July August 2021
Where Christian faith gets down to business
AProgram better WAY creates opportunity for Nigerian women, youth
Remembering Orvie Bowman Auctions in a pandemic world Fresno seminary helps startups MEDA hosts Latin America food systems dialogue
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The Marketplace July August 2021
Roadside stand
MEDA enhances its focus on partnerships Part of MEDA’s efforts to help create deeper and more lasting change in the countries where it works include a greater emphasis on partnerships. As you can read in the story on page 12, MEDA recently hosted what may have been its first ever regional dialogue, as part of the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit. Here are six key principles that MEDA believes need to become priorities to bring about change: • Prioritize the role of women and men small-scale producers and small businesses • Generate positive economic as well as social and environmental impact • Build long-term and local partnerships • Address deeply held attitudes and beliefs that limit gender equality and social inclusion • Influence actors (participants) whose policies, decisions, and ways of doing business affect the growth of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and producers • Leverage multiple forms of capital to generate real systems change
Mennonite as auctioneers In the auction industry, some suggest that 20 per cent of the firms get 80 per cent of the business. In areas where there is a sizeable Mennonite population, count the Mennonite-owned firms among the dominant players. There are a half dozen Mennonite-owned auction firms in Waterloo Region, notes Cal Jutzi, a second-generation auctioneer and owner of MR Jutzi. “It’s all part of Follow The Marketplace on Twitter @MarketplaceMEDA
The Marketplace July August 2021
the tradition of going to auctions,’’ he said. “Everything farm-related is sold at auction.” In Ontario, Mennonite Central Committee has done an annual quilt auction since 1967, with similar events held across North America. Another annual gathering in support of an Amish parochial school is a huge social event that attracts thousands of registered bidders from a great distance. So why have Mennonite auctioneers had such success in the auction business? Several observers told The Marketplace that it stems from their farming roots. “The auction selling method … originated in the agriculture area," notes Ken McGregor, manager of the Auction Association of Ontario. In-person auctions provide a social outlet for people, McGregor said. Mennonites have been successful in the industry in part because people from that background “support their own, and that’s very important,” he said. Mennonites were historically drawn to auctions because “the ‘auction sale’ was also the one secular event you could visit without any churchy concern and even encounter there the ‘worldliness’ and the ‘excommunicated’,” says professor Royden Loewen, chair of Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Auctions are also an old form of rural marketplace, he said. Loewen has attended Mennonite auctions “throughout the Americas — from Canada to Bolivia.”
The thrill of bidding Bidding can be addictive, apparently, and some people get too caught up in the excitement at times. “The amazing success of (online marketplace) eBay is testament 2
to the psychological appeal of auctions, which seem to satisfy buyer and seller alike,” Ellen Ruppel Schell writes in her book Cheap: The high cost of discount culture. One academic study of eBay auctions found that “buyers seemed to derive significant pleasure from bidding — even more pleasure, it seemed, than they did from getting the desired item at the lower price.”
Schlegel steps up Long-time MEDA supporter Rob Schlegel has returned to the organization as Acting Chief Financial & Investment Officer (CFIO), following the tragic death of CFIO Orvie Bowman. Schlegel is supporting MEDA’s financial operations on a part-time basis, primarily Rob Schlegel with external stakeholder relations and reporting to MEDA’s President & CEO, while MEDA conducts its search for a new permanent Chief Financial & Investment Officer. This interim leadership role is familiar to Schlegel, as in January 2020, Rob held the interim CFIO role for almost three months prior to the hiring of Bowman, whose life is memorialized in a pg. 14 story in this issue. Schlegel is currently the Chief Financial Officer at R-B-J Schlegel Holdings/Schlegel Health Care and has been with the family business since 1994. He holds the chartered accountant and chartered professional accountant professional designations. He apprenticed as a chartered accountant at Coopers & Lybrand in Toronto, Canada.
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In this issue
Features
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Selling without seeing buyers
Auction industry adopts to pandemic challenges, finds new buyers with online sales.
Oklahoma auctioneer Morgan Hopson
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Building new partnerships in Central America
MEDA convenes regional conversation around food systems resilience, sustainability.
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Remembering a remarkable man
Orvie Bowman remembered for his leadership at MEDA, in his church and community.
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Towards sustainable farms
Environmental considerations are a key part of MEDA projects.
Departments 22 Roadside stand 24 Soul enterprise 19 Soundbites 22 Books in brief Jorge Luis Gonzales (bottom right) is the agribusiness and sustainability coordinator for MEDA’s TechnoLinks+ project in Nicaragua. 3
TheMarketplace MarketplaceJuly JulyAugust August 2021 The
Soul Enterp prise
Vacation Email Responder By Jeff Haanen I recently went on just a short vacation, and the email responder I set up got a bit of attention (mostly positive, some surprised). I post it here in case you need one...that actually allows you to rest. My Last Vacation Email Responder Well, you got this auto-email because I’m on vacation. Actually, not just vacation — I’m trying to actually practice sabbath rest, even for a single week. In a digital age of being constantly connected — and being a person with constant ideas and a never-ending drive to be productive — I find this difficult. So for the next week of my life, this means three things: 1. I will spend individual time with my four daughters, bake banana bread, take my wife on a date, work on a coffee table, read books, garden, exercise (and walk
slowly past the blooming crabapple trees) and try to practice just 15 minutes of silence per day. 2. I will be shutting off my laptop completely, and temporarily deleting the email app from my phone, because I constantly check it, and find it difficult not to. 3. I will also never see the email you just sent me. The hard thing about time off for digital workers is that it all stacks up on us until we return, causing a low-level dread even on vacation. The solution: I will delete (and never see) all emails sent to me from Saturday May 8 through Friday at noon, May 14. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t like you or value your time. I do! And I want to hear from you. However, I’d ask you to reach out to me in a week. Thanks for your grace. It’s a delight working alongside you. For now, I rest.
Template You Can Fill In Well, you got this auto-email because I’m on vacation. Actually, not just vacation — I’m trying to actually practice sabbath rest, even for a single week. In a digital age of being constantly connected — and being a person with (reasons why you find it difficult to disconnect and rest) — I find this difficult. So for the next week of my life, this means three things: 1. I will spend individual time with my (insert family members), (insert activities you will actually do to slow down, disconnect, and rest) and try to practice just 15 minutes of silence per day. 2. I will be shutting off my laptop completely, and temporarily deleting the email app from my phone, because I constantly check it, and find it difficult not to. 3. I will also never see the email you just sent me. The hard thing about time off for digital workers is that it all stacks up on us until we return, causing a low-level dread even on vacation. The solution: I will delete (and never see) all emails sent to me from (Insert beginning day, date) through (Insert ending day, date). Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t like you or value your time. I do! And I want to hear from you. However, I’d kindly ask you to reach out to me in (insert duration of your vacation). Thanks for your grace. It’s a delight working alongside you. For now, I rest.
