MEDA's board in profile: Robert Shuh
Elmira, Ontario

Day job: A long-time farmer – he currently grows soybean seed for DeKalb – Robert Shuh also owns a self-storage company called The Shuh Box and does some land developing. He spent two years in Nicaragua leading MEDA’s Produmer sesame project, and joined the MEDA board in 2004.

Robert is “very passionate” about how MEDA puts faith into action. “Lisa and I realize that we have been blessed spiritually, relationally and physically, and we have a responsibility to our fellow man and to our God to be good stewards of that blessing. MEDA is a wonderful vessel to manifest that stewardship.”

Most fun: A highlight in Nicaragua was seeing the light bulb go on in a sesame cooperative as they made a 180-degree turnaround from a handout mentality to enthusiastic partnership in the development process. Last year’s trip to Tanzania and the Serengeti was “a hoot,” as was a trip to South America in November with MEDA investment director Gerhard Pries to visit projects in Paraguay and Argentina. On a return stopover in Santiago, Chile, they cruised scenic mountain roads on rented motorcycles.

Hobbies: Motorcycling (Suzuki V-Strom 1000) and hockey rank high. Robert coaches his son’s hockey team and plays three times a week in a men’s league, where he admits to occasionally suspending his Mennonite pacifism when somebody really needs to be checked into the boards. At the other end of the cultural spectrum he is a choral music specialist who conducted the Menno Singers and Mennonite Mass Choir for several years.

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