Cross-cultural experiences lead to growth in faith and skills

June 16, 2015 | Web First
Gladys Terichow | Mennonite Central Committee
<p>Yoweri Murungi, from a town in the Kibaale District in Uganda, is a participant in the Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) program. He is serving in Lusaka, Zambia, as the assistant coordinator of MCC-supported Peace Clubs. (MCC photo by Silas Crews)</p>

Opportunities to fill leadership responsibilities in a local church enrich Yoweri Murungi’s year-long cross-cultural service assignment in Lusaka, Zambia. His many new experiences include leading praise and worship services, Bible study classes and youth ministries at the Chilenje Brethren in Christ church in Lusaka.

“These experiences help me gain leadership skills and grow in my faith in Christ,” says Murungi, 28, from Kagadi, a town in the Kibaale District of Uganda.

Murungi and 20 other participants in the Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) program are completing their service assignment in July. YAMEN, a joint program of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite World Conference, is a program for young adults aged 18 to 30 who are not Canadian or U.S. citizens. Participants must either attend an Anabaptist church in their home country or serve in an Anabaptist organization.

Murungi is serving as the assistant coordinator of MCC-supported Peace Clubs that teach young people skills in nonviolent peacebuilding, conflict transformation and reconciliation. Started in 2006, Peace Clubs have expanded to 32 schools in Lusaka. 

Since the countries of Zambia and Uganda share many cultural similarities, it didn’t take long for Murungi to become an effective member of Peace Clubs leadership team.

He says Peace Clubs bring the ideas of different people together to solve a problem, citing the example of a member sharing with the group that she gets punished in school for arriving late. She had told the group she is late because she takes her younger brother to another school before she comes to her own. Through group discussions she was empowered to resolve this problem by asking her parents to make other arrangements for her younger brother.

Murungi also works with peacebuilding programs in Uganda. He anticipates the leadership skills he is learning through his participation in the local Zambian church and Peace Clubs will help him in Uganda. “I am gaining new experiences and new skills,” he says. “I am developing and improving office, management and administration skills.”

In addition to serving alongside other leaders in Peace Clubs and the church, he enjoys being part of the MCC Zambia team.

“We are delighted to have YAMEN participants on our team,” says MCC Zambia representative Miriam Mitchell. “It adds diversity to the MCC team. We learn from each other. There are cultural differences, but what everyone has in common is they come to Zambia to serve.”

Since the first participant in 2004, more than 100 YAMEN participants have been learning and sharing with the global church, says coordinator Andrea Geiser, noting, “This experience of living in another culture is a huge time of growth for participants, both personally and spiritually. Each year participants mention how they have grown closer in their faith with God, relying on God during the stresses and challenges of a new country and culture.”

See also “Young adults learn through cross-cultural experience.”

Yoweri Murungi, from a town in the Kibaale District in Uganda, is a participant in the Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) program. He is serving in Lusaka, Zambia, as the assistant coordinator of MCC-supported Peace Clubs. (MCC photo by Silas Crews)

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