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Jeff Haanen is founder and CEO of the Denver Institute for Faith & Work, in Denver, Colorado. He blogs on Faith, Work & Culture at http:// jeffhaanen.com/ The Marketplace July August 2021
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Open Us by Carol Penner God of great gifts, for the world as we know it, we give you thanks! The world in all its nearness, our own special corners, our own dearest vistas, the way it meets us each morning when we open our eyes. For the food you provide, we give thanks, the shape and feel of it in our hands, the taste of it in our mouths, a rich harvest produced by your rain, your sun, your soil. We open ourselves to this bounty. We give thanks for the way you people the world, the particularity of each special person we know and love, the shape of their smiles, the way they tilt their heads, the warmth of their embrace, the quality of their company. We open ourselves to love. We give thanks for all this world in its immense beauty, its staggering strength, its heights and depths, the breadth of it, beyond our knowing. And yet you know it, you know us, you have made yourself known. We thank you for the contours of your love in the form of a son who is bread and wine and water and truth. We are eager to be like him, to be born again in his likeness. Open us to the Holy Spirit: thank you for the possibilities that await us this week, that love can win, that hope can blossom, that faith can find a way in this world even in hard places. We pray for all who need comfort and peace and help, especially those near to us; fill them with your goodness. We long for your healing power for those we know who are sick. God of the great wide world and ourselves in this corner of it, make us into a community that is opencratered by the splendor of your creation and filled to the brink with thankfulness. Amen. Carol Penner is an assistant professor of theological studies at Conrad Grebel University College, where she teaches and writes in the area of practical theology after serving for many years as a pastor in various Mennonite congregations. To read more of Carol’s prayers, visit www.leadinginworship.com where the above originally appeared.
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photo by Ray Dirks
Volume 51, Issue 4 July August 2021 The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) 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 2021 by MEDA. Editor: Mike Strathdee Design: Ray Dirks
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 33 N Market St., Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805 Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 33 N Market St, Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805. 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, email mstrathdee@meda.org or call (800) 665-7026, ext. 705 Subscriptions: $35/year; $55/two years. Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). MEDA’s economic development work in developing countries creates business solutions to poverty. MEDA also facilitates the connection of faith and work through discussions, publications and conventions for participants. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-6657026. Web site www.meda.org Want to see back issues or reread older articles? Visit https://www.meda.org/download-issues/ The Marketplace is printed on Endurance Recycled Velvet and is 10% recycled (postconsumer waste), FSC® Certified to help meet client sustainability requirements, Acid Free, Elemental Chlorine Free
Cover photo of Phoebe by Roxie Ola Akund/MEDA
The Marketplace July August 2021
A WAY to increase opportunity for Nigerian women and youth
The Marketplace July August 2021
Bauchi State is the gateway of the Boko Haram insurgency. Boko Haram, often translated to mean “Western education is forbidden,” began an armed rebellion against Nigeria’s government in 2009. Many women whose husbands have been killed in the conflict fled to Bauchi, which had a major impact on the region’s economy, said Grace Fosen, MEDA’s country director for the Nigeria Way project. The project has surpassed its
target of reaching 16,000 women and youth entrepreneurs working in the soybean, rice and peanut agriculture value chains, with a year remaining. By this spring, the WAY program had worked with over 17,000 entrepreneurs. On a related goal of working with 523 women sales agents, the project has engaged 498 to date. Savings and loan groups — people who meet regularly to pool savings, make loans and learn new
photos by Roxie Ola-Akuma/MEDA
Nigeria is one of the larger and wealthier nations in Africa. But economic opportunity is varied and unevenly distributed. Average income of $416USD per month is more than a dozen times higher than what many rural farm families subsist on. Just under half of Nigeria’s 201 million citizens live in rural areas. The poverty rate — families earning less than $1USD a day — among that group is 47.3 percent. Northern regions of the country have higher unemployment, greater economic and gender inequality and outbreaks of violent conflict. MEDA’s youth entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment in northern Nigeria (WAY) project aims to increase the contribution by entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses, particularly those run by women and youth, to Nigeria’s economic growth. Lack of access to infrastructure, mobility and finance have been barriers to women’s participation in business. The five-year effort, funded by Global Affairs Canada and contributions from individual MEDA supporters, targets businesses in Bauchi State’s processing sector and food industry. It focuses specifically on three main value chains: rice, peanuts and soybeans. The project aims to improve business performance, enhance the business environment for women and youth, and strengthen community and family support to decrease the risk of early and forced girl child marriage.
Adama with her goat, which she named MEDA Canada. Owning livestock is a significant method of storing value for rural residents who lack access to banking services. 6
Adama and her spouse Mallam Jibrin wash paddy rice to prepare it for parboiling.
skills to overcome issues that limit them from having or growing a business — have worked well as an entry point, says Grace Fosen, MEDA’s country director for the Nigeria Way project. “That gave these women the ability to save a little… to give themselves loans.” The groups help provide financing for people who have found it difficult to engage with financial institutions, empowering them to put more money into their businesses. Women in 200 groups across seven different areas have accumulated 121 million Nigerian Naira ($293,689 USD). Introducing new technology to improve processing techniques and stimulating business innovation are important elements of the project. Assistance to purchase rice parboiling equipment and other technologies have helped women
enjoy greater success in the market due to the higher quality of their product. Climate smart technology has also saved both time and drudgery. A traditional parboiling tech-
Bauchi State
NIGERIA
nique took a week to process one bag of rice and resulted in substandard quality. A system that involves steaming the rice instead of boiling it processes two bags in two hours, with improved quality and reduced consumption of water and oil. Improved cooking systems are also being introduced through the project. An estimated 95,000 Nigerian women die annually due to indoor gas pollution. Use of locally produced briquettes that do not smoke inside the house produce a more sustainable fuel source. Increased business success and higher family incomes have led to improved communication and household decision making with husbands assisting with household chores and helping their wives market their production.
