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[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

August 29, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

August 29, 2001

Donors experience firsthand report of West African project

GOSHEN, Ind. (MBM)  The woman looked up from her stool by a
cooking fire where she stirred her gari, roasted cassava flour.
At first glance, she may have seemed out of place among the
carpets and draperies of The Brick House, in Goshen, Ind., but
she wasnt.  It was appropriate that Julianna Dahoun be among
those gathered for the Aug. 23 luncheon at the invitation of
Mennonite Board of Missions, even if her presence was merely on
the television screen.

We wanted to connect donors with those who are actively involved
in MBMs ministry at a grassroots level, Marty Lehman, interim
president of MBM, said.  We think it is important to give as
much firsthand information as possible about how donors money is
being spent.  This event was a rare opportunity for those who
give to meet people who are putting their money to work.

Ernest Gnonlonfoun presented the various activities in which the
Union of Evangelical Churches for Social Promotion is involved,
concentrating especially on its job creation and community bank
project.  Gnonlonfoun is the director of the Union, a
nongovernmental development organization that serves the central
region around Dassa-Zoumi in the West African country of Benin.
Four denominations collaborate in this ministry.

Christine and Phil Lindell Detweiler, MBM workers in West Africa
for 10 years, were also present at the luncheon, as was
Gnonlonfouns wife, Vicentia.  The Lindell Detweilers have worked
with the Union since 1996 to expand its administrative capacity
and community health services.  Vicentia is a
sociologist-anthropologist who has worked with Beninese, Dutch
and German community development projects.  She is currently
employed by the Swiss consulate.

Our number one goal is to assure food security for the poorest
of the poor, the economically marginalized, Ernest said.  In
Beninese society, these people are women.  Women are at the
beginning and end of all things, yet they have no power.

Im moved and honored to observe the secondary benefits that
come to the women participating in our program.  They progress
from being people with no social standing to those who are
respected and who have a voice in the community.

The average loan of less than $50 enables many of the
participants to begin businesses.  Two common activities in the
Dassa region are making oil from peanuts or gari from cassava.
Some of the women buy corn or other staples in the harvest season
and store them until supplies are scarce, at which time they sell
at a profit.

A significant feature of the Unions community banks is the
solidarity group.  Since the women who participate have no
material collateral, the solidarity group provides social
collateral.  If a woman falls ill and is unable reimburse a
monthly payment, her group will assure the payment through
selling the womans merchandise for her or by taking up a
collection among themselves.  With this system, the default rate
of repayment of loans is kept around 1 percent.

When we see what your money has done, it is extraordinary,
Ernest said, addressing the donors and MBM administrators.  You
cant imagine the poverty of the people we work with.  May the
Lord reward you 100 times over for the help that you have given.
You planted your seed in fertile ground, not among rocks or
thorns.

Elmer Stutzman, one of the donors who attended the luncheon said,
I feel good about where the project is at.  One of my concerns
has been that we dont duplicate what MEDA [Mennonite Economic
Development Associates] is doing.  It was helpful to have more
background information.  I appreciate the solidarity group idea
that holds people accountable to each other.

It is nice to know how the money we contributed is being used,
Jane Lehman said.  MBM approached me about giving on my parents
wedding anniversary.  Although they have passed on, I see my gift
as a tribute to [my parents].  They were always interested in
mission, so through this project in Benin, their influence in
world mission lives on.
* * *

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen      PHOTOS AVAILABLE