wfn.org | Matthew Krabill returns to West Africa

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-08-12 13:57
Priority: 3
Message ID: EACA999FBA31D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Matthew Krabill returns to West Africa 

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August 12, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<News@MBM.org>

Matthew Krabill returns to West Africa as mission intern

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) - Eighteen-year-old Matthew Krabill grew up in West
Africa as the son of Mennonite Board of Missions workers Jeanette and   
James
Krabill. After two years of high school in the United States, he is   
returning
to the place he still calls home.

This time, however, he's going on his own.

Krabill will spend the next ten months in Benin as an MBM missions   
intern.
"I wanted to make sure [MBM] was sending me as Matthew Krabill, not as   
the son of
James and Jeanette Krabill," he said. "I was approved because I'm   
qualified."

By short-term missions standards, Krabill is more than qualified.   
Although
he has never lived in Benin, 12 years of life in Ivory Coast have   
prepared him
for the African lifestyle far better than a crash-course in Beninese   
culture
could have. Krabill speaks West African French fluently and understands   
the
West African way of life, and he knows what to expect from the culture   
there.

Not everything will be the same, however. "Benin is a different part of   
West
Africa," Krabill said. "It will be a new context. I'm going back as an
individual - not as a family. I think I'll see things for myself. I'm   
doing what
many people expected me to do - but I want to do it on my own."

Krabill is returning to Africa in part to regain the perspective on life   
he had
when he lived there. "I feel like I've sort of lost my perspective," he   
said. "I
think this year will make going to college more worthwhile."

Service, however, is his key motivation for spending the year in Benin.   
"I
want to make sure that I'm going to do service, not just because I miss   
living
in Africa," he said.

Although Krabill doesn't exactly "know what all I'll be doing yet," he   
does
have a general idea. "I'm basically a 'go-fer'," he said. "I'm at the
missionaries' disposal." Krabill will assist the Hollinger-Janzens, the
Lindell Detweilers and the Wiebe-Johnsons, all MBM associates in Benin.

"When I talked to [the Benin associates], I wanted to make it clear that   
I don't
really have a personal agenda," Krabill said. "My first goal is to be
available - to do all the time-consuming stuff that they don't have time   
to do."

Krabill will live with the three MBM families in Benin, switching every   
two
months. He also hopes to live with an African family, "to get their
perspective," he said. He will stay first in Cotonou, the capital, with   
Lynda
and Rodney Hollinger-Janzen.

Rodney Hollinger-Janzen and Steve Wiebe-Johnson work at a seminary in
Cotonou. The seminary is currently collecting lecture notes from its
several classes to compile into a booklet that students can take with   
them.
"They'll need someone to type the notes up," Krabill said. "That will
probably be my first job."

Krabill hopes to spend time in the village of Dassa with Phil and   
Christine
Lindell Detweiler, who are involved with community health programs and
medicine distribution. "When I'm up there, I'm going to be hanging out a   
lot,"
Krabill said. "There's not much structure, just lots of socializing with   
the
people in the village." According to Krabill, "just socializing" will be   
a
prime way for him to integrate into the Beninese culture.

While he will be mainly helping the missions workers, Krabill does hope   
to
squeeze in time for some of his own interests as well. He plans to spend
Christmas in the Ivory Coast and would like to visit Burkina Faso.

Krabill may also take courses at the seminary in Cotonou. In addition,
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in Elkhart, Ind., has given him
the opportunity to take correspondence courses, for which he could earn a   

semester's credit at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.,
which he plans to attend in 1999.

Krabill will leave for Benin on Sept. 8, and he plans to return sometime
early next summer. As accustomed to life in Africa as he is, he does   
expect some
surprises. "There's going to be some culture shock," he said. "Benin is   
not
like Elkhart."

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Rachel Lewis      PHOTO AVAILABLE