VOLUNTEERING
Ernie Janzen
Ten Thousand
Villages
I
n our current period of
strong economic growth,
it’s easy to forget we are a
privileged minority of the world
population.
not waiting for “somebody” to do
something. If we all took seriously
our obligation to the world and
contributed—not only money, but our
time—to become emotionally involved
enough in world needs, the problem
would soon be reduced significantly.
It’s even easier to close our eyes
to the fact that much of our low-cost
consumer goods are obtained by
exploiting the already underprivileged
and uneducated masses of Third
World workers.
If we all took seriously our
obligation to the world and
contributed…the problem
would soon be reduced
significantly.
The reality of the rich getting
richer and the poor becoming poorer is
a sad legacy we are reaping from the
“religion” of unfettered free enterprise.
The 3-month volunteer assignment
that my wife Agnes and I chose at Ten
Thousand Villages was our contribution
to trying to make a change—one
person at a time, one day at a time.
Thankfully, I am seeing more news
articles of other individuals who are
Volume 16 Number 2 Summer 2007
Our part consisted of working in
the central distribution warehouse of
Ten Thousand Villages—approximately
90,000 square feet . . . the size of
a typical Costco store—located in
Akron, Pennsylvania.
Our work was not inspiring or
glamorous or exciting. It was just
plain hard manual labour. Agnes
“picked” and assembled orders
for products for the festivals
being held in various parts of the
US. (Canada is handled in a separate
Canadian facility.) Once Agnes had
an order assembled, it was my job to
pack these frequently fragile items for
safe shipment to the festival sites.
For an idea of the nature of
the items, visit the Ten Thousand
Villages e-commerce site at www.
Tenthousandvillages.com. Most items
are accompanied by the story of the
artisan who made the item.
Aside from many “long-term”
volunteers, we were 1 of 7 couples
there on “short-term” assignment—
short term being anything from 2
months to 1 year. The local population
also supplies many volunteers on a
daily basis. In fact, one of the people
we worked alongside had volunteered
on a full-time basis for about 15 years
and had just been hired as a paid staff
person.
Our weekends started on Friday at
noon and we did a lot of sightseeing—
New York; Philly; Washington, DC;
Baltimore; Gettysburg; etc., are all
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Amish kids hanging out at the fair
within a 2-hour drive. This is the
seat of US Independence with many
historic sites. Important battles in the
Civil War were fought in this area. It
is not unusual to find a monument to
some important battle beside the road
or in a farmer’s field.
September is Fall Fair time and
we visited many of these country fairs.
The big attractions are the auctions of
Amish quilts and furniture. Busloads
of tourists come to bid on these items
and a lot of money is raised. A large
portion of the funds is used by the
Amish for medical facilities because
they do not participate in public
medical aid; they collectively pay for
all medical care needed by anyone in
their community.
Of particular importance to
Agnes and myself is that these are
the historic roots of the Mennonite
faith community in North America.
Approximately 25 percent of the
population of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster
County is Mennonite. The Mennonites
were part of the influx of various
religious groups—including Quakers,
Puritans, and Moravians—out of
Europe in the mid- to late-1600s
to escape religious persecution in
Europe. These groups arrived at the
request of William Penn who had
obtained a charter from Great Britain
to settle the Colony of Penn’s Land or
Pennsylvania, as it become known.
It is nostalgic to observe the
Amish at their farming, using
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Parking lot at a country fair
horsedrawn implements and teams of
up to 5 large horses for some of the
heavy work. You get used to seeing
horse-and-buggy vehicles as part
of the normal traffic flow; it is not
unusual to be waiting at a traffic light
next to a horse. Saturday evenings
are “courting” evenings for the young
folk, with numerous very shiny and
meticulously detailed buggies with
sleek horses pulling them around
town. Most of us are familiar with the
quaint names of Pennsylvania villages
such as Bird-in-Hand, Paradise, Blue
Bird, and of course Intercourse.
…it is not unusual to be
waiting at a traffic light
next to a horse.
Why did Agnes and I go
to Ten Thousand Villages?
First, it is part of our much larger world
relief organization known as MCC,
Mennonite Central Committee. For
the extent of this organization, visit
www.MCC.org. Ten Thousand Villages
is a separately incorporated entity, a
commercial venture with a mandate to
provide a viable self-sustaining market
for Third World artisans.
This is one amazing organization.
•Their Vision Statement is “One
day, all artisans in the developing
countries will earn a fair wage, be
treated with dignity and respect,
and be able to live a life of quality.”
