This blog post was written by Neil Sandy the Chair of Trustees for Five Talents UK.
Church and Group members in Marsabit, Kenya.
After a quiet Christmas, 2021 is finally underway! Returning to work, 1 in 30 of my work colleagues in London are struggling with COVID-19. Many more are managing high levels of stress and mental wellness issues I suspect. The challenges we face can feel significant and even more so in the depths and darkness of winter.
Whilst many of us enjoyed some downtime over Christmas and began to see our vulnerable relatives receive the vaccine, for many of our friends in Africa, having a break from the day-to-day routine is not something that is compatible with living your life in economic poverty; always living on the cusp of not quite having enough to feed your family, not having somewhere safe and comfortable to live, not easily accessing and being able to afford clean water to drink or wash with, or being unable to pay for medical help and a good education.
At Five Talents we work with amazing partners around the world to help communities build sustainable livelihoods which restore dignity to those who want and are able to work. Our members strive to make a living, explore their talents, contribute in their wider community and are wonderful role models to their families.
At the moment we are learning much from our African friends about what it is like living with so much more uncertainty whilst coping with a lot more routine. Dealing with the threat of unemployment, an interrupted education and an awareness that should I fall sick I might not be able to get the help I need, are now experiences we have in common and can empathise with to more of a degree.
Of course, our eventual outcomes will likely be very different. Our African colleagues look on and offer their support and prayers, ask questions about what they hear in the media with genuine concern and love: the vaccine, our stretched NHS, a mutating virus, the mental health issues, the list goes on. They know that the world’s institutions are under unprecedented strain. We are constantly humbled by our partners’ daily prayers for us in our time of national need. There is much we could learn from them, both spiritually and practically.
With love and support for one another we can help generate more hope, more energy and resilience and so often find it from places we didn’t realise we stored it. It is these shared lessons and stories that are bringing us comfort and hope; and with your continued support we are so looking forward to our work together at Five Talents in 2021. Our work is needed now more than ever.