wfn.org | Re: Little Attention focused on Bukavu: MCC workers fear...

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC:  LITTLE ATTENTION FOCUSED ON BUKAVU, ZAIRE; MCC WORKERS FEAR A
"SILENT TRAGEDY" THERE
DATE:   November 22, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

AKRON, Pa. --  Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
workers fear a "silent tragedy" may be taking place in
Bukavu, eastern Zaire.  Recent media reports have shown
hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees returning
to Rwanda from camps around Goma, Zaire.  But the
outside world still has little knowledge of the situation in
Bukavu, which is south of Goma.  Some 300,000 refugees
were living in camps around Bukavu, including in four
camps MCC helped support.

Terry Sawatsky, MCC Africa co-director, has traveled to
Africa to assess the situation.  This week Sawatsky and
Krista Rigalo, an MCCer who had been working in
Bukavu, flew from Kenya to Rwanda.  They are
attempting to travel overland to the Rwanda/Zaire
border, and then to cross into Bukavu.  MCC has been
unable to contact its partners there since workers were
evacuated from Bukavu on October 27.  MCC workers are
concerned that the fighting between the Zairian army
and Zairian rebels (Zairian Tutsis known as
Banyamulenge) may have cut off food supplies,
destroyed refugee camps and Zairians' homes and
uprooted many people around Bukavu.   

MCC is also assisting Rwandan refugees who have
returned home.  From its "Central Africa Healing Fund,"
MCC has contributed $13,400 Cdn./$10,000 U.S. to
Protestant churches in Rwanda that are helping 1,200
Rwandan families who are returning from Zaire.  The
Rwandan churches are supplying food, clothing,
blankets, soap, hoes, seeds and other items to help the
families re-establish themselves after being out of the
country for more than two years.  As well, some of the
lentils and oil MCC is supplying to the area, via the
Canadian Foodgrains Bank, may go to Rwandans who
have returned home.

MCC, Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and Mennonite
Brethren Missions/Services are asking churches to set
aside time on December 1 to pray for people in eastern
Zaire, as well as for people throughout Zaire.  There are
fears that the fighting that has racked eastern Zaire may
spread to other parts of Zaire, a country that is home to
some 170,000 Mennonites.  "Those who wait ...," a
compelling, seven-minute video featuring MCC workers
telling stories of friends in eastern Zaire is available
from MCC in Akron; phone (717) 859-1151.  MCC
continues to request blankets; the agency's goal is to
collect 50,000, good-quality, double-bed sized blankets
to send to Bukavu.  Persons can deliver blankets to any
MCC office by December 25, along with $4 Cdn./$3 U.S.
per blanket to pay for shipping costs.  Churches in
Bukavu will give these blankets to needy people,
including to Zairians whose homes were looted by
soldiers. 

As well, MCC continues to invite contributions to its
"Central Africa Healing Fund."  The money will go to ship
warm clothing, which MCC has in stock, and for future
relief work yet to be determined.  Some money will go to
MCC's ongoing peace and development work in Rwanda,
Burundi and Zaire.

                         -30-
pls22november1996 TOPIC:  AFGHANISTAN'S WAR GRINDS ON; WINTER BRINGS MORE MISERY
DATE:   November 22, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

MCC provides food to Kabul, MCC worker teaches conflict
transformation at Afghan university 

AKRON, Pa. -- They listen to their children cry from
hunger but cannot afford to give them anything but
bread and tea.  They struggle to keep warm in houses
that have no heat and no running water.  They dread the
frequent sound of incoming rockets.  They grieve for
their dead husbands and sons.  Due to new government
orders, they can no longer go to the market or work
outside their homes; their daughters can no longer
attend school.

Women in Kabul, Afghanistan, struggle to survive and to
hold their families together, despite incredible
hardships.  Now as the chill winds begin gusting
through the snowy mountain passes, Mennonite Central
Committee (MCC) is supplying food, valued at $2 million
Cdn./$1.5 million U.S., for a "winter relief" program for
residents of Kabul, the capital city.  And, to address the
ongoing war that is at the root of Afghans' misery, MCC
has placed a teacher at the Islamic University of
Afghanistan in Peshawar, Pakistan, to help faculty
develop a conflict transformation course.

