wfn.org | Re: MCC praises 1997 Nobel Peace Prize decision

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC:  MCC praises 1997 Nobel Peace Prize decision   
DATE:   October 27, 1997
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

AKRON, Pa. -- Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) celebrates the
awarding of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign
to Ban Landmines, and to its coordinator Jody Williams.  MCC is one
of some 1,000 organizations in the Campaign coalition, which seeks to
ban the production, stockpiling, sale and use of anti-personnel mines.

In a congratulatory letter to Williams, Ronald J.R. Mathies, MCC's
executive director, noted the prize will "bring heightened visibility of
the scourge of landmines."   

"We join you in the hope that we will see a day when anti-personnel
landmines are no longer used or manufactured, and when people can
live and work without fear of this or other weapons of war," wrote
Mathies.  Bob and Judy Zimmerman Herr of the MCC Peace Office
also signed the letter.

In Laos MCC has worked to clean up cluster bombs, a sub-category of
anti-personnel weapons.  MCC is now involved in supporting efforts to
educate Laotian children about the dangers of cluster bomblets.  MCC
is also providing funds to help accident victims in Laos (see article #2
in this week's news service).

In Angola and Nicaragua MCC volunteers have worked closely with
landmine victims and awareness programs.  MCC representatives
shared MCC's experiences in nongovernmental organization (NGO)
forums at the 1995 and 1996 Geneva and Vienna U.N. review
conferences on landmines.  

A treaty banning anti-personnel landmines was adopted in Oslo,
Norway, on September 18 after three weeks of international
negotiations.  In December more than 100 countries, including Canada,
are expected to sign the treaty.  The United States, however, has
indicated it will not sign.

MCC supporters are encouraged to call the White House at (202) 456-
1111 to urge the Clinton administration to sign the treaty.  MCC's
Washington office also suggests persons send to the White House a
pair of children's shoes or dolls with missing limbs as a reminder of
the many children being maimed or killed by landmines.  The White
House address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC  20500.

In an October 10 release announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee states there are "probably more than 100 million anti-
personnel mines scattered across seven continents."  The Campaign
estimates mines kill or injure more than 26,000 people, mostly
civilians, each year.

                         -30-

pls13october1997  

TOPIC:  MCC helps cover Laotian bombie victims' expenses; medical costs can further
impoverish struggling farm families
Date: October 27, 1997
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

VIENTIANE, Laos -- Planting rice seedlings, herding water buffalo,
romping with friends -- until a year ago, Kham Meung spent his days
like many young boys in rural Xieng Khouang Province, Laos.

Then early one morning last November, the 8-year-old's life changed
forever.  Kham Meung and two friends were digging for crabs when
one boy struck something hard.  As the boy turned to call the others, a
buried cluster bomblet exploded, killing him.  Shrapnel flew into
Kham Meung's eyes.  The third boy was only slightly wounded.  

Kham Meung's injuries -- he is now blind in one eye and has limited
vision in the other -- were caused by weapons from a war that ended
more than two decades before his birth.  During the Vietnam War,
U.S. planes dropped tons of cluster bombs on Laos.  Many of these
bomblets, known in Laos as "bombies," did not explode on impact and
now continue to maim and kill.

Kham Meung is one of 35 bombie accident survivors assisted
financially by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) since April 1996. 
Through a special "war victims fund" established by another agency,
MCC paid for eyeglasses and medicines, as well as food and travel
costs for Kham Meung and his uncle to come to the capital for
treatment.  The total was equivalent to only about $165 Cdn./$120
U.S., but this was far beyond the means of Kham Meung's family. 
The boy is an orphan whose mother died in childbirth.  His father was
killed in 1994 when a buried grenade exploded under a cooking fire.

Most bombie victims are poor farmers or their children.  Medical costs
for an accident victim are generally about the equivalent of $400
Cdn./$300 U.S.  Families often have to borrow money from relatives
or sell their land to pay.

Barbara Lewis, a physician's assistant from the United States,
administers the war victims fund.  Although the bombies and grenades
that litter Laos are similar to landmines in that they kill and wound
long after war's end, types of injuries tend to be different, says Lewis. 
Bombie victims often sustain upper body injuries rather than losing
limbs, which is more usual in mine accidents.

