Waterloo, ON – Forgiveness and farming are coming together in a new Ukraine project of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).

With support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), it aims to help smallholder farmers in areas once populated by Mennonites who fled to Canada after the Bolshevik Revolution. The five-year, $10 million project will help 5,000 smallholder farmers in the Zaporozhye and Crimea regions improve production of table grapes, potatoes, berries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and medicinal herbs.

Land owned by Mennonites and others was collectivized after the revolution of 1917. When the Soviet era ended and Ukraine achieved its independence in 1991, the land was returned to current occupants in small plots of 10 to 25 acres.

"While it is highly fertile, much of it is poorly cultivated, or not at all," says Fred Wall of Winnipeg, a MEDA volunteer who was part of the project's exploratory mission. "Under collectivization the operators were supplied with equipment and inputs; what was missing was the kind of entrepreneurial motivation that we in the west value. Now they have much motivation but they need help with things like credit and market development."

Both of Wall's parents were born into Mennonite families in Ukraine and immigrated to Canada in 1924 after they lost their farms.

"That land is now farmed by Ukrainians whose parents and grandparents were neighbors of our ancestral family," he says. "But the agricultural scene today is dramatically different than when my family left."

Some farmers have found ways to move forward, says Wall, but many are worse off than before. "Ukraine is not as poor as some other countries where MEDA works, but it suffers great economic disparity, with farm income in the eastern regions far below the national average."

MEDA was one of the first western agencies to re-enter the former Soviet Union after the collapse of communism 20 years ago. It established a Christian business organization and a small-business incubator in Moscow, both of which were spun off into independent organizations.

Numerous other Mennonite agencies have also returned to provide assistance ranging from daycare
centers and youth training to medical help and care for seniors.

These efforts have not gone unnoticed by local people, as well as by CIDA, says Wall.

"People there have been amazed that after all the persecution and hardship Mennonites endured, their descendants are back trying to help without any attempt to recover ancestral property," he says. "They see it as a lesson in forgiveness as well as an expression of genuine concern for former neighbors."

A CIDA representative told Wall that a factor in MEDA's selection for the project was its strong historical connection as well as the recent efforts by other Mennonite groups to promote local development.

MEDA will work with farmers, financial institutions, local agencies and businesses to help their whole industry become fully integrated into domestic and possibly export markets.

"It's exciting to work with people whose grandparents may have known some of our own ancestors," says Wall. "In a sense, we are becoming neighbors again."