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The Marketplace July August 2021
Chanting to a camera instead of a crowd Pandemic changes to auction business may become permanent Auction sales have long been a staple of rural life. In recent decades, the business expanded far beyond traditional sales of livestock, farm equipment, land and household goods. The pandemic has accelerated changes in the industry, forcing many sales to go online only. Some of the changes are unlikely to be reversed once COVID fears diminish. Firms that initially worried about online-only sales report that they have never had better results, says Ken McGregor of the Auction Association of Ontario. The ability to size up desired items with a few clicks of a computer mouse makes it easy for busy people to bid on multiple items in many locations without the hours of travel that can be involved in getting to some in-person sales, he said. What follows are reflections by industry veterans in Archibald, Ohio; Breslau, Ontario; Hatfield, Pennsylvania; and Winkler, Manitoba. Photo by Jim KIng
L-R: Bob, Mark and Kevin Frey in auction mode
Kevin Frey sees a much brighter 2021 compared to last year. “I wouldn’t say (2020 was) a lost year, but close to that, and it seems we are making up for it this spring,” he said. The Marketplace July August 2021
Frey and his brother, Mark operate Ohio-based Frey & Sons. The company, a third-generation family firm, sells throughout the US Midwest, mostly in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, 8
Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Their grandfather, Elias Frey, and his brother-in-law started Yoder & Frey in the 1940s as a farm equipment firm. Kevin and Mark’s father, Bob, started Frey & Sons in the early 1960s. Frey & Sons was better placed to deal with the shutdowns than some firms, as they had done some online-only sales for over a decade. Last year involved a combination of online only and hybrid sales where people who showed up were bidding against others tuned in to a simulcast. Some auctions that had to be converted to online only “worked out just fine.” In other cases, sales where sellers preferred to have a crowd were delayed or put off for an entire year. Frey & Sons specializes in heavy, large equipment. “Most people, they like to go look at something, and see it and touch it,” but others are content to buy based on photos of the backhoes, graders, pavers, excavators and crushing machines the firm auctions, Kevin said. Mark Frey takes up to 75 photos of a piece of machinery and does a video of it in operation for people who prefer not to attend pre-sale inspection days. Kevin specializes in sales and finance, meeting clients and doing most of the auctioneering. Mark focuses on website updates, information technology needs and catalogues.
Photo by Jim KIng
Changes in the auction industry are coming “seemingly faster and faster all the time,” Kevin said. The Freys work to keep up by being at the forefront of technology. “You’re always investing in the future,” he said. Like Frey & Sons, Breslaubased MR Jutzi focuses on the commercial and industrial market, serving a 100-mile radius around Ontario’s Waterloo Region, selling cars and trucks, tractors, and loaders. “As my wife says, anything that has grease in it or on it, we sell,” Cal Jutzi quipped. Jutzi found the province of Ontario lockdown this spring
Frey auctioneer Roger Ford (centre) with Kevin Frey (right)
challenging, as it only partially applied to his business. “We are locked down, but we are not. Because we are car dealer licensed, we can still be open, but lots of different rules.” Cal’s late father Merlin started MR Jutzi in 1962. Merlin was originally in the saw sharpening business and got into auctioneering after a bad experience when he went to an auction to buy equipment. “He didn’t think the auctioneer was that honest,” and thought there should be a better way to do business, Cal recalls. Cal Jutzi sold used police cruisers and detective cars for 17 years, and still auctions used,
A next-generation champion auctioneer When Morgan Hopson went to Texas Christian University on a music scholarship, she planned a career in the entertainment industry. Having played the violin since she was old enough to hold it, she dreamed of moving to Nashville to do studio work. When she graduated with degrees in music and business, a family friend approached her about doing marketing for his Oklahoma City auction firm. Hopson was intrigued by the offer. She went to auction school to learn about the business, and “caught the bug, just fell in love” with the sector. Auctioneering has many parallels with the music industry, she soon realized. “You’re having to get in front of a crowd and engage with them and evoke emotion out of your audience.” Hopson has done marketing and auctioneering for United Country Buford Resources Real Estate & Auction across Oklahoma and Texas since 2011. “I never imagined in a million years that I’d be in the auction industry, but that’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. I have the opportunity every day to help people, regardless of their asset class.” “We carry a lot of weight for our clients, doing the best we can, helping them meet their goals,” she said. Six years ago, she started competing in the Texas state and International
Auction Association championships. In May 2019, she won the Texas competition, just before winning the women’s division of the International Auctioneer’s Association bid calling championship. Competitors are ranked on their presentation, poise, voice control, clarity, speed of chant, eye contact with the audience and body language. Hopson now acts as an ambassador for the industry across the US and is running for a seat on the National Auction Association board. “I’m ready to step up and serve at the next level.” “As a first-generation auctioneer, I’ve had so many people pour into me. I’ve had so much help along the way. I’m just looking forward to beginning to serve and just give back.” She has seen a steady increase in the number of women auctioneers. “There are a lot of women that have broken into the auto auction industry and really made a name for themselves.” Hopson splits her time between Texas and Oklahoma, staying in both states every week. The internet broadens the firm’s reach, helping it attract clients from across the United States. Hopson regularly invests money in search engine optimization so that they reach more buyers by showing up on page one or two in Google search results.
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Morgan Hopson won two bid calling championships in 2019. The Marketplace July August 2021
Mathew McCarthy, Waterloo Region Record
Cal Jutzi has auctioned used police bikes for years, but supply has slowed during the pandemic due to demand for new bikes.
Auctioneering by the numbers In the early days of the pandemic, auctions across the US saw a nearly three-way tie between zero cancellations, some cancellations, and 100 percent cancellations, the National Auction Association noted in a 2020 state of the industry and COVID report. “The industry, which includes real estate, fundraising, personal and commercial assets, automobiles, and much more, has seen an unprecedented number of event cancellations since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, some of which were self-imposed for the safety of buyers and sellers.” Here are some statistics on the state of the industry in mid-2020: About one quarter of NAA membership was under age 50. Among members who responded to a question about how long they had been in the business, 29% were first generation The Marketplace July August 2021
auctioneers; nine per cent second generation; three percent third generation; and one per cent fourth generation. Auctioneering continues to be a male-dominated profession. Only 16 per cent of NAA members are female. Among the women in the business, 30 per cent are under age 50. The NAA is partnering with Future Farmers of America to create high school curriculum based around the auction industry, as well as lesson plans and curriculum for elementary and middle schools. Many trades and skills are needed in the industry, including lawyers, photographers, web designers and graphic designers, says Oklahoma auctioneer Morgan Hopson. “We need all these professions to do what we do. There’s so much more to being an auctioneer than just being behind the microphone.”
