wfn.org | Re: No Compassion-sapping virus diagnosed at MCC Material resource

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC:  NO COMPASSION-SAPPING VIRUS DIAGNOSED AT MCC MATERIAL
RESOURCES CENTERS
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

MCC supporters in Canada, U.S., respond warmly to request for
"Boxes for Bosnia"

AKRON, Pa. -- Compassion fatigue?  Holiday "humbugs"?  Some
international aid "doctors" may diagnose donors with these ailments,
but the virus apparently hasn't hit Mennonite Central Committee
(MCC) supporters.

Since early October, MCC material resources staff in the United States
and Canada have been scrambling to ready for shipment a deluge of
Christmas food boxes -- destined for refugees in the former
Yugoslavia.  Individuals, families, classes and church groups have all
gotten into the act.     Hoping to ship 4,000 boxes, by mid-November
MCC staffperson Kevin King reported 5,600 Christmas boxes had
already arrived at MCC warehouses and that they were "still coming in
like cows in a rainstorm!"

The rainstorm has abated to a trickle now, but 6,402 boxes of holiday
goodwill are already crossing the Atlantic and should be distributed to
Bosnian refugees by MCC partner agency Bread of Life in time for
January 7 Orthodox Christmas celebrations.  Each box, which cost
about $68 Cdn./$50 U.S. to put together, should provide basic staples
for a family of four for a month.

Similar boxes of supplies sent by MCC in the past have been warmly
received by refugees, many of whom wrote lengthy thank-you letters
to Bread of Life.  "We're overwhelmed to know we are not forgotten,
that someone cares about us" was the letters' common theme.

People took great care in packing the Christmas boxes, report MCC
material resources staff, and many added personal touches to the "core
inventory" of food and toiletries -- holiday cards with personal
messages of commiseration and consolation, children's drawings,
family photos, goodies such as M&M's, chewing gum and chocolate
chips, and small toys, crayons, pencils or other little gifts for children.

^From the messages and drawings, "it was obvious many children and
families had been involved" in the project, says Fern Gerber, who
helped repack and seal the boxes for shipment at the Ephrata (Pa.)
MCC Material Resources Center.  "One family with adult children
decided to give food boxes to refugees rather than exchange Christmas
presents," she adds.

MCC personnel heard of other families in which the children had
agreed to fewer gifts under their own Christmas trees in order to give
to others in need.  A Christian school in Bakersfield, Calif., embraced
"Boxes for Bosnia" as an all-school project.  Each grade brought in
one of the items.  In an outdoor celebration, the students assembled the
boxes and loaded them onto a truck, which the principal personally
drove to MCC's resources center in Reedley, Calif. 

A group of Mennonites in Hinton, Va., together purchased and
assembled the contents of 500 boxes and added dried apples to each,
something they prepare in their community.  And a non-churchgoing
golf partner of a member of Erisman Mennonite Church in
Manheim/Mt. Joy (Pa.) became so enthused about the project that he
and his wife not only assembled a box but also accompanied an
Erisman Sunday school class to the Ephrata resources center for an
evening of packing.

 "The response (to this drive) was so quick and so much greater than
anticipated," says Lois Flickinger, a staffperson at the Ephrata center. 
Her remarks are echoed by Willie Thiessen of West Coast MCC,
where more than 500 food boxes were gathered.

In Ontario, several church groups, including a youth group,
volunteered to help ready the boxes for shipping.  Of the 913 boxes
shipped from Ontario -- along with 10 bales of comforters -- 400 came
from Manitoba, 100 from Saskatchewan and 413 from Ontario.

                                   -30-

Emily Will, MCC Communications

10december1996

MCC photo available upon request:  Students (from left, Leah
Bomberger, Andrew Bair and Brent Stoltzfus) of Locust Grove
Mennonite School in Smoketown (Pa.) take time out during the busy
holiday season to help at the MCC Material Resources Center in
Ephrata, Pa., preparing supplies for shipment to people in need
worldwide.  (MCC photo by Tony Siemens) TOPIC:  MCC CONTINUES TO ADDRESS NEEDS IN AFRICA'S "GREAT L
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

Zairian rebels are heading closer to provinces where Zairian
Mennonites live

AKRON, Pa. -- Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) continues to
address needs in Africa's "Great Lakes" region -- Burundi, Rwanda
and Zaire -- where a complicated morass of conflict has left many
people fearful and in need of food and shelter.  MCC workers also
report the Zairian rebels who now control about one-sixth of Zaire are
heading closer to the provinces where many Zairian Mennonites live. 
They see "great potential for violence" there.  

