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Women supporting women across borders
Pamela Obonde came to Winnipeg from Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2019 to study in the master of arts in peacebuilding and collaborative development program at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Manitoba in March, it threatened to foil all her plans. “I remember the day very well, when things just started…
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Minority Mennonites organize a support group
When Gabby Martin mentions that she’s a Mennonite, she’s often met with, “Okay, but where are you from?” Her father is Black and her mother is Syrian; she was adopted by Mennonites. Martin grew up in Langham, Sask., and has been Mennonite her whole life, yet, because of her appearance, it feels like she’s expected…
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Zwiebach from Saint Johanna
My earliest memories of food go back to my childhood in the Chaco, Paraguay, where my family lived from 1947 to 1952. Our family, like the others in our village, were refugees from Ukraine. We had arrived from Germany on the the S.S. Volendam, a Dutch freighter, with nothing but the clothes on our backs.…
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‘There is always a way’
Christen Kong, 27, was part of the community outreach team at Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church when the group started a local butterfly garden to encourage pollinators. Kong marvels at how that small garden project became a “community connector” and a place of healing and wholeness. In a neighbourhood with food insecurity and high unemployment, the…
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Zwiebach recipe
Now that I am retired, I love to bake zwiebach and have become known at Jubilee Mennonite Church in Winnipeg as the “Zwiebach Lady.” You can read more about my story here. My zwiebach recipe comes from a cookbook made as a fundraiser for Parkwood Mennonite Home in Waterloo, Ont., called 1999-International Year of Older Persons. The recipe…
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Friends celebrate Leonard Doell’s long service with MCC
When Leonard Doell was hired as Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan’s Native Concerns program coordinator in 1996, he was told his job was “to drink tea with elders.” It was a job description he took to heart. After 24 years, Doell retired in June. On Aug. 21, colleagues and friends gathered on the lawn outside…
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Young reader likes story about seniors
Miles Kirkaldy, who is six years old and just started grade one, enjoys reading Canadian Mennonite. When a new copy comes in the mail, he reads bits and pieces and asks questions about what he reads. When the Sept. 14 issue arrived he asked, “Where does Canadian Mennonite magazine come from? Does our church really…
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From pew to pulpit
Valerie Alipova arrived in Canada for the first time five years ago, on a one-year Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) assignment. In September, she became an associate pastor of Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. “The craziest part is that the first day I arrived here [at Bethel] . . . I remember walking past this office,…
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An eye for beauty
Natalie Stevanus, 36, of Bloomingdale, Ont., likes how her photographs bring joy to people, which inspires her to take even more. (Photo by Jane van Pelt) Natalie Stevanus has an eye for beauty. She loves to take photographs that make people happy. It is a winning combination! Stevanus, 36, recently won the Judges’ Choice Award…
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‘I can see this church coming’
Part educator, part listener, part mentor and part bridge-builder. The mandate for Fanosie Legesse, appointed as Mennonite Church Eastern Canada’s intercultural mission minister in March 2020, is broad. But, as someone who has always bridged cultural gaps, Legesse says, “I cannot help but think that throughout my whole life God was giving me an opportunity…