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high-end police bicycles for several municipalities. Bike auctions have slowed as municipalities have had difficulty buying new replacement bikes during the pandemic. “Everybody wants new bikes.” Taxi companies used to buy a lot of used police cars, but the carbon tax and environmental concerns have led many of those firms to operate with smaller, hybrid vehicles, he said. MR Jutzi does not use the fast, sometimes hard to understand, bida-bom chant that some auctioneers favor. “Father thought the auctioneer chant was sometimes done because he could, rather than actually (focusing on) selling the item.” Jutzi prefers to focus on words to explain and sell the product. “Everything we say in our chant means something to me as the seller, and to the buyer, to get the right price.” He is not a fan of online auctions. “I prefer to look people in the face,’’ he said. When selling by webcast, he cannot always tell if a bidder is done or not. “If I see your face, I know if you are done.” “We find that a lot of our older bidders have no idea how to bid (online).” Online auctions also take longer, both the advance preparation of photographing items, and the sale process itself, he said. A sale of 60 items took over three hours online (timed auctions are shorter), whereas doing that same sale in-person would take less than 2.5 hours, he said. Many Old Order Mennonites who come to Jutzi’s tool sales struggle. “Unless they’ve got a friend with a computer… it’s tougher for them to bid on stuff.” Jutzi’s daughter does advertising and inputs information into a computer for online sales but has no interest in taking the microphone
Bill Klassen has been conducting auctions for 53 years.
from her father to run sales. Jutzi hopes live auctions will be viable in Ontario again by October once everyone has had their vaccines. “Even then, we’ll probably still ask people to wear masks (until at least Christmas).” Going online only during the pandemic has provided both business benefits and challenges, says Sherry Russell, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Alderfer Auctions. All-virtual sales have greatly increased participation by younger buyers. “In the past, when we had auctions, it was mainly dealers there,” she said. Brent Souder, the firm’s head auctioneer, told a US publication that virtual auctions have increased the number of buyers in the 25 to 45year-old age group fivefold, as it al-
Sherry Russell is CEO of Alderfer Auctions in Hatfield Pennsylvania.
lows them to take part “on their personal devices and on their own time.” Alderfer has had a mobile app that allows people to bid from their phones since 2017, when Russell purchased the firm from the second generation of the Alderfer family. Going all online resulted in over 5,000 new buyers. Average auction attendance increased from around 200 to between 600 and 1,000 bidders per sale. Prices that goods were sold for increased, but so did labor costs and processing time. Alderfer used to have 1,200 lots per sale. Curbside pickup and the need for storage cut that to only 300 lots. The firm’s 10,000-square-foot auction building in rural Hatfield didn’t have room for all the product intended for upcoming sales. Storage times of a week or two pre-pandemic stretched to between six and 12 weeks. Alderfer has coped with the changed circumstances by returning to the practice of doing online sales from clients’ homes. In-person sales at clients’ houses was common before Alderfer built its auction facility in 1988. Russell can’t see Alderfer returning to hybrid live and online auctions as a common practice, 11
even when health conditions allow. The firm will be “very selective in the types of auctions” that have an in-person option, she said. It will take a while before their facility, currently filled with racks and tables of goods, has space for in-person buyers. Higher-priced fine art and sports memorabilia, which make up 25 percent of Alderfer’s business, will eventually be in person again. Some sales will happen from people’s homes, with the balance of sales remaining online only, with bidding closing at 8 pm, a prime closing time. Bill Klassen did his first auction in 1968, when he was 17 years old. His Manitoba hockey team needed money to buy pads and nets. He came up with the idea of doing a pie social with an auction. Success at that event led him to approach a neighbor who was selling his farm to ask if he could do that auction. When that went well, he attended auction school in Kansas City and never looked back. Klassen has done farm auctions across Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario and is the only Canadian in the Minnesota Auction Association hall of fame. His style was influenced by New York state auctioneers, who tended to “talk slow (and) sell fast.” He has done online, timed sales since March 2020, and has noticed a wider geographic range of bidders than was the case with in-person sales. He recalls selling an electric fender to someone who lives 4.5 hours away from the sale site, a buyer who would never have driven to an in-person event. Virtual auctions are here to stay, he said. With larger farms, people don’t have time to stand around at an auction. “It’s business.” “It’s a bit too bad for the people who like to buy coffee and a hot dog and visit with their friends every year.”
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The Marketplace July August 2021
MEDA convenes Central American dialogue on food security MEDA has taken a major step toin New York in September. wards building new partnerships About four million small in Central America, by hosting a farmers, with farms of five hectares dialogue related to the upcoming (12.35 acres) or less, live in rural United Nations Food Systems areas of Guatemala, El Salvador, Summit. Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Forty-three people attended Ecuador, and Peru. the online event, which was As many as 700 million people in held May 31 in Spanish. They rural areas live in extreme poverty. included representatives from the A dialogue was one of the Nicaraguan government, best ways MEDA financial institutions, could contribute to non-governmental ideas and actions organizations, a grocery to bring about store chain, cooperatives, transformation and business development of food systems, service providers. said Jennifer King, “It was great in MEDA’s technical terms of having these director, agricultural different perspectives in market systems. attendance," said Jessica MEDA Villaneuva, MEDA’s wants to bring technical director, impact people together Jessica Villanueva investments. from different While most participants were backgrounds, including voices that from Nicaragua, people from might not normally be heard, she Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, said. It does this “to have honest and Brazil also took part. and fruitful conversations about The event was the first time what the future looks like, and how MEDA has convened a dialogue can we all contribute to creating on a regional scale. “For me, that that future together.” was so great,” said Cony Peralta, The UN Food and Agriculture country director for MEDA’s Organization, which was TechnoLinks+ project in represented at Nicaragua. the dialogue, says “Now everyone (in the food production region) knows who MEDA must increase by is and what MEDA does.” 60 percent by 2050 The UN summit to feed 7.5 billion is sparking a series of people. meetings over the next While demand few months. A prefor food is growsummit is taking place ing, there is also in Rome, Italy in July. increasing comRepresentatives of various petition for natural Cony Peralta governments will gather resources, worsenThe Marketplace July August 2021
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ing deforestation and soil degradation. Climate change is compromising crop and livestock production, fish stocks and fisheries, presenters noted. The Institute for Financing Small Farmers suggests that Latin American farmers face a $12.5 billion financing gap. Part of the dialogue centered around capital required to build resilience and improve livelihoods for small producers in Central America, Villaneuva said. Micro-finance institutions can play a critical role in helping small producers build resilience, she said. MEDA will write a summary report on the event and provide the UN secretariat with steps that could be taken to improve the farmers' situation. The event provides several alliances and partnerships for MEDA to build on, Peralta said. Participating companies will support MEDA’s efforts to build a larger group of suppliers for the technologies it helps farmers to adopt. Other non-governmental organizations are now interested in submitting joint proposals with MEDA for new projects. Rikolto, which was co-convenor of the dialogue, already has offices in every country in the region, Peralta said. Some private companies, such as regional supermarket chain La Colonia, have expressed interest in working with some MEDA partners. “For me, it was a huge event in terms of what MEDA is doing,” she said. “It would be so amazing to have this kind of event in other regions where MEDA is working,”
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Working towards lasting change part of new MEDA strategic plan Like much of MEDA’s work in applying business solutions to alleviating poverty, its heightened focus on systems change will be groundbreaking. “We are blazing a trail with this important work,” says Jennifer King, MEDA’s technical director, agricultural market systems. Facilitating deeper, substantive change is an important goal that many in the development sphere are grappling with. But academic literature on systems change suggests the development sector has not yet settled on commonly agreed definitions and measurements. Creating lasting change is one of the pillars of MEDA’s Towards an Equal World strategic plan. The plan aims to create decent work for 500,000 women and youth in agricultural markets by 2030. One of the significant challenges that MEDA is confronting is systemic marginalization of women and youth. It wants to help bring about more inclusive and sustainable market systems that confront gender and socio-economic inequalities. Some organizations have done better than others in addressing systems level change through their work, King said. The philanthropic sector has been among the leaders, she said, citing large US foundations and Canada’s McConnell Foundation as examples. Studies suggest that making sustainable changes can take 15 years, two to three times the length of many development projects. “The timelines of some projects
Jennifer King
and donors have definitely watered down the ability to do systems change work.” Working in 15-year timelines requires different conversations with private and institutional funders, to bring them along in the journey, she said. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have led people to recognize that past efforts have not always created the sustainable and lasting change that was hoped for. “It’s difficult to change systems in five years. And five years doesn’t change attitudes (around gender, young people, and ethnic minorities),” she said. “If you want to change systems, you have to change attitudes.” Projects where MEDA works with companies, women and youth and civil society actors (the third 13
sector of society, separate from government and business) are essential, she said. After organizations such as MEDA complete their projects in a country, these groups will take changes forward and build upon them, creating sustainable change. Additionally, King believes it is important for MEDA to become more comfortable working with governments in the countries where it operates. Engaging with governments will be contextual “as is possible and makes sense.” While some national governments may be mainly concerned with regulation, regional and local governments are often keenly interested in fostering regional economic development, she said. “If we don’t work with them, I think that’s a huge, missed opportunity.” MEDA has often worked at the structural change level, trying to change practices in agriculture, around gender policies within a company, around access to finance. Relational change, which includes power dynamics, and transformative change, which involves mental model work, changing the way people think, are the next areas to tackle to bring about lasting improvements. Achieving those goals will require tying best practices in more holistically with project designs, she said. “Having clients, women and youth for example, be central to those discussions and define the type of systems change they want to see is essential.”
