Five Talents Update
Hi there St Luke’s, from Five Talents (and Jamie!)! And we can’t tell you how very grateful we are to God and to you for your consistent, generous support over the years!
I would love to tell you how our Gift Day gift this year will be used.
Our plans are ambitious! In Tsavo, Kenya, we are aiming to empower many new households to grow a profitable business, increase their income and build sustainable local solutions that mitigate the impacts of climate change. 7,200 families in Tsavo will join community savings groups where they will learn new skills, save and borrow money to invest in small enterprises, and boost household income and living standards through their profits.
Tsavo is a very rural setting, and communities face multiple, very particular challenges. 63% of people live in poverty and most grow crops to eat and sell, but an arid climate and roaming wildlife reduces yields, driving food shortages. Wild animals compete with farmers for scarce water - injuries are up 30% since 2020 with women hit the hardest. Families are trapped between climate stress, conservation pressures, a weak economy and limited finance. Urgent solutions are needed to enable people, wildlife and nature to thrive.
Indigenous Five Talents trainers introduce climate-smart farming. Our pilot project showed 87% of farmers adopted drought resistant crops, 27% invested in rain water harvesting and 57% diversified their income. 76% of members said they improved their business whilst reducing clashes with wildlife. If you’d like to get a fuller picture, and have the time, here is a link to my boss, Rachel, with three of our Five Talents partners in Tsavo, who explain what it’s like there, and what they are doing!
(If the link doesn’t work, put ‘Five Talents; Virtual Lunch in Tsavo, Kenya’ into YouTube.)
And how is all this going to happen?
Well, right now, we are really excited as our preparations are underway for this year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge - running between the 2nd and 9th December. I wonder if you remember this from previous years? This Challenge takes every pound given, and doubles it; so after this year’s St Luke’s Gift Day last month, the £1460 given to Five Talents becomes £2920! Am-a-zing!
So, this year, the Tsavo projects given us our biggest Big Give target ever! We’re hoping to raise £160,000 in funding for our programme partners .
So far, £80,000 of the target has been pledged as ‘match funding’. So the generous St Luke’s gift will go towards that aim, with others, to raise a similar sum to release all the pledges. Thank you so much for your generous support.
Please do come and chat with me, Jamie, in church if you have any questions about anything 5T. My bosses, Rachel and Chris recently visited the programme in Tsavo; if you have time for a virtual coffee over the next few weeks, please do let us know - they'd love to see you and exchange news!