Krista Rigalo and Fidele Lumeya, MCC workers who left Bukavu,
Zaire, in October are back in eastern Zaire from December 17 to 26,
planning for the distribution of the 50,000 blankets MCC is currently
collecting in North America.  The blankets are expected to arrive in
Africa by February.  They will then be trucked from the seaport to
Bukavu -- a route that will take them through several countries and
will depend upon the current state of Zaire's war.  When the blankets
arrive in Bukavu, churches will give them to needy people.  The area
is mountainous and nights are chilly year-round.  

Rigalo and Lumeya also hope to learn the fate of the Rwandan
refugees who had lived in four MCC-supported camps around Bukavu. 
For the past two months, since Zairian rebels took over the Bukavu
area, the refugees have been "missing."   MCC workers fear the
Interahamwe, Rwandan malitia, have taken the refugees hostage.

As well, the two workers will check on ongoing MCC work in
Bukavu, including forestry and peace programs.  Despite the fighting
that occurred there, Zairians continued to work in the MCC tree
nurseries. 

In Zaire, the rebels are moving west "more rapidly than anyone could
have predicted," says Terry Sawatsky, co-director of MCC's Africa
programs.  The rebel ranks seem to be swelling.  Many Zairians are
displeased with the corrupt way President Mobutu has ruled their
country since 1965.  Some Zairians are saying they view any change
in government as a positive turn of events.

About 90 percent of Zaire's estimated 140,000 Mennonites live in
Kasai Oriental, Kasai Occidental and Bandundu -- three provinces that
are bracing for the possibility of the rebels' arrival.  Zairian
Mennonites have seen other localized rebellions against the
government in the past.  But many are worried about the potential for
violence in the current situation, particularly if Zairian troops engage
the rebels.  Some are also concerned that Mennonite youth may be
sympathetic to the rebels' cause.  At the request of church leaders,
MCC is sending Juan Jose Romero and Neil Blough to Zaire in
February to conduct mediation and peace theology workshops. 
Romero is director of the Brussels Mennonite Peace Center; Blough is
a Mennonite Board of Missions missionary in Paris.       

Zaire's civil war has affected the entire region.  In Burundi MCC
workers report an increase in killing, including 300 Hutu refugees
recently murdered in a church.  The two MCC workers there continue
to hold peace and trauma healing workshops.

In Tanzania, Rwandan refugees are leaving their camps to return to
Rwanda.  MCC currently has no personnel in these camps; earlier
MCC had placed several short-term peace workers in these camps.

Some 1 million Rwandans have gone back to Rwanda over the past
two months.  From its "Central Africa Healing Fund," MCC has given
$13,400 Cdn./$10,000 U.S. to Rwandan churches to help returning
families get re-established.  Through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank,
MCC is helping supply lentils and oil, valued at $4.5 million Cdn./$3.3
million U.S., designated for Rwandan and Burundian refugees.  Since
so many of these refugees have returned home, they will receive the
food there instead of in eastern Zaire as originally planned.

                                   -30-

pls20december1996
TOPIC:  NPR REPORT SPARKS NEW INTEREST IN TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Larry Guengerich
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

AKRON, Pa. -- Every morning, millions of people across the United
States start their day by listening to "Morning Edition" on local Public
Radio stations.

In Richmond, Va., SELFHELP Crafts of the World Store Manager
Theresa Johnson was one of those listeners as she drove to work
December 9.  Her interest picked up when she heard John Burnett start
a report on alternative ways to give holiday gifts.

Her interest turned to surprise, then joy, when she heard SELFHELP
Crafts of the World mentioned by name.  (Johnson's store will change
its name from SELFHELP Crafts of the World to Ten Thousand
Villages in early 1997.)