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MEDA finance head remembered fondly Prior to joining Orvie Bowman MEDA, he held senior served as MEDA’s level roles at Allianz chief financial and Global Assistance investment officer for Canada, Sun Life 13 months before his Financial, Schlegel passing in a tragic Villages and Manulife. accident this spring. Speakers at his During that time, funeral praised him as he played a leading role a gentle, servant leader in shepherding MEDA who consistently through the COVID-19 helped others. pandemic, was A longtime friend respected and admired told how Bowman left for his skills, hard a good job on a matter work, enthusiasm, and of principle, without interest in everyone he Orvie Bowman (centre) with members of MEDA’s finance team, during a pre-pandemic curling outing. Whether the focus was competitive sports, already having another worked with. service with church or local charities, relating to family and co-workers, or position lined up. He died April 23 his work at MEDA, he was always “all in,” his wife Heather said at his funeral. In a high school after being hit from essay, he wrote that he wanted to be behind by a pickup truck while mission and to making the world a remembered as a man after God’s cycling just outside of Elmira, better, more just place,” he said. own heart, his wife Heather said. Ontario. He leaves behind his wife, Bowman was completely She described her husband as Heather and their three children. humble when asked about his being “all in” with his family, his His passing was a devastating remarkable life journey. work colleagues, his faith and loss both to MEDA and its staff, Interviewed after joining serving, preferably in a backsaid Dr. Dorothy Nyambi, MEDA’s MEDA, he was candid in discussing ground role. president and CEO. struggles, but omitted some of In 1998, the year after he and “Orvie was the first person his remarkable accomplishments. Heather were married, Bowman I hired in my role as CEO and Born into an Old Order Mennonite took a leave of absence from it was clear from the beginning family that farmed north of Elmira, his job at Manulife. They went that he was a perfect fit,” she he left school after grade 8, leaving to Papua New Guinea for two said. “Orvie was incredibly bright home and the Old Order church. years with an organization now and disciplined as our CFIO, and His career path took him from called Ethnos360, working in an we will miss his warmth, sense pig slaughtering, construction and administrative role at the store that of humor, quick wit, and caring factory work all the way to chief distributed food for missionaries nature. His passion for helping financial officer. and in the mission’s finance office. others made him an invaluable part Starting high school at age 22, The Bowman family’s deep of our MEDA family. The entire he finished in several years through faith was evident in the way they MEDA family mourns the loss of a evening studies, setting records for responded to the tragedy. colleague, a family man, and our the highest grade point average, Heather contacted and visited friend.” and winning numerous awards. with the young man who was drivScott Ruddick, MEDA’s security A work placement at Manulife ing the truck involved in the accidirector, appreciated Bowman’s wise Financial led to a full-time job. dent to tell him that he was forgiven. counsel and calm presence. “Orvie He earned a university degree As the family wrote in the was the very embodiment of MEDA and his Certified General Accountant funeral bulletin: “Orvie lived a rich — smart, steadfast, compassionate, designation by correspondence, and meaning-filled life and will be driven, devoted to service, and studying at night after his young deeply, deeply missed by many.” absolutely committed to our children went to bed.
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Leamington group punches above its weight in support for MEDA projects photo by Issak Harder
photo by Mariel Konrad
This is the third in a series about MEDA hubs across North America. The hubs, more than a dozen volunteer-led groups, organize events and activities to build awareness about MEDA’s work creating business solutions to poverty, to network and to hear people share stories about faith, work and entrepreneurship as a calling. MEDA supporters in Bill Wiebe visits a MEDA project in Ukraine. Leamington don’t set records past three years in support of for frequency of meetings. Ukraine efforts mark the second But no other hub comes close time the Leamington group has to matching this southern Ontario committed to supporting work in group’s financial support for that Eastern European nation. The MEDA’s international development Leamington hub has also raised work. Between 2018 and 2020, funds for MEDA projects in Ghana it raised over $571,000 for the and Myanmar. Ukraine Horticulture Business Despite the global pandemic, Development Project. the hub held a successful event Some small gatherings and last August, raising $51,000 with information meetings about MEDA its family-friendly Move for MEDA were held in Leamington as far event. back as 2002, board member Laura This summer, the hub will hold Tiessen recalls. an upgraded version of Move for The official group launched MEDA. It has selected 18 locations with a large fundraising event at in Leamington and the neighboring The Marina, a major gathering small towns of Kingsville and place on the edge of Lake Erie, Wheatley, creating an appin the summer of 2009. Current based passport scenario where hub chair Jim Konrad, along with family groups can get his sisters, Julie and Janet, were information about one invited to the event by their parents of MEDA’s 18 current Rob and Lois Konrad, who have projects, checking in “in been long-time MEDA supporters. a COVID safe way.” The annual summer fundraiser The week-long event, was the hub’s major event for a from August 7 to 14, will decade. open and close with video Other hub highlights are a messages from North business panel held every second American MEDA staff year, plus fundraising to sponsor and the Ukraine team. youth to attend convention and The hub is also group trips to visit MEDA projects. combining forces with Recent fundraisers over the Jim Konrad 15
the Leamington Mennonite Home seniors’ facility to do a COVID-friendly, curbside pickup community meal. Konrad expects “hundreds and hundreds” of orders will come in to support the fundraiser. “We really feel this is going to be one of the best events we’ve ever done, in the midst of COVID.” “We realized that we can still run very successful events, we just have to think outside the box from what we used to do from a fundraising perspective.” Aside from Jim Konrad and his wife, Mariel, other members of the Leamington hub planning committee include his parents, Rob and Lois, Laura and Roger Tiessen, Shelby Foster, Jon and Jen Dick, Bill Wiebe, Abby Neufeld-Dick and Mary Fehr. Neufeld-Dick and Fehr focus on connecting 18 to 35-year-olds with hub activities. A focus on nurturing young leaders is a priority for the Leamington hub to get younger people involved, as “they don’t understand where they fit in there sometimes (in activities that historically attracted older people),” Konrad said. Leamington’s next major commitment is fundraising for MEDA’s upcoming work in the Philippines. “In the next three years, we expect to do the most aggressive fundraising to date,” Konrad said.
