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"Currently, 2.2 billion people have limited access to safe drinking water." (Source: World Health Organization). MCC is working to address this disparity in the Kasese district of Uganda. Each year, MCC works with 3 schools, constructing school rainwater catchment systems, handwashing stations, and latrines. Moreover, school health clubs are formed in each school. At these clubs, students are trained to become health ambassadors in their homes, communities, and school. (MCC provides training for facilitators and materials for the clubs). The project has proven remarkably effective at increasing enrollment in partner schools and at reducing absenteeism, sickness, and drop-outs. Prior to COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the current project had achieved a 15% reduction in diarrheal disease requiring medical care among students, a 19% drop in all-cause student absenteeism, and a 43% rise in student enrollment among participating schools. Access to safe water matters. https://mcccanada.ca/learn/what/water MCC - Relief, development, and peace in the name of Christ Photo by Vova Krasilnikov 
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With the eyes of the world on Covid-19 and now Ukraine, the displacement of Palestinians and violent harassment from settlers are only increasing. One of the largest threatened displacements in the South Hebron Hills involves the Masafer Yatta area, with its 1,300 residents who have lived there for generations. In opposition to international law, which prohibits the expulsion of a population from its land and the use of occupied land for military training, in the early 1980s, the Israeli army declared the area Firing Zone 918, in order to dispossess Palestinians from their homes and strengthen Israeli settlements in the area. Since this declaration, residents have lived under the daily threat of demolitions, evictions, and dispossession. Families in Masafer Yatta are denied access to their land, roads, sources of water, schools, medical services, and hospitals. This is in addition to nearly daily violence from settlers in the region. For information about how you can help and how to become part of MCC PIN, contact Byron Rempel-Burkholder at [email protected] or Kathy Bergen at [email protected]. The Mennonite Church Canada Palestine and Israel Network (PIN) is a volunteer association of working groups and individuals who seek to promote a just peace in the Holy Land. Our mandate is the resolution on Palestine and Israel that was passed at the Mennonite Church Canada 2016 Assembly, in response to the call of Palestinian Christians. https://www.mennonitechurch.ca/pin Photo by محمود جمال مخامرة  Linda Herr, MCC area director for Europe and the Middle East, says that MCC partners in Ukraine are already meeting essential and immediate needs on the ground where they are. "We are seeing a very local response," says Herr. "Many of our partners are taking funds that would have been used for local projects that can't happen now and they're buying food, medicine, blankets, mattresses—anything and everything that people need." They are bringing mattresses to people who are sleeping in basements or stairwells, which are serving as makeshift bomb shelters. They are setting up rooms in schools that provide shelter for people on the move. Partners are also providing fuel for vehicles and food for families on their way to other, more secure parts of the country. With Ukraine's ports now blocked off by Russian military forces, and no air access, supplies are hard to come by. MCC partners are focusing on what they can do in the moment, purchasing what they can find and transporting supplies in whatever size vehicles they have available. "Please pray for the people here. Every minute this conflict continues, the humanitarian impacts worsen. Pray for peace. And pray that our partners will continue to have the strength to carry on their good work." MCC - Relief, development, and peace in the name of Christ https://mcccanada.ca/stories/mcc-church-partners-ukraine-supply-essential-local-care  Anna*, MCC staff in Ukraine, is currently in the western part the country with her family. They are safe, staying with friends, and are currently helping other internally displace people (IDP), like themselves, who are coming to the area. Anna sent us a YouTube video featuring her three daughters. Also included in the video are three IDPs and two people from their host family. Below is a rough English translation of their song. Almighty, invincible God, who will understand. The great Creator. We are powerless, helpless, but He, Who came down. The world sitting in the dark light shine. God is with us. King of all creation. He took upon himself the decaying destiny of all people. God is with us. He took off the heavenly garments. To clothe all His children in glory. Thank God in the highest. Peace to the people on the earth rejoice! God be with us! Praise God in the highest. Peace rejoice people with Him. *Full names withheld due to security issues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygatu118oNY MCC - Relief, development, and peace in the name of Christ https://www.facebook.com/MCCpeace/  In 1972, Susan Giesbrecht joined friends Linie Friesen, Selma Loewen, and Sara Stoesz to open up the very first MCC Thrift shop in Altona, mainly selling second-hand clothes to people in the region. None of them thought the shop would even last the year. “We thought after about six months everyone would have cleaned out their closets and we’d be out of business, but as you can see that’s not the case,” said Giesbrecht, now 93 years old. “It grew much beyond what I, or any of the four of us, thought it would grow into.” In the years prior to opening the Altona shop, MCC shipped second-hand clothes to partners all over the world. Eventually, leadership determined the money spent on shipping would be better spent buying clothes and other necessities locally at a fraction of the cost. At the same time, MCC began to ponder how to turn used clothing into money to benefit relief and development projects around the world. The four women had an idea to do just that. They managed to find an inexpensive storefront in Altona, cleaned it up and set to work seeking donations from people in the community to sell. The space was so small, shoppers would sometimes ask to buy Loewen’s coat, which often hung behind the cash register because there was nowhere else, Giesbrecht remembered with a laugh. “We thought this was the way to turn our clothes into cash. And it worked,” she said. From that humble beginning grew a thriving network of shops across Canada and the U.S. which generates millions of dollars every year for MCC programs locally and around the world. In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, shops in both countries contributed CAD $12,387,000 to support MCC’s work. MCC - Relief, development, and peace in the name of Christ https://mcccanada.ca/stories/looking-back-50-years-mcc-thrift  |
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