A portion of MCC's food will go to some of Kabul's 30,000
widows and their children.  Under normal circumstances,
Afghans care for the widows in their extended families. 
Now, after 17 years of war, most family's resources are
exhausted and widows are left to fend for themselves
and their children.  Some food will also go to compensate
unemployed men for their labor on sanitation, such as
mucking sewage from the streets, and to women for
sewing quilts that will be given to needy people. 

MCC's contribution of oil, lentils, wheat and other food
items, coordinated through the Canadian Foodgrains
Bank, will arrive in Kabul in various installments.  Some
has already been shipped, some wheat was bagged this
week in Manitoba and some will go later in the winter. 
Workers from Tear Fund and CARE will administer the
distribution; MCC has no personnel in Afghanistan.  In
Pakistan, MCC worker Jonathan Bartsch is helping to
develop and teach a course on conflict resolution to
Afghan refugee students who are majoring in medicine,
Islamic law and engineering.  MCC worker Juliette Leon
Bartsch is teaching English to Afghan refugee women
(see Sidebar:  "I look into the dark eyes of the veiled
women, and I feel a connection").   

Because Afghanistan has a high illiteracy rate, those
Afghans who are educated are often thrust into
leadership positions.  "If these leaders don't have skills
to deal with conflict in other than violent ways, this will
perpetuate the dynamics that have been going on," says
Jonathan.

Since 1979, fighting has killed some 1 million Afghans
and forced several million more to flee their country. 
After 10 years of war, the Soviet Union withdrew from
Afghanistan in 1989.  In 1992 various Afghan groups,
known as the Mujahideen, banded together to drive out
Afghanistan's communist government, but almost
immediately turned their weapons on one another.  In
1995 the Taliban, a militant student group, began
attacking the Mujahideen and now controls three-
fourths of Afghanistan.       

Teaching students to think strategically about conflict
while they are in university helps prepare them to
return to their communities where they may become
immediately immersed in practicing their professions,
with little time for reflection.

"Obviously, people in conflict know more about their
specific situation than I do," says Jonathan.  "I see my
role as one of asking questions about how conflicts have
been dealt with in the past, what has worked, what
hasn't worked and to help people explore their vision for
the future."   

Jonathan has also worked in conflict resolution in the
Middle East and feels his ability to provide examples
from other parts of the world may stimulate students to
think about new ways to deal with conflict in their own
setting.

"It's very encouraging to me that the university invited
MCC to help develop a conflict transformation program,"
says Jonathan.  "MCC did not prod them; the idea came
from them." 

MCC has also sent canned beef, bedding and school
supplies to help the struggling university that has 612
students and 37 professors.

                         -30-

Pearl Sensenig, MCC Communications

22november1996

MCC photo available:  This 1995 photo shows women in
Kabul, Afghanistan, waiting at a medical clinic where
some received relief food.  (MCC photo by Grace
Sensenig) TOPIC:  LEBANESE YOUTH SICK OF VIOLENCE, WORKING AT ALTERNATIVES
BEIRUT,
DATE:   November 22, 1996
CONTACT:  Charmayne Denlinger Brubaker 
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

Lebanon    The Lebanese civil war is over but now a
group of youth here is doggedly struggling with one of
its consequences   the hatred and bitterness many of
their elders feel towards neighbors who became enemies.

"Why should I talk to you. My father doesn't talk to your
father,"  one child says to another. Both are
participating in a day camp organized by a Lebanese
association called Action for Civil Alternative which is
partially funded by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
These children live in mountain villages where, during
the 17-year-long civil war, some of the worst battles
were fought and the most horrific atrocities exchanged
between the Christian and Druze militias.