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Launching Fresno area businesses Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary program helps Central California entrepreneurs get started By Doug Hoagland Keshawna Nelson wants to brew coffee and serve a caffeinated jolt to Fresno’s future. She’s an entrepreneur with a new business: The Java Bar. Her vision is to share knowledge, experience — and yes, profits — so others can build generational wealth where perhaps none existed before. The effect — multiplied by like-minded entrepreneurs — could be a stronger community with less poverty, increased education and greater economic vitality. Nelson, an accountant, boosted her efforts by participating in the fall of 2020 in a new program developed by the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, part of Fresno Pacific University. Its focus: helping people in underserved communities successfully launch small businesses. “We feel we can have
photo by Jocelyn Marquez
FPU helped Keshawna Nelson achieve her goal of opening a cafe.
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an impact helping people turn a side hustle into their main gig, and at the same time helping families generate more income and move up the economic ladder,” says Carlos Huerta, an FPU grad who is the program’s associate director. Launch Central Valley offers nine sessions over as many weeks covering topics like marketing, sales, loans and how to deal with attorneys, accountants and government officials. “These are the tough things in starting a business that a lot of folks don’t know about or need a little hand-holding to get through,” Huerta says. Nelson and 11 others in Launch Central Valley’s first cohort graduated in November. A second group that began in late January saw 16 complete the training, with 10 businesses up and running before the course ended. A third cohort began in early April, with 12 participating. Over the next five years, CCT plans to take 300 more entrepreneurs from Bakersfield to Merced through the program. Their participation will be underwritten, in part, by grant money awarded to CCT by the Lilly Endowment, one of the world’s largest private philanthropic foundations. CCT recently received a nearly $1 million Lilly grant, which will used for several faith-based initiatives in the next five years. In Launch Central Valley, Nelson’s most important lesson centered on achieving and maintaining a good credit record. “When I first started on this journey, that was an issue with everything I was trying to do.” She also learned the importance of sticking to a budget as well as knowing her customers’ need for quick service. The Java Bar is in a business park near Fresno Yosemite International Airport and specializes in coffees from around the world. It opened in early December but
only for takeout in the morning because of COVID restrictions. “I’m a coffee connoisseur, and my idea was to open up people’s tastebuds,” Nelson says. “But this journey to opening The Java Bar isn’t about me. The idea is to make money, save money and invest in others. My greatest reward will be to give back to my employees.” In addition to passing along what she’s learned in Launch Central Valley, Nelson envisions investing in businesses her employees might one day want to open. “When they are ready to leave me, I want the money to invest in their futures.” That also could include helping pay for their pursuit of college degrees. “This is about community and pulling us in all together,” Nelson says. “Then Fresno will be better because others will take what I have to give, and they’ll pour it back into the community.” That ripple effect is what Launch Central Valley hopes to achieve, says Fresno businessman Doug Davidian, who serves as lead
“I want to be involved with this program because God gave me a lot of training, and I can pass along that experience and save these people 10 to 20 years of mistakes.” — Doug Davidian, business coach and program facilitator
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facilitator and a business coach in the program. “Participants’ attitudes go from ‘I don’t know what to do’ to ‘I have a right to be at the table, and I know what the next step is.’ And those entrepreneurs influence 25 to 30 other people, who say, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’ ” Davidian founded California Business Furnishings (later Contract Interiors) and has served as president of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce and the Fresno County Economic Development Corp. “I want to be involved with this program because God gave me a lot of training, and I can pass along that experience and save these people 10 to 20 years of mistakes.” Sharing such experience is at the heart of the business coach’s role, with coaches ideally offering advice for at least a year after the nine weekly sessions. Matthew Blackwood, a 1998 FPU grad who took part in the first cohort, will get a coach versed in manufacturing and distribution of clothing. Blackwood, executive pastor at Family Community Church in Fresno, is gearing up to produce leather jackets with thin, removable polyurethane inserts at the elbows, neck and other pressure points for increased comfort. He plans to sell his jackets under the label Miliardo Fashion Luxury. Launch Central Valley came along at the “perfect time,” he says. “I needed a community of accountability that would help me look at some of the assumptions in my business model to be sure I am positioned correctly.” Blackwood discovered he needed to increase the price of his jackets to produce a profit after factoring in retail commissions, manufacturing expenses and shipping charges. His goal is to help transform Fresno by enabling people to see beyond their self-imposed limits. The Marketplace July August 2021
“I want to be in a position where I can begin to employ others, as well as provide resources and mentoring for future generations to develop wealth,” Blackwood says. “Then they can take that knowledge back to their families and communities to spread the concept that Fresno can move forward, whether that’s in literacy, business or whatever the case may be.” The link between successful small businesses and markers of community progress like higher literacy rates is important. “Flourishing families contribute to flourishing communities and a host of positive social indicators,” says Randy White, an FPOU associate professor who serves as CCT’s executive director. “When we seek the financial peace of the family, we experience the benefits of that peace.” In a larger sense, helping people
The Marketplace July August 2021
start small businesses nurtures their God-given impulse to lead a productive life, he adds. “For many, life has beaten them down and discouraged them to dream. Launch Central Valley is a vehicle to train people to dare to dream again and get the training and mentorship to make those dreams a reality.” CCT plans to begin several other new programs financed by the grant from the Lilly Endowment, White says. They are: • A ministry certificate focusing on community economic development for Hispanic pastors who lead their congregations parttime while working at other jobs. Curriculum will cover subjects such as improving parishioners’ financial literacy, training people for job readiness and starting small businesses that address community issues or problems.
