Our Mission Focus for August is on the African country of Burundi. The Burundi flag will be displayed in our sanctuary all month as a reminder of our mission efforts there. Our congregation supports the ministry and programs of the organization known as Five Talents which works in Burundi as well as many other countries.
Burundi is a small land-locked country in Eastern Africa. It is the world’s most rural country with 90% of the population relying on agriculture and subsistence level farming, and it is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 184 out of 188 countries on the United Nation’s Human Development Index (2015). Learn more in the weeks to come during our worship services and in our bulletins.
Other partners include:
The Mothers’ Union Literacy and Development Program has been successfully training Burundians in literacy and numeracy since 2005. The program reaches vulnerable, low-income communities through a grassroots network of Mother’s Union and the Anglican Church of Burundi. This network extends across the country to all major regions and to nearly one thousand communities. Five Talents provides business skills training as well as savings and credit group formation to the literacy program participants. Members have access to mentorship, basic financial services, and emergency funds. To date, over 40,000 members have joined community savings and loan associations; 80% of these groups are now self-managing.
