Roadside stand

All the news that’s fit, they print

November was good for us, media-wise, especially when it came to the New York Times. The prestigious journal carried major articles on two longtime MEDA partners. “Can Microlending Save Haiti?” by Daniel Costello featured the work of MEDA’s Haiti partner Fonkoze and its director Anne Hastings, who was a speaker at the Calgary convention earlier in the month. Then, Nicholas Kristof featured the work of our Pakistan partner, the Kashf Foundation, which we have reprinted in full on pages eight and nine of this magazine. On a different note, the Times also carried a front page article on Manitoba’s successful immigration program. It quoted longtime MEDA member Arthur DeFehr, whose Palliser Furniture is renowned for its work with refugees and immigrants, and is sometimes described as a “mini-United Nations.”

We’re plea-

sed to welcome Mike Miller to the MEDA family as Regional Director, Resource Development. He will represent MEDA in the U.S. midwest region from his home office in Kansas. Miller comes to MEDA with an extensive background in sales, marketing and financial advising. Since 1991, he has worked for Mennonite Mutual Aid in Goshen, Indiana. He began his career at MMA as Regional Sales Manager/ Regional Vice-President and stayed in this role for over nine years. From 2000 to 2010 he has been Regional Representative/Vice President with the Mennonite Foundation/MMA Trust Company.

Faith, hope, charities: Recent U.S. surveys show that nonprofit organizations tend to enjoy significant public trust. In an American Express survey, 70 percent of respondents said they trusted charities more than business or government to “address some of the most pressing issues of our time.” Another survey, this time of wealthy people, showed that 94 percent trusted charities, while business was trusted by only 64 percent and government a measly 32 percent. Other surveys beyond the U.S. have confirmed similar opinions. In reporting the findings, The Economist cautioned that “What is less clear is how far the do-gooders’ status is deserved and how far their efficiency can be measured.” Notably, the performance of charities is less stringently monitored than that of business and government. For example, many charities in the past have been judged by the amount of overhead they spend on raising funds. “This proved a poor guide,” the magazine says, “as low overheads may mean not thrift but ill-paid (and incompetent) staff.” In any case, tools like the internet are making it easier to disseminate performance data and it could well be that public scrutiny may soon increase, says The Economist.

Let’s hear it for journalists: Where do ethics begin? Maybe with good reporting. According to the late American ethicist H. Richard Niebuhr, the first question of ethics is not “What is right?” or even “What is good?” but rather “What is going on?” Theologian Scott Bader-Saye comments, “Before we can apply a law or seek a goal, we must first interpret what is happening around us. Thus, reading the signs of the times is itself a moral act.” (Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear)

Mike Miller

Cover photo (Tajikistan) by Carl Hiebert

Faking it. Half of what most people do each day is “fake work,” according to Gaylan Nielson, co-author of the book Fake Work: Why People are Working Harder Than Ever but Accomplishing Less, and How to Fix the Problem. “Fake work is work that wastes everyone’s time because it isn’t necessary to get the company any closer to achieving its goals,” he writes. He claims that 90 percent of employees feel unsatisfied with their output; two-thirds complain of duplication of effort because of poor coordination; and half have no idea how their work supports the company’s goals. Among the chief culprits: unclear objectives, meaningless meetings; pointless paperwork; and e-mail overload. (Globe & Mail)

What’s in a name? We thought the name MEDA was pretty much our exclusive property. Apparently not. It’s also the abbreviation of a psychedelic drug whose full name is 3-methoxy-4,5-ethylenedioxyamphetamine. According to Wikipedia, only scant data exists about the pharmacological properties. Most troubling to us was the assertion that “MEDA produces few to no effects.” Wouldn’t want that to get around. — WK

In this issue

Unleashing entrepreneurship in Calgary. Page 12

Departments

2 Roadside stand 4 Soul enterprise 18 Reviews 20 Soundbites 22 News

Volume 41, Issue 1 January February 2011

The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2011 by MEDA.

Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks

Postmaster:

Send address changes to The Marketplace 32C E Roseville Road Lancaster, PA 17601-3681 Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 32C E Roseville Road, Lancaster, PA 17601-3681. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters contact the editor at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204) 956-6436 Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years. Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026. Web site www.meda.org

6 The vigor endures

A few media outlets have sensationalized difficulties in some Indian loan programs. MEDA staff debunk the inaccuracies and show why microfinance is still a powerful tool to beat poverty.

8 Fighting terrorism — with microloans

A New York Times reporter visited a longtime MEDA partner and discovered that jobs and economic development are a superior way to combat extremism. By Nicholas D. Kristof

10 Fired!

He knew it was going to be a bad day when his boss said, “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” It turned out to be the worst of times, and the best of times. By D. Merrill Ewert

12

20 16 Second chance; Second Cup

A former panhandler wowed MEDA’s annual convention with his personal story of how he overcame addiction, unearthed hidden potential and “unleashed entrepreneurship.”

MEDA’s “state of the union”

While the global economy continued to wobble in 2010, MEDA enjoyed robust performance, helping 9.4 million families in 45 countries to live healthier, happier lives. By Allan Sauder