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Three stories of throwing
In March 2017, I spent 10 days in Hebron and observed three throwing situations that showed a microcosm of the occupation in that Palestinian city. Hebron, a major city in the southern West Bank, is where some 800 Jewish settlers, protected by hundreds of Israeli soldiers, have moved into the old city, among the Palestinian…
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Palestinian children face harsh realities
On May 24, 2017, we returned from a two-week learning tour of the West Bank and Israel, sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). We were two among eleven participants, mostly from Mennonite churches and MCC staff in British Columbia. The tour included visits to holy sites, but it focused on visits to MCC’s partners working…
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A Jewish perspective on the Mennonite resolution on Palestine and Israel
This is an expanded report on an hour-long phone interview I did for the article “Muddying the waters on Israeli divestment.” In July 2016 Mennonite Church Canada delegates passed a resolution that calls on Mennonites to “avoid investing in or supporting companies that do business with Israeli settlements and the Israel Defense Forces, and companies…
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MCC Canada appoints new executive director
After much prayer and discernment, the board of Mennonite Central Committee Canada (MCC) is pleased to welcome Rick Cober Bauman to the role of MCC Canada executive director, effective October 10, 2017. Cober Bauman has served with MCC since 1989 in a variety of capacities. For the past nine years, he has given leadership to…
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Dedicated volunteer coordinates parking at relief sale
“Wow, what well-organized parking!” is a review that few of us attending a big event will ever think to utter. But every year for the last 51 years, Paul Snyder has had the massive job of making sure thousands of cars are parked safely so that tens of thousands of people can enjoy the New…
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GAMEO finds new home at Goshen College
The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO), the most trusted online source for information on Anabaptist groups around the world (www.gameo.org), has found a new home with the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA) at Goshen College. On May 19, 2017, members of the GAMEO management board voted unanimously to transfer oversight of…
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More than 5,000 Congolese Mennonites in hiding
Mennonite church members report increasing violence in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Central Kasaï Province, where Michael J. Sharp died on a United Nations’ peace-building mission in March 2017. Mennonite Mission Network partners with Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission in walking alongside the three Congolese Mennonite denominations. In an Apr. 2, 2017, phone call, Joly Birakara, vice president of…
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Prosthetic limb leads to new hope for Syrian refugee
For 21-year-old Amjad, trauma led to hope and solidified his unwavering faith in God’s protection. Amjad, a Syrian refugee in Ludwigshafen, Germany, lost his leg when a bomb fell on a street in Syria. Gregory Rabus and his wife, Jennifer Otto, Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in Ludwigshafen, met Amjad (no last name for security…
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Auction of Maud Lewis painting raises $45,000 for MCC
The thrilling and tumultuous saga of the Maud Lewis painting found in a thrift shop donation bin has come to a successful end. The online auction of “Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fisherman, Bay View, Nova Scotia” concluded on May 20, 2017, with the winning bid reaching $45,000. The proceeds from the…
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Mass starvation—does anyone give a *%^$?
“I have three things I’d like to say today,” said American author Tony Campolo to a crowd at the 1982 interdenominational Spring Harvest church conference in England. “First, while you were sleeping last night, 45,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. “Second, most of you don’t give a shit. “Third, what’s worse…