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• Church-school partnerships that train congregations to assist elementary schools through tutoring, sports clubs and campus improvement projects. • Congregational training sessions six times a year at Fresno Pacific for pastors and other church leaders. The sessions will explore theological and practical approaches to mental health, racial conflict, concentrated poverty, violence, generational disconnects from the church and other issues facing communities. The Center for Anabaptist Studies at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary will help lead the training. • CCT also will expand Faith & Finances, an existing financial literacy program that helps churches assist vulnerable church and community members in avoiding exploitation and making good financial decisions.
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Soundbites
Child labor still common in the chocolate industry Child labor, some of it from trafficked underage workers, remains a major problem in the chocolate industry, three decades after eight of the industry’s largest companies pledged to eradicate the practice within five years. A study by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Centre found that there are about 1.56 million child cocoa workers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Activists say trafficking of children from Burkina Faso and Mali has been common for more than 20 years. Part of the problem stems from the fact that many growers in these African nations, home to 60 per cent of the global cocoa supply, subsist on $1.25 a day, a Fortune magazine article suggests. Dutch journalist Tony van de Keuken founded Tony’s Chocolonely to prove that fine chocolate could be created without child labor. The firm now has sales of $136 million.
Death by work-a-holism Over-work killed almost threequarters of a million people in 2016, a study by the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization suggests. Those deaths were attributed to stroke and heart disease, mainly among men, working more than 55 hours a week. South East Asia, Japan and Australia were cited as the most affected areas. People working more than 55 hours a week had a 35 per cent greater stroke risk, and a 17 per cent greater risk of fatal heart disease compared to those with 35to 40-hour workweeks. Teleworking, the pandemic and the rise in people doing contract
photo by Ray Dirks
refers to the notion of grabbing opportunities without hesitation.
Taking one for the team?
jobs (known as the gig economy) could all lead to increased risks of working long hours, WHO suggests. The WHO wants to see caps on working hours. Long working hours are considered to account for one-third of work-related disease.
Buzzwords to forget Many people have their leastfavorite corporate buzzword — grating insider language that has been overused to the point of cliché, or in some cases, is incomprehensible to those who don’t have to routinely endure it. The Atlantic magazine sought reader advice on the most loathed buzzwords through multiple social media channels. It then organized them into March-madness style faceoff brackets, with people voting on various pairings of “the most annoying examples of office-speak.” Close the loop, buy-in, value proposition, silo and ping were among the contestants. The winner (loser?) of this contest: lean in, the title of a book by Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. For the uninitiated, the term 19
Do your managers refer to colleagues as being a family? A team? Whatever the term, word choice can arouse strong feelings. In early 2016, former McDonalds’ CEO Steve Easterbrook eliminated the phrase McFamily from the fast-food chain’s corporate lingo, replacing it with McTeam. Employees were underwhelmed by the change, Fortune magazine reports. Neither term is an appropriate metaphor, Sarah Todd writes in Quartz. Her suggested replacement: The Village. That metaphor is expansive enough “to capture the workplace of the 21st century in both its realities and its aspirations.”
Shift work harder on men Male shift workers are more likely than women to develop sepsis — a life-threatening medical emergency brought on by the body’s extreme response to an infection, — a University of Waterloo study suggests. Shift work can disrupt the body’s natural clock, known as the circadian clock. When that happens, bodies are less able to fight off an infection. Computer simulations done as part of the research suggest that the time right before going to bed is the worst time to get an infection. “Compared to females, the immune system in males is more prone to overactivation, which can increase their chances of sepsis following an ill-timed infection,” said Stéphanie Abo, a PhD candidate in Waterloo’s Department of Applied Mathematics.
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MEDA Setting the Course for a Green and Inclusive Future By Dennis Tessier Recently, MEDA has seen a heightened interest from supporters eager to know more about what the organization is doing to ensure environmental sustainability within our work. It is exciting to receive such emails and letters. These give our environment and climate change (ECC) technical team the opportunity to talk about the innovative ways MEDA is working to address climate change and protect biodiversity. MEDA has put a much greater emphasis on the integration of ECC initiatives across the organization over the past few years. MEDA has intentionally changed its approach from “doing no harm” to striving to achieve positive environmental outcomes in all its work. This ranges from reducing our carbon footprint through greening our offices and eliminating unnecessary travel to supporting our clients to transition to environmentally sustainable business models. This evolution is both internally motivated, as many staff have a strong commitment to sustainability in their life and work, and externally motivated, as donors and the global community respond to environmental degradation and the threat of climate change. In 2020 MEDA launched its new strategic plan, Towards an Equal World, which embraces environmental sustainability and climate action as a guiding principle to achieving impact at scale. The The Marketplace July August 2021
strategic plan clearly spells out that MEDA needs to provide business and technical expertise around “environmental sustainability to help firms and entrepreneurs adapt to the changing climate and engage in sustainable production.” Doing so is crucial to achieving sustainable economic growth, growth that supports our clients to anticipate, absorb and recover from economic, climate and social shocks, particularly for marginalized populations such as women and youth engaged in agriculture. With such a strong focus on environmental sustainability within the strategic plan, the elevation of ECC to a technical area in 2020 was timely as it joins MEDA’s other technical areas: investment, financial services, market systems, and gender equality and social inclusion. Through a collaborative approach MEDA can apply technical expertise in a way that incorporates social, environmental, and economic dynamics into project design to ensure overall sustainability for the clients we work with. MEDA has a diverse environment and climate change technical team, which I am honored to lead. We have more than a dozen environment and climate change technical experts within our organization. Some are headquarters based, others are based within the countries where we work across SubSaharan Africa, Central America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia. 20
In May ECC specialists came together during our first annual ECC conference to share experience and expertise, train on new tools and approaches, trouble shoot common challenges, coordinate work plans and ensure our activities align with MEDA’s strategic plan. MEDA is guided by an environmental sustainability policy and a green growth and climate action framework. Its environmental management system aligns with the framework, providing specific technical guidance for project staff across the organization. This includes six specific focal points around mitigation, adaptation, gender, health, green finance, and partnerships. Each strategy has a set of tools to support the implementation within our projects. Our technical team also contributes to several coalitions that pursue climate action and research. These include the Centre for Sustainable Climate Solution, or CSCS (founded by Goshen College, Eastern Mennonite University and Mennonite Central Committee), the Canadian Coalition on Climate Change and Development, and the University of Waterloo’s Interdisciplinary Center on Climate Change. How all of this translates into positive environmental outcomes can be seen from the impact at project level. Technolinks+ in Nicaragua provides one such example. The project’s agribusiness and environment coordinator, Jorge
MEDA's Technolinks+ project in Nicaragua helps farmers build resilience and adopt environmentally sustainable practices.
