Sudan
Five Talents have been working in Sudan since 2007 in the area of Lietnhom in the South of the country. At the moment our working here is largely training based, although we have set up a village bank and in the future we will develop this into a full microfinance programme. Five Talents has also just started (2010) operating a Financial Literacy programme in partnership with the Mothers Union in the Juba, Renk, Khartoum, Wau, Lanya and Malakal districts.
Thomas
Thomas was born in Sudan in the middle of a 20 year civil war and was forced to join the army as a child. While he was a soldier he became a Christian and left Sudan to seek refuge in Kenya, where he completed his studies and graduated to become a church development worker.
In May 2007 Thomas received training from Five Talents at the Economic Development Institute in Nakuru, Kenya and has recently started to work with Five Talents in his home area of Southern Sudan. Thomas' main task is to take the village bank model used in Lietnhom and to replicate it in the surrounding areas. This is a valuable role and one that will bring economic opportunities to many more people in the area of Wau, Southern Sudan.
Deng
Deng had a small shop in the Lietnhom market prior to the clash. When the market burned so did his shop leaving him with virtually nothing. Both his inventory and his monetary savings were in the grass-roofed shop. He estimates his losses were about £1,500. But, he decided to rebuild and start again."I was only able to rebuild my business because I could sell a goat and take out a loan of £50 from the village bank," he said.