The power of opportunity
Imagine raising a family in a place where houses are made of mud, "running water" involves fast footsteps and the local doctor has 500,000 patients.
Imagine living in a place where a long, hard day's work nets you 99 cents, and yet "borrowing" and "saving" do not exist.
Imagine doing business in a place where everything must be imported, yet there are no paved roads, tariffs are as high as 60%, and the "hidden tariff" of currency conversions can add another 30% on top of that.
The place you are imagining is South Sudan. It exists, and is home to 10 million people. People who do the best they can, but simply have no better options, and no power to change that fact. If America is truly the "Land of Opportunity", then South Sudan is the land that opportunity forgot.
You can do something about it.
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The power of a life
Nimule, South Sudan is East Africa Ventures base of operations. It is home to approximately 50,000 souls. Here are 2 of them.
Read Lucy's Story ▲
Lucy is a 32-year-old widow and mother of 5 school-aged children. Though she strives to get her children a basic education, fees at the public school can average over $50 a year, per child—and will more than double as the kids move beyond primary school. Most South Sudanese earn less than $1 a day, so parents can choose to feed their kids or educate them—but not both. The fees for 5 children are much more than Lucy can make from the small space she stakes out in the open market, where she sells beans, flour, and maize.
A short-term loan, even for as little as $75, could revolutionize her business, allowing her to add other product lines, double her profits, pay off the loan—and then impact the next generation by giving all her children an education.
"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40Read Alice's Story ▼
One of the more successful businesswomen in Nimule, Alice started out selling eggs (and only eggs) and has since moved on to clothing and other durable goods. However, after building her business for 4 years, a fire literally destroyed everything she had worked for overnight.
With no insurance or savings institutions available, she had to start over with nothing. With micro-financial services from East Africa Ventures, Alice would be able save for emergencies and invest for the future with confidence, expanding her business enough to hire employees and provide desperately-needed jobs.
