wfn.org | Re: MCC visit to Bukavu, Zaire, reveals great need

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC:  MCC VISIT TO BUKAVU, ZAIRE, REVEALS GREAT NEED
DATE:   December 6, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

AKRON, Pa. -- Although many Rwandan refugees around Goma,
Zaire, have returned home, the situation around Bukavu, Zaire, is quite
different.  On November 20, two Mennonite Central Committee(MCC)
workers were in the first group of outsiders allowed into Bukavu since
the town was captured by Zairian rebels at the end of October.  After a
one-day assessment visit, Terry Sawatsky, co-director of MCC's Africa
programs, and Krista Rigalo, an MCC Zaire worker, reiterate the need
for prayer and aid for Rwandans and Zairians around Bukavu.  

The four Rwandan refugee camps MCC had helped support near
Bukavu are now empty.  Church contacts in Bukavu say the
Interahamwe have taken the refugees hostage and have forced them
further into Zaire's interior.  (The Interahamwe are Rwandan Hutus
involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.)  Sawatsky says roads are
not passable by vehicle and people are traveling on foot.  The sick and
some children have been left to die by the road.  Some reports indicate
as many as 250,000 people may be in this group.  Zairian homes and
farms along the refugees' route have been looted.  

A second group of some 175,000 refugees had also been under
Interahamwe control.  The Interahamwe leaders of this group appear to
have been defeated, and the refugees are beginning to return to
Rwanda.

Although Bukavu appeared calm during the MCC workers' visit, an
estimated 35 percent of Bukavu's 300,000 Zairian residents were
outside the town, hiding in the forests or in surrounding villages. 
During the rebel takeover, an unknown number of people were killed. 
Among the dead are Muta, a man who had recently become a
Christian and was to be the first baptized member of the newly planted
Bukavu Mennonite Church.  [Editor's note:  See article #2 in this
week's news service mailing.]  Interahamwe and Zairian youth tortured
Muta for three days, apparently because they thought his features
indicated he was a Tutsi.  They then shot him.  The whereabouts and
fate of many other MCC partners and friends are unknown. 

Sawatsky reports countless Zairians around Bukavu have been
uprooted and have lost their possessions.  Zairian soldiers, many who
serve unpaid, "took what they could and ran," says Sawatsky.   He
fears aid agencies will focus on assisting only Rwandans and will
overlook the suffering of Zairians who are "hungry and have lost
clothing, blankets and many other items." 

Sawatsky and Rigalo found the MCC office in Bukavu had been
looted.  Two MCC vehicles, a computer and other items were stolen;
the loss is estimated to be around $40,000 Cdn./$30,000 U.S. 
Neighbors reported finding two bodies in the yard of the MCC house.
This November 20 and 21 visit was the first contact MCC had with its
partners in Bukavu since MCC workers Krista Rigalo and Fidele
Lumeya evacuated the town on October 27.

"The situation will continue to be fluid and difficult to predict," says
Sawatsky.  "MCC will have to respond to changing dynamics."  He
notes, however, that "the need for blankets, warm clothing, seeds and
possibly food for Zairians already appears evident."

MCC continues to appeal for funds for its "Central Africa Healing
Fund."  As well, the agency is asking for 50,000 blankets by
Christmas.  These can be dropped off at any MCC office, along with
$4 Cdn./$3 U.S. per blanket to pay for shipping.  The blankets will go
to needy people in the Bukavu area.  

MCC, Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and Mennonite Brethren
Missions/Services had also asked churches to set aside a time of prayer
on December 1 for people in Zaire.  MCC workers stress the need for
continuing prayer.

Immediately after returning from Africa, Sawatsky spent several days
in Manitoba.  Many Canadians were curious about his opinion on
outside intervention into Zaire.  "Many Rwandan refugees continue to
suffer in Zaire.  A rescue force could be useful in preventing more loss
of life and in helping the refugees return home," Sawatsky said. 
However, he notes the international community should be aware of the
risks associated with entering a war zone.

                                 -30-

pls6december1996

MCC photo available:  MCC's Material Resource Manager, Kevin
King, and volunteers Karissa Sauder, Micky Carey unpack blankets.
On December 5, volunteers at the MCC material resources center in
Ephrata, Pa., helped prepare the first shipment of donated blankets for
Bukavu, Zaire.  MCC's goal is to collect 50,000 blankets by
Christmas.  (MCC photo by Tony Siemens)TOPIC:  JAPANESE EXPRESS GRATITUDE TO MENNONITES FOR POST-WA
ASSISTANCE
DATE:   December 6, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

WINNIPEG, Man. - Fifty years have passed since Mennonite Central
Committee (MCC) and 11 other church-based agencies joined efforts
to provide assistance to people in post-World War II Japan.  This year
the Japanese Council of Social Welfare in Tokyo invited
representatives from these agencies to participate in celebrations
commemorating the beginning of the Licensed Agencies for Relief in
Asia (LARA) program. 