Luis Gonzales, describes Nicaragua as a resilient country. Nicaragua has endured COVID 19, political turmoil, an economic slowdown and two major hurricanes in the past two years. When pressed on what he means by resilient, Gonzalez is quick to look at the achievement of the Technolinks+ project. This effort aims to provide 8,000 e-vouchers (a partial discount provided by the project, with the remainder of the cost paid by the client) towards environmental technologies for farmers. It also provides matching grants and business support to 85 agri-businesses and access to information through knowledge
fairs for 35,000 farmers — half of those being women. “What makes Nicaraguans resilient is the fact that despite all the obstacles farmers are facing they are investing in and adopting new practices and technology,’ he said. “They are investing in the future.” Another example can be found in Tanzania with the Small-Scale Business Value Chains (SSBVC) project. Beatrice Sawe, the project’s environmental coordinator, has worked diligently to support partner companies, or lead firms, to develop and adopt environmental policies and strategies for their workplaces and to meet national regulatory compliance. 21
All the lead firms the SSBVC project has partnered with have adopted environmental policies and strategies and include adopting workplace occupational health and safety protocols. Lead firms have also initiated the difficult process of achieving National Environmental Management Council Certification. Many have succeeded. Sawe, through the SSBVC project, has also been a champion of environment innovation grants (EIGs), matching grants to lead firms to adopt clean technology and move to environmentally sustainable practices. Several lead firms have adopted solar for productive use, such as irrigation, water heating, cold storage, and power for machinery. Grants have been provided for rainwater harvesting, biogas, hydroponics, solar dehydration, and greenhouses as well. EIG’s are proving to be an effective tool in many projects. MEDA’s Ukraine Horticultural Business Development Project also employs EIGs to support 10 of the lead firms it works with in the agricultural sector. The impact of the EIGs overall is substantial: a reduction in energy use of between 62.5 and 96 per cent, a 35 percent decrease in water use, a 25 to 300 percent increase in productivity, a 125 percent increase in yields, and a 75 percent decrease in pesticide use. MEDA’s projects in Nicaragua, Tanzania and Ukraine provide a snapshot of what is happening across MEDA. There are many more examples that demonstrate how MEDA is striving to promote positive environmental outcomes. What is most important is that MEDA, through its strategic plan, its strong technical expertise, project design and programming, has all the building blocks to set it on the right course for a green and inclusive future.
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Books in brief
Breaking the taboo about sharing personal faith Tongue-Tied: Learning the lost art of talking about faith by Sara Wenger Shenk (Herald Press, 2021 288 pages, $16.99US) Gutsy. Astonishing. Mind-expanding. This book will help you if you grew up Christian and have all but abandoned the ability to talk faith with others outside your faith. Sara Wenger Shenk, recently retired president of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), traverses expansive territory in looking at how Christians can be more comfortable, loving, true to God and Christ as we look for ways to begin, or begin again, sharing what our faith means to us. She taps the wisdom of others with frequent and well-chosen quotes from theologians, professors, writers, ordained and laity, friends, students, fellow teachers, her parents, prophets, and saints. Sara asks us to leave behind literalist, fundamentalist views of the Bible; instead, cut loose and trust with your whole heart in “the Spirit’s illuminating presence revealing the Word of God throbbing through the text.” Her prose is both pungent and sublime. She writes: “Christian faith talk is constantly in danger of becoming boring. Anyone with a healthy zest for life wants nothing to do with such tedium.” The most moving sermons and stories are when pastors, teachers or theologians tell us how they have been touched personally by God’s work in the world. The Marketplace July August 2021
Her stories — many very personal — often bring tears to my own eyes, tuning me also to the spirit of God. If TongueTied is read by enough inquiring minds and open and loving hearts — this book has the potential to change what seems like the current trajectory of Christianity disappearing into a black hole. -Melodie Davis
Five generations of smoked meat and cheese The Weaver Cleaver: 100 years of S. Clyde Weaver Farmers Market History Sliced Thin by Daniel Weaver Neff (Masthof Press, 2020, 209 pages, $20US) In December 1920, S. Clyde and Emma Weaver took five items to market in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, launching a fivegeneration family business. S. Clyde Weaver sold the firm to his son-in-laws in 1951, devoting the rest of his days to a preaching and caring ministry with the Church of the Brethren. The company, which currently operates 10 locations, sold at 17 sites in Pennsylvania 22
communities over its first 76 years. Third-generation family member, Neff, worked for the firm for over half a century, beginning at age 10. He has crafted an engaging book that is equal parts family history and glimpse into how the market business has evolved over the past century. Photographs of staff, equipment, bills, market stalls and products — scrapple, dill pickles in large wooden barrels and large cheese wheels — help bring the market experience to life. The waste-not attitude of the early days included ensuring that even pork bones, fat and trimmings got used in other products. Processes have mechanized, locations have changed and products sold have diversified. But some things have endured. Four of the original five products that S. Clyde and Emma began selling in 1920 are still prominent in the company’s refrigerated cases. Food that is a delight to some is a mystery to others. Take Shoofly pie, the traditional Mennonite dessert. One former company employee, visiting during a stint working with Wycliffe Bible Translators, noted that the black strap molasses used as a base in the pie finds a rather different use in Burkina Faso. There it is a byproduct of the sugar industry, applied to roads to keep the dust down. A good read for history buffs and people who love farmers markets. -MS
Books in brief
The counter-cultural brilliance of the Beatitudes
losopher Dallas Willard. Jesus’ proclamations, which Scandrette calls “teachings on the hill,” provide a challenge to both dominant systems and our default responses to life’s trials. They celebrate hunger for justice, mercy and purity of spirit. Through these teachings, Jesus invites his listeners to reimagine their lives, be attuned to the Kingdom of God, and to a path of recovery from dysfunction. Some readers may find an echo of Walter Brueggeman’s prophetic voice in the correctives Scandrette suggests. The nine-fold path includes calls to openhanded trust, honest lament, humility, recognition of the dignity of all, and adopting postures of justice and compassion. The suggestion of taking a seven-day fast from critical thoughts or disparaging comments is particularly apt. Acting out of right motives, committing to reconciliation and reaching out past differences, embracing suffering and living a way of fearless, radical love are all valuable messages in this important book. Well worth reading, more than once. -MS
The Ninefold path of Jesus. Hidden wisdom of the Beautitudes by Mark Scandrette (IVP, 2021, 176 pages, $16US) Scandrette’s thoughtful examination of the Beatitudes, blessings recited by Jesus during his Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, is well-suited for a time such as this. He shows how Jesus’ messages about justice, peacemaking and nonviolence make a relevant link between the Bible and modern, everyday life. The Beatitudes’ justice orientation makes them appealing even to people who aren’t normally interested in church. The challenging propositions of this Bible passage provide a “curriculum to Christlikeness,” in the words of the late American phi-
Comments
Would you like to comment on anything in this magazine, or on any other matters relating to business and faith? Send your thoughts to mstrathdee@meda.org
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