MCC pulls staff from Ukraine
Russia has begun military operations against Ukraine, but North American Mennonite Central Committee staff who were working in the latter country are safe. That includes Winnipegger Andrea Shalay, the charity’s peace engagement co-ordinator for Europe. Shalay and three other staff, all Americans, were evacuated from Ukraine more than a week ago. “I had just 36…
A little SALT goes a long way
In the summer of 1982, 20-year-old Sophie Tiessen-Eigbike was about to get on a plane bound for Zimbabwe. She didn’t know it yet, but this trip was going to change the trajectory of her life. She was going to Zimbabwe for a year-long term with Serving and Learning Together (SALT), a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)…
Time well spent with MCC
It has been well over half of their lifetime ago—“38 years to be exact,” said one of the six women who gathered on a warm August evening with their spouses to reminisce about their year of living in an intentional community doing voluntary service. One couldn’t attend the gathering. And now, even though they are…
MCC releases research findings on historical entanglements with National Socialism
Mennonite Central Committee has released the findings of its research on the organization’s historical entanglements with German National Socialism (or Nazism) and its legacy before, during and after the Second World War. Articles examining this history are available in the fall 2021 issue of Intersections: MCC Theory and Practice Quarterly. Over the past few years,…
MCC responds to bombing in Gaza
Nighttime was the hardest for Mahmoud Alhalimi. With the electricity cut and bombs falling, the hours were dark and loud, as he tried in vain to help his two young children fall asleep. “They asked me all the time, ‘What are these sounds? Are they coming to our home?’” he says of their time during…
MCC volunteers worked at boarding school being probed
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) supported an Indigenous boarding home that is under investigation by the Saskatchewan RCMP. The Mounties say a complaint was made in 2020 about a death that potentially occurred at the Timber Bay Children’s Home at Montreal Lake, Sask., in 1974. At the time, the home was operated by the Brethren in…
Newcomer youth raise money for MCC
Edmonton newcomer youth from seven countries raised funds and assembled 131 hygiene kits for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) recently. Families who have fled their homes due to war or disaster struggle to afford simple necessities that are vital to health, especially during the pandemic. Students could relate. The youth, who have mostly been living in…
One piece at a time
There was no peace in Anju Shaw’s life. For 20 years, she endured constant abuse and neglect at the hands of her husband and then her husband’s parents. She had no support, no one to speak for her or listen to her. She didn’t think the police would care about her—if they believed her at…
Making a difference
Forty-one acres in Campden, Ont., are being cultivated, planted and harvested for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, with sponsorships of $400 an acre helping to plant a crop for the Grow Hope Niagara project. When the harvest is sold, farmers will donate the money to the Foodgrains Bank through Mennonite Central Committee. MCC uses this money…
Under the sparkling stars
The carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” paints a Christmas card picture of the ancient town of the Nativity: sparkling stars lighting quiet streets, a Holy Baby resting in a manger as the townspeople sleep, unaware. That idyllic view was replaced by a fuller perspective when my family moved to Israel in 1996. What drew…