Dr. J.M. Klassen, the first executive director of MCC Canada,
represented MCC at the 50th anniversary celebrations held in Tokyo
and Osaka, Japan, November 13 to 19. The celebrations were planned
to convey gratitude to the North American agencies and to remind
Japanese of this post-war development.  All expenses were covered by
the Japanese Council of Social Welfare.

Klassen says older people he met related stories of how the donations
of food, clothing, medical and school supplies helped them survive the
post-war years. About $400 million of LARA relief supplies were
distributed to 14 million people from November 1946 to June 1952.
The items went to welfare institutions, hospitals, schools and
households.

The North American agencies also sent workers but the supplies were
distributed by LARA, not by the workers.  Working in partnership
with other agencies in Asia was a new experience for MCC, says
Klassen.  MCC's primary involvement in the 1940s was the
resettlement of Mennonite refugees from Europe.

"I marvel at the courage of J.N. Byler and Orie Miller to enter into the
LARA consortium, knowing full-well that MCC personnel were not
permitted to distribute the relief goods," says Klassen. "The goods lost
their identity when they became LARA supplies."        

MCC had sent five workers:  Rhoda and Ruth Ressler of Orrville,
Ohio, Rev. and Mrs. Henry Thielman of Kitchener, Ont., and Alice
Fast of Blaine, Wash.  These workers were involved in rehabilitative
services.  In 1949 MCC built a community service center in Osaka.     
Japanese people were often suspicious of receiving help from
Americans. "Can we imagine their feelings towards the white Western
Christian country that had destroyed Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and now offered to respond with help?" asks Klassen.

Before leaving for Japan Klassen spoke with the Ressler sisters. They
had told him how their small home had become a safe refuge for 33
neighbors when Typhoon Jane hit Osaka in the early 1950s. They were
without food, water and lights for three days and two nights. By the
time the water receded and the neighbors went home 12 days later,
"cool attitudes toward Americans" had been replaced with a close bond
of friendship, says Klassen.

"I told this story at a banquet in Osaka. There were people in the
audience who remembered the Ressler sisters. Those who didn't know
them but heard the story were deeply moved."

The LARA program was organized in North America by American
residents of Japanese ancestry with encouragement from three
missionaries who had worked in Japan. They were Elizabeth Rhoads, a
Quaker, Father Felsecker, a Catholic priest, and Dr. George Bott of the
Methodist church. They were joined by MCC, YMCA, YWCA, Girls
Scouts, Salvation Army, Church of the Brethren, American Friends
Service Committee, Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Relief Services,
Christian Science, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and
Church World Service. 

                                 -30-

Gladys Terichow, MCC Manitoba Communications

pls6december1996

MCC photo available:  This photo, taken in the late 1950s, shows an
MCC quilt being given out in Japan.  In 1947 MCC joined Licensed
Agencies for Relief in Asia (LARA) to help people in post-World War
II Japan.  LARA distributed relief supplies worth some $400 million to
14 million Japanese. (Mainichi newspaper photo)TOPIC:  MENNONITES JOIN OTHERS TO WORK FOR SHUT-DOWN
SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS
DATE:   December 6, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

Mennonite grandmother serves two-month prison term after non-
violent protest

WASHINGTON -- "Speak up for those who cannot speak, for the
rights of the destitute.  Speak up, judge righteously, defend the rights
of the poor and needy"  (Proverbs 31:8,9).

Mennonite peace activists and the Mennonite Central Committee
(MCC) U.S. Washington Office, along with many other church-based
advocacy groups, have worked for several years to close the U.S.
Army School of the Americas, located in Fort Benning, Ga.

A 58-year-old Mennonite mother of eight and grandmother of two, Jo
Anne Lingle, who served with MCC in New Orleans, spent two
months in prison earlier this year for protesting the school's existence.  

Since 1946 the School of the Americas has provided training for Latin
American military and policy officers.  Its graduates include Panama
General Manuel Noriega, Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto
d'Aubuisson, 19 of 26 Salvadoran military officers cited in the 1989
murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, and
many dictators and military leaders accused of human rights abuses.  

In a new revelation of improper activity, the Department of Defense
released a report on September 20 admitting that between 1982 and
1991 the School of the Americas used lesson plans and training
manuals 
that advocated extrajudicial executions, torture, blackmail, the use of
sodium pentothal ("truth serum") and other forms of coercion.

