ways that they otherwise would be unable to. We hope you'll join us in celebrating this exciting day and in praying for these women.

Click below to watch the video of our first loan disbursement!

Seed Effect Loan Day on You Tube!

Note to our viewers: In true African form, our first client was nursing her little one during the loan disbursement... common sight here, yet sometimes shocking to our Western supporters!

thomas bell, SE managing director

Thomas Bell, Managing Director of Seed Effect: SUDAN discussing microfinance and the impact that our Seed Loan Program will have on the community of Kajo Keji County, South Sudan.

carol discussing Seed Effect's loan applicants

Watch Carol Ziegler, Business Consultant and Seed Effect Volunteer talk about the Sudanese women attending Seed Effect's business training.

heather discussing Team Seed Effect: SUDAN

Watch Heather Sumner, Program Development Supervisor, talk about Team Seed Effect: SUDAN and the preparation for our Seed Loan Program launch...

microfinance and school fees

To piggy-back on the ‘why sudan?’ post, here’s an informational article, titled ‘Sudan: One Teacher to 100 Pupils’ that details the current status of government-funded education in South Sudan. http://bit.ly/83EoL In most developing/war-torn nations, the need for education, healthcare, etc. far outweighs the government’s ability to provide these services and the people’s ability to pay for them.  South Sudan, of course, is no exception.  

Currently, in South Sudan, government schools boast a ratio of 100 students to 1 teacher, with highly under-qualified yet also underpaid teachers, and a lack of adequate materials and curriculum. In fact, one of our Sudanese friends referred to government education in her area as, “little more than baby-sitting”.  And, although school fees to attend government-funded schools are relatively low (compared to private schools), students are also left responsible for paying for their own uniforms, materials, school supplies, and lunches.  These costs can be a financial strain on their families and in some cases prevent the children and young people from attending school altogether.  

So, what does this have to do with microfinance?  Well, beyond the basic statement that these statistics definitely qualify South Sudan as very poor, this sub-par access to viable education actually has everything to do with microfinance...  

Across the South, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and other religious organizations are popping up with a mission to provide more access to better education for young Sudanese. (In fact, e3 Partners Sudan has started a privately run primary school in Kajo Keji, where Seed Effect is launching.  For more information about the school, visit www.sudanfootrace.com) Although they offer a much better curriculum and opportunity for the students, education, whether it is government funded or private, is never free and can run up to $300 a year per child depending on the access and quality of the school.  (Remember, as of 2006, statistically, 90% of southern Sudanese live on less than $1 a day- $300 per year per child is unrealistic for the majority of the South.)  With access to microloans and business training, however, parents can invest in their business, generate a higher income, and provide financially for their families.  Microfinance, in effect, has a generational impact.  So, at Seed Effect, we plant the seeds that overcome poverty- both now and in the future of the next generation.  

(Photo of e3 Primary School children at lunchtime.  For many of these kids, this is the only meal they'll receive that day.)

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...