In the report, Burnett compared high dollar gifts "for the person who
has everything" with projects that can help artisans and their families
in developing countries.

It was a good story for Johnson and the store.  All week, people came
into the store reporting that they had heard the story and wanted to see
what the organization was about.

In fact, interest in this story was so high that National Public Radio
offices in Washington, D.C., put a recorded message on their phone
listing the numbers of the six organizations mentioned in the report.

This first, brief mention of the old SELFHELP name generated nearly
100 phone calls here to the Ten Thousand Villages offices in the
following week.  Ten Thousand Villages staff sent callers a brochure
with more information about Villages and directed them to the nearest
Ten Thousand Villages affiliated store.

Other organizations had similar stories.  SERRV Marketing Director
Brian Backe, who was interviewed in the story, says SERRV, the
Church of the Brethren organization that markets Third World
handicrafts, was also flooded with inquiries about ways to give gifts
that help others.

^From the response to this report, it is clear that others are catching the
vision of Ten Thousand Villages vision -- creating a better world.  It is
a good reminder that all of our holiday gifts have consequences.  By
participating in alternative trade, it is possible to give gifts that give
joy to the recipient and improve the lives of craftspeople in the Third
World.

                                   -30-

Larry Guengerich, Ten Thousand Villages

cdb20december1996   TOPIC:  SIX YEARS LATER:  GULF WAR CONTINUES, WITH IRAQI CHILDREN THE
PRIMARY VICTIMS 
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

MCC seeks pediatric surgeons, distributes school supplies

AKRON, Pa. -- The "smart" bombs no longer fall but the Persian Gulf
War is not over.  And it is Iraq's youngest inhabitants -- those born
since the six-week land war ended in early 1991 -- who are most often
the victims.  Over the past six years some 500,000 Iraqi children may
have died due to crippling international sanctions, according to a
researcher at the Harvard University School of Public Health.

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is working to help Iraqi children
in health and education.

Short-term pediatric surgeons needed 
In 1997 MCC plans to send three teams of pediatric surgeons to Iraq
for two- to three-week periods.  These surgeons will perform
operations and help Iraqi surgeons upgrade their skills.  The surgeons
will need to bring all necessary supplies and medicines.

Pediatric surgeons interested in this service opportunity should contact
MCC.  In Canada, phone Marsha Jones at (204) 261-6381; in the
United States, phone Prem Dick at (717) 859-1151.

The surgeons will fly to Jordan and then travel overland to Iraq with
staff of the Islamic Relief Agency, the agency that has obtained
permission for these trips from the Iraqi government.  

Mike Nahall, MCC's main partner in Iraq and a Middle East Council
of Churches staffperson, visited health centers and hospitals in six
areas of Iraq in April and May 1996.  He saw the following in a
country that until six years ago was known for its quality medical
system:

*  Many pregnant women come to the hospital empty-handed, with no
supplies for their newborns.  Hospital staff cut up old sheets to wrap
the babies.

*  X-ray films are scarce.  In one hospital, staff daily choose only five
people for X-rays, out of some 200 who need them.

*  Many parents, exhausted by the effort to provide enough food for
their families, are not vaccinating their children.  Once rare childhood
diseases are now common. 

*  Spare incubator parts are now nearly impossible to find.

*  Anemia is common among children and pregnant women, leaving
them particularly vulnerable to disease.  Water-borne diseases such as
typhoid and diarrhea are especially prevalent as the country lacks
chlorine to purify water and has not been able to repair sewage
systems in many areas.

School kits are like "Christmas" for deprived Iraqi children
Many Iraqi children now study in schools that have leaky roofs,
broken windows and few supplies.  MCC recently sent 13,600 school
kits to Iraq, arriving in time for the start of the new academic year in
October.

The four exercise books, four pencils, eraser and ruler each kit
contained were far beyond what parents could afford.  But it was the
colored pencils or crayons in each kit that "brought a sparkle to the
children's eyes," reported CARE workers who distributed the kits. 
(MCC has no workers in Iraq.)  CARE workers said most children had
never seen these items before.