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•Their Mission Statement is “Ten
Thousand Villages provides vital,
fair income to Third World people
by marketing their handicrafts
and telling their stories in North
America.”
Ten Thousand Villages
accomplishes the mission by
working with Third World artisans to
design products of good quality and
appearance that will appeal to the
North American buyer. This involves
working with some very sophisticated
people at the Colour Institute of
America.
Ten Thousand Villages provides
“branding” through a network of stores
throughout US and Canada now totalling
over 150. Their e-Commerce site
includes interesting stories about the
artisans who make the items. Total sales
for 2006 were about US$26 million.
Each year, Ten Thousand Villages
arranges for a number of artisans to
visit the North American stores to see
the end result of their work and, more
important, tell their stories to North
Americans. Because Ten Thousand
Villages shares many facilities
with MCC—also headquartered in
Akron, PA—we were frequently in
contact with many foreign nationals
attending various functions related
to the international relief efforts of
the MCC. Workers and visitors spent
lunch breaks together in the large and
beautiful cafeteria.
Volume 16 Number 2 Summer 2007
America. It is also a founding member
of IFAT, International Free Trade
Association, headquartered in Europe.
It is considered the leader in developing
free trade standards in the world.
Here is the story (by Doug Dirks)
of one woman who has been helped by
Ten Thousand Villages.
Rosa Peronia,
Toy Animal Maker in Peru
Agnes selecting stock
Ernie at a packing station
Weekly meetings featured quests
from various countries. We were
encouraged to drop our work to attend
these meetings. Monday morning
staff meetings always included an
inspirational introduction by a senior
staff member. Most of these people had
spent a major part of their careers in
developing nations in various capacities.
The depth of their experience and their
passion for their work was awesome.
We felt blessed to be in the presence of
these dedicated individuals.
In November 2007, Ten Thousand
Villages was awarded Co-Op America’s
People’s Choice Award for “Green
Business of the Year,” an award that
recognizes businesses making a
difference in their communities every
day. The awards ceremony in San
Francisco received national coverage.
Ten Thousand Villages won the award
for a second consecutive year.
Ten Thousand Villages is the oldest
and largest free trade retailer in North
Volume 16 Number 2 Summer 2007
Rosa is a Quechua Indian woman
from a small village in a remote Andes
mountain valley. In the early 1980s,
her village was taken over by the
Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a
terrorist group. Her husband refused
to join the Sendero, the local police,
or the military unit; he wanted to stay
neutral and just go about his business
as a farmer and small trader.
Rosa Peronia of Peru
It was dangerous to be neutral.
One night, several people broke into
Rosa’s home and took her husband
away by force. He was never seen
again.
Update on Rosa
Many people “disappeared” during
that time in Peru. Rosa’s life was in
danger so she packed the belongings
she and her eight children could
carry and fled toward Lima, capital
city of Peru—a journey of over 500
kilometres, travelling on foot and
hitching rides on trucks and buses to
get to Lima.
They ended up in a slum
settlement called Huaycan, an hour
north of Lima. Most people living there
had fled the fighting in their villages
between the Sendero and the military.
With little education, Rosa
could not find a job. While she was
scrounging for things to sell and
begging, someone taught her how to
make small toy animals—vicunas,
alpacas, and llamas. These could
be sold to wealthy Peruvians and to
tourists in Lima.
Rosa desperately needed orders
to support herself and her family. Ten
Thousand Villages contacted Rosa
via Manos Amigas’ Roberto Meza,
an Assemblies of God Pastor whose
church is involved in many programs
to assist the poor in the Lima area—
including finding markets for poor
people who make handicrafts.
Manos Amigas also introduced
Rosa and her animals to other
Alternative Trading Organizations
around the world.
Ten Thousand Villages has sold tens
of thousands of Rosa’s animals in
North America. She now lives in a
good wood and brick house with glass
windows, concrete floor, plumbing,
and electricity and has even built a
showroom on the front of the house to
sell her vicunas and other creations.
She has been able to send all her
children to school and has enough
work to keep herself and several of
her children employed—and hires
neighbours who desperately need work
and income.
Rosa’s sales, income, and quality
of life have risen along with the
growth of Ten Thousand Villages and
Manos Amigas. She is a wonderful
example of how learning a craft and
tapping a market provides longterm
opportunities for people to rebuild
their lives and contribute to their
communities. s
Ernie Janzen is a retired Chartered
Accountant and Notary who practised in
Kelowna, BC. He is a former President of
The Society of Notaries Public of BC and
a past Chair of the Notary Foundation.
Ernie is an active member of the Willow
Park Mennonite Brethren Church in
Kelowna, BC.
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