Action for Civil Alternative grew out of seven young
people's determination to show a different model to the
violence they had witnessed in their childhood and
youth. During the war they volunteered for the Red
Cross, taking the wounded to hospital and giving
assistance to refugees. They resolved that new ways of
relating must be found to oppose the hatred and violence
that permeated their country. Out of their vision has
grown a sizeable group of youth from all confessions
committed to changing their society.

Their focus is the youth, but they also seek to influence
the children and the adults. Their goal is to give young
people the tools to fight against the values they saw
expressed for 17 years of war   values of power, greed
and aggression. They provide training for youth in non-
violent communications, peaceful conflict resolution,
mutual respect, tolerance, human rights and
responsibilities. Their training ground is as often a work
site as a classroom. They have a strong belief in "learn
to do by doing." In their summer camps youth come to
work more than to play. The youth are trained in
leadership skills and then initiate day activities for the
children of the community, repair destroyed community
centers or dispensaries, build playgrounds and organize
community suppers and discussion groups.

Often one only needs to set the stage and provide a safe
place for interaction and things happen on their own.
This was evident at the two camps they organized this
summer. One of the camps took place in the area of two
large Druze villages and four small Christian villages.
Activities took place alternately   once in a Druze village
and next in a Christian village   but each of the
activities was for all the people in the region. The main
work project was to build a basketball court in one of
the villages which would be available for the youth of
the whole region. Youth from both religious groups
worked side-by-side to construct a recreational area
where they could continue to foster their friendships.

Even though the youth were convinced, they faced
resistance. Some parents would not allow their children
to attend the activities that took place in the
neighboring village. Some people were suspicions and
asked "What are you trying to do?"

I met one young man, Zaher, whose father initially
forbade him to participate in the camp. Finally one of the
camp organizers convinced the father to allow Zaher and
his brothers to attend. When I asked Zaher why the camp
was important to him, he said  It is important to teach
reconciliation in this region. Yes, we must remember the
horrors of the war, but we must forgive so it doesn't
happen again.

"Our parents and older brothers and sister used to have
friends in the other villages. But the trust was broken
during the war so we younger people don't know any of
them. This camp is important for us to get to know people
from the Druze villages and become friends with them."

Zaher noted also the practical aspect of good relations
among the confessional groups. "We have to do our
business and shopping in their village. Why not have as
good relations as possible?"

In the other camp, the organizers called a community
meeting to discuss issues of the community. They had
been told they could expect a maximum of 30 people...200
showed up. When the facilitator asked them about their
problems, one old man replied, "We have no problems." A
young woman participant, Fidaa, interjected, "Yes, we do
have problems and we want to talk about them now."

Action for Civil Alternative has not set an easy course
for themselves or the youth they bring along.
Animosities have marked the interaction between
confessional groups here for centuries. The scars of
such violence will not be erased without the long and
tedious task of building trust. However, people like
Zaher and Fidaa break the darkness of suspicion and
provide another spark of hope that this country can
indeed come to live in peace and harmony.

                         -30-

Joan Barkman, MCC Lebanon

MCC photo: Youth repairing local health dispensary. 
Photo by Joan Barkman.TOPIC:  STUDY/REFLECTION GUIDE EXPLORES QUESTION OF "WHAT IS
ENOUGH?"
DATE:   November 22, 1996
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

"The one who had much did not have too much, and the
one who had little did not have too little."  (II Cor. 8:15)

AKRON, Pa. -- "You need more."  "More is better."  "If
you don't have this, you're `out of it.'" Advertisers
constantly bombard North Americans with these
messages.  Weary North Americans find themselves
asking, "How much can I afford?"  "Can I fit one more
activity into my busy schedule?"

In the tradition of "More-with-Less Cookbook,"
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has produced "Trek." 
"Trek" is a four-week guide to help individuals and
groups struggling with too little time for relationships
and too many material goods explore the question: "What
is enough?"  "Trek" includes daily readings, discussion
questions, suggested activities and a colorful wall
poster. 

In December, "Trek" will be available free of charge from
your nearest MCC office.

                         -30-

pls22november1996