CARE workers distributed all but 250 of the kits to students at 27 of
the poorest primary schools.  The remaining kits went to students at
two schools for deaf children in Baghdad, Iraq's capital.  Since 1991,
these schools have been unable to provide much to the children, not
even hearing aids.  When the children were given school kits, "shouts
of glee and expressions of happiness could be seen and heard
everywhere," reported the CARE workers.
        This was the second shipment of MCC school kits to Iraq; the
first batch was sent in 1993.  Margaret Hassen of CARE reports that
giving out the kits is like "Christmas" and "even the bags the kits come
in are so appreciated."   She didn't need to be part of the distribution,
but volunteered to help because she found it such a heartening
experience.

U.N. oil-for-food deal
Under a United Nations deal, Iraq is now permitted to sell oil valued
at $2 billion U.S. over the next six months to buy food and medicines. 
Ed Epp, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)'s director of Middle
East programs, calls the oil-for-food deal a "hopeful step," but says
tremendous needs will remain.  Thirty percent of the sale proceeds will
go to Kuwaitis and others harmed by Iraqis during the war.

                                   -30-

pls20december1996

MCC photo available:  A father's anguish:  After his child was mauled
by a stray dog, this father discovered the hospital in Kerala, like most
hospitals throughout Iraq, was ill-equipped and had only half a dose of
rabies medicine, with no possibility of obtaining more.  Mike Nahall,
the photographer, was unable to discover what happened to this child. 
Nahall is a Middle East Council of Churches worker in Iraq who
distributes MCC's food aid. (MCC photo by Mike Nahall)  
TOPIC:  AT FIRST-OF-A-KIND WOMEN'S WORKSHOP, SOMALI WIVES, MOTHERS AND
SISTERS AGREE TO BE LEADERS IN PROMOTING PEACE
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A diverse group of Somali women from various
clans gathered here in October.  The 25 women included mid-wives,
an economist and even a new bride, who traditionally would still have
been confined to the house, but whose husband said, "If it's for peace,
you can go."  They had a common purpose: to discuss how Somali
women can foster peace instead of fueling their country's ongoing civil
war.

  Women play a unique role in Somalia.  Many marriages are arranged
across clan lines.  When clan warfare erupts, a woman's brothers and
fathers may end up fighting against her husband and sons.  By the end
of the workshop, the women agreed they would take advantage of their
positions as wives, mothers and daughters to be leaders in promoting
peace and encouraging reconciliation in their society.
        Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) contributed $7,800
Cdn./$5,000 U.S. to Save Somali Women and Children to hold this
first-of-a-kind peace workshop for women.  "It was awe-inspiring for
me to be part of this group," said Bertha Beachy, who addressed the
gathering on three different occasions.  Beachy directs Somalia
programs for MCC and Eastern Mennonite Missions.  She is from
Goshen, Ind., and is a member of Assembly Mennonite Church in
Goshen.

At the opening ceremony Beachy lit a white candle to symbolize hope
for peace in Somalia.  "A great deal of spontaneous prayer occurred. 
Everyone is so tired of war," said Beachy.  

Several musicians and poets attended and composed some pieces on
the spot.  The women joined together in traditional Somali women's
dances, and talked together late into the night.  

Although the organizers tried to schedule events, soon they "took no
note of the time because participants didn't want to stop for a break,"
relates Beachy.  One subject that generated intense discussion was
female circumcision, a practice begun by the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Of the 25 women who attended the workshop, eight were from inside
Somalia, the others were refugees in Kenya.

Save Somali Woman and Children, the group that initiated the
workshop, was founded in 1992 by a group of educated Somali
women who felt they had a moral obligation to do something about the
difficult conditions in which so many Somali women and children now
live.  The group feels that peace is key to improving life in their war-
torn country.

