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Displaced Somalis receive school kits, comforters
Many Somali refugee families returning home after years in refugee camps lack basic items, like blankets and school supplies. In the summer of 2017, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) shipped 10,120 school kits and 2,930 comforters to Somalia, which were distributed by Lutheran World Federation (LWF), an MCC partner, at five schools in Kismayo, the capital…
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Open letter on Syria
“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (I Cor. 12:26). In February, we were part of a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) delegation to Syria, including Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo. We witnessed the devastation of war and heard testimonies of faith from people who have been living in difficult circumstances now for seven…
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MCC celebrates 75 years of service work in India
This year, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is celebrating 75 years of relief, development and peace work in India, making it one of the oldest international aid organizations in the country. MCC began work in India in 1942, in response to severe famine in Bengal province in which more than two million people died from starvation,…
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‘Let no walls divide’
Right before winter reading break, 30 university students from across Canada gathered in Ottawa to learn about the current conflict in Palestine and Israel at a seminar hosted by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada Ottawa Office. From Feb. 15–17, students attending “Palestine and Israel: Let no walls divide” explored issues of advocacy, peace and…
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TTV stores to close in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec
In early February 2018, Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) began the process of permanently closing nine stores in four provinces. They include: • Calgary (Heritage) • Saskatoon (2nd Ave.) • St. Jacobs, Ont. • Stratford, Ont. • Montreal, Que. (both Monkland and St. Denis outlets) • Independently operated stores in Red Deer, Alta., and Windsor, Ont.,…
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From hand to hand: the journey to North Korea
It’s been a long trek for eight small bags of medical supplies. They have been packed and re-packed, crossed an ocean, passed through three countries and numerous airport security checks. On this day, the bags have reached their destination—a small medical clinic on a farm near Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. As I watch…
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‘Serving the Lord with gladness’
When the indomitable Orie O. Miller retired from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in 1958, there was a lot of speculation about who would fill his big shoes. In Miller’s mind, though, that question had been settled years earlier, when he chose, out of the rich Civilian Public Service (CPS) talent pool, the unpresumptuous William Thomas…
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‘More significant than my age’
Five years ago, Thomas Coldwell knew very little about Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Today, he’s the executive director of MCC Alberta. “I’ve been told multiple times, ‘Be yourself in this role,’ so that’s what I’m trying to do,” he said via Skype from his office in Calgary last month, three weeks after starting the job.…
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‘Choose something to do’
“There’s no such thing as a natural disaster,” according to Bruce Guenther. But Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada’s disaster response director wasn’t in denial. Guenther was the featured speaker at MCC Saskatchewan’s encounter and annual general meeting, held at Cornerstone Church in Saskatoon on Nov. 4, 2017. “Disasters are caused by people’s vulnerability to disaster,”…
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Christmas: A time for giving
Barb and Orrie Gingrich of Holyrood, Ont., have quite a crowd of grandchildren. It was 2008 when Barb began to think of all the gifts being exchanged at her place during the family Christmas festivities. Each family bought gifts for all the children and the adults exchanged names among themselves. What would happen, she wondered,…
