wfn.org | Mission intern returns from Benin with love of ecology,

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

service

August 30, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

Mission intern returns from Benin with love of ecology, service

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – When Mennonite Board of Missions intern
Rachel Kauffman returned from Benin in June, she had experienced
West Africa’s traditional masked dance, motorcycle taxis and
malaria.  She had also learned deeper lessons about herself and
service.

After Kauffman served in Benin with Goshen (Ind.) College’s
Study-Service Term (SST) in the summer of 1998, she knew she
wanted to return to Africa.  With the encouragement of MBM’s
Lynda and Rodney Hollinger-Janzen, last fall seemed like the best
time to make the trip.

By contacting the Hollinger-Janzens in West Africa, Kauffman
reconnected with DCAM, an inter-Protestant development
organization that tackles problems of hygiene and nutrition.  She
had served with DCAM during SST.

During her 10 months in Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital city,
Kauffman prepared a study of a community’s garbage-collection
system.  Since there is little garbage pickup provided by the
government, DCAM started the collection program to fight disease
and contamination in homes.

“We were looking at how the community can be responsible for its
own health,” Kauffman said.  To facilitate this responsibility,
DCAM turned the garbage collection over to local entrepreneurs in
October 1999.

Kauffman assisted the new entrepreneurial effort, interviewing
its subscribers and workers, gathering and analyzing data, and
encouraging accurate financial and other record keeping.  Her
degree in environmental science, her knowledge of French and
German, and her skills with computers, statistics and research
made her a perfect fit for DCAM.

The garbage collectors that Kauffman worked with pulled small
carts through streets that flooded with mud during the rainy
season.  They faced varied challenges, from the need for
education about hygiene and garbage to dealing with hazardous and
biomedical waste.

The experience with DCAM confirmed Kauffman’s interest in
ecology, service and other cultures.  “It inspired me to continue
to do voluntary service, even in the States,” she said.  “When I
came back, I was thinking of community development and staying in
contact internationally.”

In Cotonou, Kauffman worked at learning Fon, a local language,
and helped with translating between English and French.  She also
participated with the United Evangelical Church and taught
evening English classes at the Benin Bible Institute where MBM
workers serve.

Kauffman is now serving in Mennonite Central Committee’s
International Visitor Exchange Program in Germany.

A native of Topeka, Ind., Kauffman graduated from Goshen College
in 1999 with an interdisciplinary major in biology, environmental
science, and business information systems.

                                                    * * *

Anne Horst