In Laos many people live in the dense mountains, far from medical
facilities.  Lewis recalls one accident victim took a week to get to a
hospital.  His family took him by boat, then put him on an improvised
stretcher and walked to the nearest road where they flagged down a
taxi.  The family had brought all of their belongings to sell to pay for
medical expenses.  The war victims fund covered the costs instead.

The war victims fund is part of a larger effort to upgrade hospitals and
clinics in bombie-infested Xieng Khouang Province.  The bigger
project, funded by Save the Children/US, World Education Inc. and
World Learning Inc., trains Laotian medical personnel in emergency
first-aid and supplies items ranging from basic sutures to skin-grafting
equipment.

"Better care may reduce the extent of the disabilities and save more
lives," notes Lewis.  "Before, hospital staff gave whatever treatment
they could and hoped for the best."Immediately after the war
ended in 1975 about half the patients in the provincial hospital were
bombie accident victims.  Today the numbers vary according to the
season.  In February, for example, many farmers finish harvesting and
burn off the rice stubble.  The heat from the fires can explode buried
bombies and other ordnance, causing deaths and injuries.  In August
when the weather is generally rainy, fewer accident victims show up at
the hospital, although this may have more to do with the condition of
the roads than with the number of accidents occurring.    

Today Kham Meung remains in the capital city, Vientiane, at a school
for the blind called "House of Light."  Because he has some vision, he
often helps the other residents.  But his doctors worry that the little
vision he has left might someday fade and he will be completely blind.

For a group of adult visitors, Kham Meung demonstrates how he uses
a sharp-pointed tool to punch holes into paper slipped through a plastic
grid.  The indentations form the Laotian alphabet, making a kind of
Braille print.  Kham Meung screws up his face as he concentrates on
his task, but under the table his bobbing leg indicates he would prefer
to be outdoors kicking a ball with his friends.

                         -30-

24october1997

Pearl Sensenig is a writer/editor in the MCC Communications
department.

MCC photo available:  Kham Meung, 8, is one of 35 bombie accident
victims in Laos assisted by MCC through a war victims fund. (MCC
photo by Mark Beach)TOPIC:  MCC Swaziland holds consultation on "Peacemaking from an Anabaptist
perspective" 
DATE:   October 27, 1997
CONTACT:  Pearl Sensenig
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

by Carolyn and Jon Rudy

MBABANE, Swaziland -- "Our squabbling over differences is like two
of us deciding we are thirsty.  We go to a shop together to quench our
thirst.  We receive our drinks only to discover that you have coke in
your cup and I have tea.  We begin to argue that, since our drinks are
different, we can't possibly sit together to quench our thirst."

Swazi church leader Nomsa Mndzebele used this analogy to explain
divisions between Christians in this tiny country that has three
different, sometimes disagreeing, church bodies.  She made her
remarks at a September 27 consultation hosted by Mennonite Central
Committee (MCC) to share the Anabaptist perspective to peacemaking.

MCC works with all three of Swaziland's church groups, and all sent
representatives to the meeting.  MCC's purpose was also to listen to
what Christians had to say about the challenges facing Swaziland.  

The assembled group of 15 Swazis were asked questions:  When have
you seen reconciliation in your own life?  What are significant barriers
to peace in Swaziland?  In discussion groups of five each, people
enthusiastically discussed peacemaking in Swaziland, and challenged
the disunity they feel within the church.
      MCC workers in Swaziland find these consultations helpful for
listening to the broader church and its struggles.  Swazis find it helpful
to come to a forum where other various views are represented.
      As one politically active church leader remarked:  "This has
been helpful.  I have heard that the church must get its house in order
before it can preach peace to the state." 

                         -30-

pls24october1997

Carolyn and Jon Rudy direct MCC and Eastern Mennonite Missions
programs in Swaziland.  They 
are from La Junta, Colo., and are members of Emmanuel Mennonite
Church in La Junta.

MCC photo available:  Pictured (from left) are Swazi church leaders
Muzie Masuku and Rev. Mahlalela with Jon Rudy, co-director of MCC
Swaziland programs.  The three participated in an MCC consultation
on Anabaptist peacemaking held September 27 in Swaziland's capital. 
(MCC photo by Dave Wagner)