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Helping women in one of poorest countries of the world
By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - January/February 2018
MEDA is working to help 25,000 women in Myanmar, but is not involved in areas of the country where violence and conflict are occurring, president Allan Sauder told supporters at the organization’s annual convention.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is in transition from decades of political and economic isolation, and remains one of the poorest countries in the world, he said. MEDA’s ongoing work assists women in Shan and Kayin States to grasp new economic opportunities, primarily in agricultural markets.
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By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - January/February 2018
Record donations from supporters, assisting 91 million families and praise from government funders were highlights of the past year at MEDA, the organization’s annual meeting heard.
Supporters set a record in private contributions to MEDA for the second year in a row, totaling $6.5 million US, president Allan Sauder said.
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By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - January/February 2018
The Christian view that giving should be kept secret is based on misunderstanding of two Bible verses resulting in a “secrecy doctrine” that we need to get past, a Manitoba businessman and former pastor argues.
Most Christians don’t understand the Bible passage they cite in arguing that giving should be kept secret, Peter Dueck says. “I would like us to get past this secrecy doctrine.”
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By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Neil Denison of MEDA’s Waterloo office shared the reflection below during a Sept. 11 staff meeting.
People are prone to do awful things when they lose hope. When they see no future. When they can find no opportunities.
What resonates deeply with me about MEDA’s mission is our desire to help people see hope in their communities, to find the opportunities for a better life and future. MEDA’s mission is a practical expression of Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
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Company develops robots to clear deadly land mines
By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Company develops robots to clear deadly land mines
For Richard Yim, building a business to speed up the elimination of land mines is neither just a good business opportunity nor an abstract idea for making the world a better place.
Yim knows firsthand the human cost of leftover bombs from bygone wars. He and his family came to Canada from Cambodia when he was 13, five years after losing an aunt to a land mine. It’s still something that the family struggles to understand.
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Helping women get access to tools for farming success
By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
MEDA is building on its successful work with women farmers in northern Ghana with a new initiative, the GROW (Greater Rural Opportunities for Women) Technology Fund.
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By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Elaine Shantz and Miriam Turnbull
Elaine Shantz and Miriam Turnbull took a long hike this summer, raising over $123,000 in the process to lift women farmers in Ghana out of poverty.
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Head of Virginia firm sees success through flexibility, trust
By Jesse Huxman
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Devon Anders is all about building relationships. Anders is CEO of InterChange Group, a Harrisonburg, Va-based logistics firm. From the outside, you might think the business is just a warehouse company. It’s really about relationships.
Devon grew up in a Mennonite family near Souderton, Penn. Much of his business education came from watching how his father, a banker, treated others. “I learned that it was about treating people right. …My approach has always been, ‘Hey I’m going to try to be upfront with where I’m at with you, and I want you to do the same back to me.”
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GreenHouse helps students build skills, test dreams.
By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Tania Del Matto
Tania Del Matto has a ringside seat on the next generation of people who want to change the world.
As director of the St. Paul’s Uni- versity College GreenHouse program, she walks alongside students who want to start businesses or non-profits, as well as folks who have an idea that they don’t know what to do with.
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Centre for Peace Advancement has helped non-profits and businesses
By Mike Strathdee
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Several registered charities — Pastors in Exile (an Anabaptist-rooted movement that connects young people in Waterloo Region with vibrant faith experiences outside and inside of church walls) and Theatre of the Beat (a travelling social justice theatre troupe) re-organized or developed their existing structure through work with Conrad Grebel University College’s Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement.
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Centre for Peace Advancement supports peace entrepreneurs
As printed in The Marketplace - November/December 2017
Heidebrecht is energized by mentoring young people who are committed to change.
Paul Heidebrecht is a different kind of business coach.
Heidebrecht is director of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement, an inter-disciplinary organization that takes multi-sector approaches to the advancement of peace.
In a region that has many organizations working to encourage and support business start-ups in a variety of sectors, CPA is unique. It is currently the only university-based program in the world supporting peace-building related start-ups.
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Practical solutions, integrity, building trust
By Allan Sauder
As Printed in The Marketplace - September/October 2017
One of the things MEDA holds very important is our values. For us, it’s a faith-based value system that calls us to unleash what we believe is God-given potential in all people to earn a livelihood.
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Faith prints, wisdom exchanges part of TourMagination trips.
By Mike Strathdee
As Printed in The Marketplace - September/October 2017
Even in her childhood, travel was a passion for Audrey Voth Petkau.
“I always had a dream to see the world,” she recalls. “I remember early on, looking at a map of the world, and pointing to Switzerland, and saying, some day, I’m going to get there.”
Petkau enjoys local hospitality in Ak Metchet, Uzbekistan in 2013
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MEDA staff encounter a variety of experiences during travels to countries where the agency works. As these stories show, trips can take unexpected turns.
Planes, strains and automobiles
Of all the travel MEDA president Allan Sauder has done with MEDA over the past three decades, the scariest took place on a visit to Peru 20 years ago.
Sauder and his wife, Donna, were visiting agribusiness projects in Peruvian jungles. After travelling all day to the main airport in Lima, they met a driver who would take them to a small airstrip atop the Andes. From there they would fly into the jungle to visit a palm heart project.
Allan and Donna Sauder
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Tech innovators, charities need to understand each other to tackle social problems
As Printed in The Marketplace - September/October 2017
Rapidly increasing wealth and inequality in North American high-tech hubs is forcing charities to reach out to technology entrepreneurs for solutions to societal problems as well as donations.
That new, uncomfortable reality means that both sides need to understand each other’s challenges, a forum on technology and inequality in Kitchener, Ont. heard recently.
The event was held at the offices of Vidyard, a fast-growing firm which provides a platform that helps companies analyze the performance of their online sales videos. It was organized by FaithTech, a nascent movement operating in three tech clusters across Canada (Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto and Vancouver).
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Armed conflicts reinforced by social instability
As Printed in The Marketplace - September/October 2017By Mike Strathdee
Dr. Samantha Nutt, the founder of War Child Canada, is one of the keynote speakers at MEDA’s upcoming convention: Building Bridges to Enduring Livelihoods — Business as a Calling 2017, to be held November 2-5 in Vancouver, B.C.
The excerpt below is from her book: Damned Nations: Greed, Guns Armies & Aid.