Congo crisis grinds on
“As many as 250,000 children could starve in Kasai in the next few months unless enough nutritious food reaches them quickly,” says David Beasley, World Food Programme’s executive director, in an Oct. 30 release. Kasai is a region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo suffering the aftermath of a gruesome armed conflict that displaced…
‘Our need for weed’
It’s not often that you see the words Mennonite, church and university in the same sentence as marijuana. Yet, “Our need for weed? Sparking conversations in the church and community” was the title of the Nov. 15 Face2Face event at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). A panel, which included a police officer, a rehabilitation counsellor, a…
Two friends, two faiths
At a time when world news seems to set nations against each other, the chatter and laughter of an obviously diverse crowd can be inspiring. On Oct. 28, men and women of a variety of races and ages wore hijabs, clerical collars, T-shirts and suit jackets while mixing together and enthusiastically engaging in the fifth…
Breaking bread together
Palmer Becker began to attend the Kitchener (Ont.) Masjid when he returned from teaching at Bethlehem Bible College in 2009. While in Bethlehem, he had heard the daily calls to prayer and had gone to pray at the mosque. When questioned why he hadn’t gone to the Church of the Nativity instead, he said, “I…
‘We need legislated protection’
“My people don’t believe in coincidence,” Sylvia McAdam told her audience, “so you’re meant to be here today.” McAdam was speaking at a teach-in at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon. Billed as Let’s Walk the Talk Saskatoon, the Oct. 6, 2017, event was co-sponsored by Mennonite Church Canada, MC Saskatchewan and the college. It…
Bringing people and food together
On a sunny Saturday in early September, 13 cyclists set out to explore the Local Food Trail near Osler, Sask. Gord Enns, who is executive director of the Saskatoon Food Council and who lives on a farm in the Osler area, organized the tour in conjunction with the town of Osler and the rural municipality…
Mennonites walk for reconciliation
The 2017 Walk for Reconciliation recognizing First Nations peoples drew an estimated 50,000 people in Vancouver on Sept. 24. Some two-dozen Mennonites from several Lower Mainland congregations walked together under a “Mennonite Folks” sign organized by Garry Janzen, Mennonite Church B.C.’s executive minster. As an encouragement to join the walk, at least one MC B.C.…
Remembering the ‘forgotten people’
As a teenager, Ghada Ageel had heated debates with her grandmother at their home in the Khan Younis refugee camp in South Gaza. “I asked my grandmother many questions: Why didn’t you stay in Beit Daras and die there? Why do I have to be a refugee and live this misery?” Her grandmother was forced…
On a journey towards reconciliation
Twelve years ago, Conrad Grebel University College planted a black walnut tree and erected a sign marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival in 1805 of the first Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania and the establishment of the “German Company Tract.” But time has a way of altering understandings of events and history. On Sept. 22,…
‘For Christ’s sake, we better do something about it’
“Walk the talk of nation to nation. Implement the declaration!” More than a hundred people chanted these words as they walked for Indigenous rights in Winnipeg, situated on Treaty 1 land, on Sept. 23, 2017. The group met at Stephen Juba Park and walked 12 kilometres to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in…