The Defense Department says the materials were "not consistent with
approved doctrine" and were used only because of bureaucratic
oversight.  They were discontinued in 1992, after having been
distributed to perhaps thousands of military officers from several Latin
American countries.

Jo Anne Lingle, a member of First Mennonite Church in
Indianapolis, is one of many peace activists calling for the closing of
the School of the Americas.  She served a two-month prison sentence
from
May 29 to July 29, 1996, for criminal trespass as a result of her
participation in a non-violent protest at the school.  Lingle was one of
nine persons who entered the Ft. Benning military post on November
16, 1995.

Although Lingle had previously protested the school's existence by
participating in vigils and fasts at the Capitol building here, she had
not before engaged in civil disobedience.  The judge at first sentenced
Lingle and the other woman protester, 74-year-old Sister Claire
O'Mara, an Ursuline nun, to three years probation.  This was changed
after the women requested the same sentences as their fellow male
protesters.

While serving her sentence in a federal prison work camp in Marianna,
Fla., Lingle received some 200 letters from supporters.  She describes
her experience as positive because of the opportunity to meet other
imprisoned women -- several of whom she continues to be in contact
with -- and to hear their stories.  

This November a similar protest at Ft. Benning involved more than
400 people, including Lingle and other Mennonites.  Sixty of the
protesters were detained by military police for three hours after
entering military grounds.

Calling the School of the Americas a "relic of the Cold War," Rep.
Joseph P. Kennedy has introduced a series of bills to shut it down, so
far unsuccessfully.  But the revelations about the training manuals
provide additional arguments for those who believe the school should
be closed.  According to Kennedy, "The Pentagon revealed what
activists opposed to the school have been alleging for years -- that
foreign military officers were taught to torture and murder to achieve
their political objectives."  

Jo Anne Lingle has a simple, biblical reason for her activities against
the School of the Americas.  "I feel called to speak up for those whose
voices cannot be heard, for the people who have been hurt or killed
because of what the School of the Americas does."

                                 -30-

Marty Shupack, MCC U.S. Washington Office

esw6december1996

MCC photo available:  Jo Anne Lingle speaks with Fred Sahuc at the
New Orleans People with AIDS coalition, where she served as an
MCC U.S. service worker from 1992 to 1993. Former MCC New
Orleans directors Jody Miller Shearer and Jeff Gingerich both describe
Lingle as a bubbly person who puts others at ease and forms quick
friendships.  "People still often ask about Jo Anne, even though she
has been gone for a number of years.  Many comment with amazement
at her journey from middle-class suburban housewife to inner-city
activist," relates Gingerich.  Lingle currently works at New Hope
House in Barnesville, Ga., a hospitality house for visitors to people on
death row. (1993 MCC photo by Jody Miller Shearer)
TOPIC:  IRISH PEACEMAKERS SEE EFFORTS CRUMBLE IN
PAST YEAR
DATE:   December 6, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

New business boycotts further fracturing relationships
A joint release of MCC and Mennonite Board of Missions

AKRON, Pa. -- "Around the countryside, relationships between Roman
Catholics and Protestants are at an all-time low," reports Joe Campbell
from Northern Ireland.

The news is especially discouraging to Campbell, who coordinates
both Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite Board of
Missions work in Ireland.  The programs focus on conflict mediation
and Christian peacemaking in congregations and local communities,
with direction from an ecumenical Irish support group.

Mennonite workers have labored since the late '70s to bring together
in dialogue Catholics and Protestants in this conflict-ridden northern
region of the "Emerald Isle" -- as Ireland, due to its lush landscape, is
called. Campbell and his colleagues were elated when the various
armed groups carried through on a cease-fire for 17 months -- October
1994 to February 1996.  Many believed "The Troubles" of 26 years
were at an end. 

But the peace proved fragile.  The cease-fire ended with an Irish
Republican Army bombing in London in February.  And violence
erupted again this summer on Irish soil when Protestant members of
the Orange Order, a fraternity, insisted upon marching through
Catholic communities to celebrate Protestants' military victory over
Catholics more than 300 years ago.

Now Catholics are boycotting some 150 businesses owned by Orange
Order members in "border" communities, Campbell relates.  (In
Belfast, 3-meter/10-foot walls divide some Catholic and Protestant
communities.  In rural areas, demarcations may be rivers, fields, even
a fork in the road.)

"My fear is that before long, largely Protestant towns will strongly
counter-boycott small Catholic businesses, further driving people
apart," Campbell says.  These actions are not just damaging economies
"but are fracturing friendships across religious lines built up over
generations."

On November 28, Campbell met with 20 clergy -- 17 Protestant and
three Catholic -- who work in North Ireland's rural central area.  His
purpose was to help them plan small steps to heal divisions.  They
began by telling one another stories of pain and hurt in their ministry.

