A visionary MCC director scans the landscape for business opportunities.
You can plant a mustard seed by making a pivotal financial investment in a program that ends up growing large.
You can also plant one by offering words of counsel to someone at work.
More than 20 years ago Harold Dueck was head of the Mennonite
Central Committee program in Jerusalem. He was an unusual MCCer, as he
came from a corporate sales background with Xerox. Later he worked with
manufacturers and an agricultural conglomerate.
While in the Middle East he befriended another MCCer who became his successor in Jordan and Lebanon.
"Harold was key in helping me understand the importance of
business," this person says today. "He pushed me hard to consider
business ideas. It was his idea to develop a business exchange, and
together we ran tours for senior MCC Canada people to visit local
business leaders in their places of work to see their issues and how
they operate. I was already `business friendly,' so this was not a
stretch for me, but for many others it was a real eye-opener to see how
business could help reduce poverty."
More than 20 years later, Harold Dueck still keeps up with Middle East commentary.
That young man was Ed Epp, who today is MEDA's vice-president of
resource development (and editor of this MEDAzine).
Who knows where he would be today if Harold Dueck had not planted a
little mustard seed of counsel.