                                     
                                   -30-

pls20december1996TOPIC:  WORK GROUPS WELCOMED TO HELP BUILD CENTER FOR COLONY
MENNONITES IN SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia -- It's a library and reading room.  It's a
"village square" where community, family and farm news is traded. 
It's a rest station for weary farmers -- sometimes their wives and
children, too --who have come to buy or sell in the city market. It's
even a mini-store for items not easily obtainable, such as school slates
made in Germany and herbal medicines.  And it's an informal
"counseling center" where a caring couple befriends visitors.

It's the Centro Menno, a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)-
sponsored ministry to German-speaking colony Mennonites in Bolivia. 
And it's bursting at the seams.

With tight space and rising rents, MCC Bolivia has decided to build a
new Centro Menno -- on MCC grounds here in Santa Cruz -- and
would welcome North American work groups to assist with the
endeavor.  Already located on the property are MCC Bolivia offices, a
home for MCC Bolivia's host and hostess, two houses with rooms for
rural-based staff when they come into the city, and a basketball court
and small classroom MCC workers use for a street-children's program.

MCC couple Edna and John Peters, of Saskatoon, Sask., directors of
Centro Menno, say the center serves as an important communication
link among people without phones and who travel only by horse and
buggy. And providing reading materials is especially valued by people
with no other access to them.

At the end of 1995, a census revealed 28,563 German-speaking
Mennonites in 25 colonies in Bolivia's Santa Cruz state.  Centro
Menno staff see an average of 300 colony visitors per week.  The
Peters anticipate that this number will grow, in part because the Centro
is becoming more well-known and in part because the population it
serves is burgeoning.

The birth rate among colony families is high, with an average 10
children.  In addition, Mennonites from Alberta, Canada, Mexico and
Paraguay have recently begun moving to Bolivia in search of farmland,
forming new communities there.  Seven new colonies broke ground in
1996, the Peters relate.

MCC is encouraging North Americans to join or form work teams to
help build the new Centro Menno.  In addition to the bricks laid, MCC
hopes such interaction will build ties between North American
Mennonites and Bolivian Mennonite colonists.  The new center, to
have 150 square meters/1,600 square feet of space, is due to open in
July or August 1997.

Persons interested in participating in a work group this winter and
spring may obtain more information from Tony Enns, director of
Kanadier Concerns for MCC Canada, at (204) 261-6381, or from any
provincial MCC office.  Work group participants will be asked to
cover their own transportation costs to Bolivia.  Priority will be given
to people who can speak Low German and/or Spanish.
                                   -30-
esw20december1996

MCC photo available:  MCC workers Edna and John Peters of
Saskatoon, Sask., in front of the current Centro Menno, an inviting but
cramped space.  The Peters are members of Peace Mennonite Church
in Saskatoon. (MCC photo by Mark Beach)
TOPIC:  MCC PHOTO CAPTION: SALT PROGRAM INVITES APPLICANTS FOR 1997/1998
ASSIGNMENTS
DATE:   December 20, 1996
CONTACT:  Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

AKRON, Pa. -- Heidi Beachy, a participant in Mennonite Central
Committee's (MCC) SALT Program, interacts with children at the
Stansberry Children's Home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Beachy, who grew up in Paraguay, where her parents Jonathan and
Ruth Beachy served with MCC for 14 years, is spending a year at the
home for orphaned and abandoned children.  While she has had some
tough adjustments to her assignment, she writes that she has strongly
felt God's close presence.

Beachy is one of 28 young people serving in the SALT (Serving and
Learning Together) program in 16 countries in 1996. In assignments in
Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, SALTers are
hosted by families or a local institution and interact closely with the
local church.  The year-long program enables participants to test their
gifts and vocational interests for future Christian service.

Young adults ages 18 to 24 are invited to apply for the 1997/1998
SALT program by February 15, 1997; assignments begin in July. 
Participants pay $4,150 Cdn./$3,000 U.S. to help defray program costs.

For an application form or further information, contact (in the United
States) Stephanie Brooks or Jan Siemens of MCC Personnel Services,
21 South 12th Street, Akron, Pa. 17501; phone (717) 859-1151.  In
Canada, call or write Lydia Braun, Human Resources, MCC Canada,
134 Plaza Drive, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5K9; phone (204) 261-6381.
(MCC photo by Mark Beach)

                                   -30-

esw20december1996