One pastor privately confided to Campbell that he must plan church
meetings around gatherings of the local Orange Order lodge.  "The
pastor told me some of his church members are currently more loyal to
the lodge than to their Lord.  They see the lodge, rather than church
leaders, as defenders of their Protestant heritage," Campbell relates.

Another told Campbell that at a recent church meeting one person
wanted to write a clause into a church construction contract not
allowing the builder to sub-contract to Catholic businesses.

Campbell was saddened that throughout the years of violence the
clergy group had never formally come together for joint action.  He is
heartened with their plans for a January meeting to discuss steps to
reconciliation.

Campbell and colleague Brendan McAllister of the Mediation Network
for Northern Ireland this summer withdrew from their work of
promoting tolerance within the police force, after police reversed its
decision to prohibit Orangemen from marching through a Catholic
district.

"We withdrew because the police acted in a one-sided and heavy-
handed way toward the Catholic community.  Our resuming work with
them will depend on how seriously they take the need for retraining
officers in the force, which is 94 percent Protestant," Campbell says.

After a tough year of seeing laboriously patient peace-building efforts
crumble, Campbell remarks that "the search for peace is hard work,
demanding the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job and the love
of Christ."

"If outright violence begins anew in the coming weeks -- as seems
likely -- we will need all of the resources God gives God's people," he
adds.

In addition to Campbell, MCC workers John and Naomi Lederach also
work at the Mediation Network for Northern Ireland, beginning their
third year there.  MBM worker Joe Liechty, a historian, is a
recognized authority in Ireland on sectarianism, and lends his expertise
in weekly visits to Belfast as part of a four-year "Moving Beyond
Sectarianism Project."
Linda Liechty adminsters Ballymun Children's House, a preschool
located in a depressed area of Dublin.  David Moser, a joint appointee
of MBM and the General Conference, has just arrived in Ireland.  He
will serve on the pastoral team of a church located between Protestant
and Catholic neighborhoods, and hopes to begin a community conflict
resolution center.
                                 -30-
esw6december1996TOPIC:  HAND-KNITTED ITEMS PROVIDE WARMTH IN EASTERN KENTUCKY
DATE:   December 6, 1996
CONTACT:  Deborah Fast
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

WHITESBURG, Ky.--"These ladies are so talented!" Debbie Lester
exclaims enthusiastically as she sorts through knitted items donated to
the Whitesburg Family Resource and Youth Services Center here. 
"Each piece is unique, each piece is pretty," says Lester as she caresses
a matching baby blanket, sweater, hat, cap and bootie set.

The "ladies" Lester refers to are three retired women in eastern
Pennsylvania (who wish to remain anonymous) who have for several
years knitted sweaters and other items of clothing for needy people in
eastern Kentucky.  The three, who attend Roman Catholic,
Presbyterian and Seventh-Day Adventist churches, heard about
Mennonite Central Committee's (MCC) work in Appalachia through a
Mennonite friend.  They already belonged to a "knit club" that
provided items to local charities helping abused women and children,
and learning about the needs in Appalachia began a new project for
them.  They knit throughout the year, and in the fall send the items to
Whitesburg.

"Knowing that we're helping people, especially children, is important
to us," says one of the knitters.  "There are so many needy people
right here in our own country that we often neglect," she says.

Staff at the Whitesburg center distribute clothing almost daily.  People
come through social service agencies, churches or by word of mouth to
get a boost during hard times.  "Burn-out victims"--people who have
lost their belongings because of fires--are common during the winter
months here because of faulty house wiring and attempts to heat
homes with space heaters, and many of these people also seek help.

"We give to anybody who is needy," says Lester, a program assistant
at the center who traces her heritage as far back as she knows in
Letcher County, where Whitesburg is located.  "Everybody knows
everybody here," she says.  "We know the community and we know
the need. Nobody is taking advantage of us."

The knitted pieces from Pennsylvania are special.  "The uniqueness is
what makes these gifts so special," says Lester.  Recipients of donated
clothing can often be identified because every piece is the same or
looks used.  These pieces can give recipients the satisfaction of
wearing new clothing--something of their own.

Commenting on their project, one of the knitters advised: "Seek and a
worthy project can be found. There are many out there in the world!"
                                 -30-
Deborah Fast
dlf6december1996
MCC photo available: Debbie Lester (right) and Karen Smith sort
knitted items donated to the Whitesburg (Ky.) Family Resource and
Youth Services Center.  "The uniqueness is what makes these gifts so
special," says Lester.  MCC workers in Appalachia serve primarily
through local agencies such as the Whitesburg Center.  MCC photo by
Howard Zehr.