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2012-01-02 issue:

January News Briefs

News from the Mennonite world

by Compiled by Gordon Houser

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Mennonite Church in India marks 100 years
DHAMTARI, India—The Menno­nite Church in India, celebrated its 100th anniversary Oct. 27-30, 2011, at the Sunderganj Mennonite Church, Dhamtari, Chattisgarh, India.
Around 1,000 people attended the sessions, planned by the church’s moderator, Bishop C. F. Nath, the executive secretary, Madhukant Masih, and the chairman of the program committee, Rev. Wickson J. Victor. The Mennonite Church in India is a member of Mennonite World Conference.—Myron S. Augsburger


Nobel Laureate helps spark women’s program
HARRISONBURG, Va.—In her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 2011, Leymah Gbowee called on women around the world “to unite in sisterhood to turn our tears into triumph, our despair into determination and our fear into fortitude.”
Gbowee, the leader of a women’s movement that helped end 14 years of warfare in Liberia in 2003, earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), Harrisonburg, Va., in 2007.

“In many societies where women used to be the silent victims and objects of men’s powers, women are throwing down the walls of repressive traditions with the invincible power of nonviolence,” Gbowee told listeners at the Nobel Peace award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, including EMU president Loren Swartzendruber in Row 27.

Swartzendruber says he found Gbowee’s speech “inspiring and passionate.” His host in Norway, international peace scholar Peter Wallensteen of Sweden, called it “powerful.” Gbowee asked for a moment of silence for women who have died while working for peace, including the late Dekha Abdi of Kenya.

Gbowee and Abdi last met when they joined 18 other women peacebuilders from nine countries in June 2011 to discuss whether EMU should host an educational program tailored to women working for justice and peace around the world. She was a former student and instructor at EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute under its CJP. CJP plans to launch this program in the 2012 Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Another EMU person at the Oslo ceremony was Joshua Mensah, a sophomore who is Gbowee’s firstborn child.—Bonnie Price Lofton of EMU


Manitoba pastor to chair MennoMedia board
HARRISONBURG, Va., and WATERLOO, Ontario—Melissa Miller, pastor of Springstein Mennonite Church southwest of Winnipeg, Man., will chair the eight-member binational board of MennoMedia, starting this month.

MennoMedia was formed last July from a merger of Mennonite Publishing Network in Scottdale, Pa., and Third Way Media in Harrisonburg. It is a ministry of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada.

Miller succeeds Phil Bontrager, who was on the board (which previously served Mennonite Publishing Network) since 2003 and chaired the board since 2005.
In addition to her duties as a pastor, Miller is a part-time counselor at Recovery of Hope in Winnipeg. She also served on the Leadership Credentialing Committee of Mennonite Church Manitoba.

Miller was appointed as chair of the MennoMedia board by the Joint Executive Committee of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA. She has a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Waterloo as well as a master of divinity degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind. A native of Pennsylvania, Miller earned her undergraduate degree at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg.  She authored a book for Herald Press, the book imprint of MennoMedia: Family Violence: The Compassionate Church Responds (1994). She coauthored, with Phil Shenk, The Path of Most Resistance (1982).—Steve Shenk


Israeli army demolishes house, arrests women
SOUTH HEBRON HILLS—On Nov. 24, 2011, the Israeli army, with more than five jeeps and two bulldozers, drove into the small village of Um Fagarah and demolished two houses and the village mosque. During the demolition, they arrested a 21-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl.

One of the demolished homes belonged to a widow and her family; the other housed an extended family of 20.  The soldiers did not have demolition orders or give any explanation for the demolitions but called the village women “whores” and entered at a time of day when most of the men were away at work.

The second family's 21-year-old daughter confronted the Israeli soldiers when they marched into their home and threw the bedding outside. When she asked what they were doing, one soldier said, “Get out of my sight.” 

The daughter refused; in response, the soldier sprayed her in the face with tear gas. 
The other solders kicked her as she fell to the ground. Her mother and her neighbors tried to pull her out of the way, but another soldier pushed the mother away, and the older woman fell, breaking her leg. 

The 17-year-old tried to bring water to her cousin to soothe her eyes inflamed by the tear gas. The soldiers arrested them both, and as of Nov. 27, they were imprisoned in Jerusalem.

The villagers began reconstruction of the mosque, and people from the surrounding villages came to support the action, including two people from the International Solidarity Movement and members of Christian Peacemaker Teams.

According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Israel demolished over 170 homes in 2011, displacing roughly 880 people.—CPT
                                                      
                 
Grateful for help, Henry Schmitt leaves legacy
NORTH NEWTON, Kan.—Henry Gunther Schmitt never forgot the life-saving help he and his family received from Mennonites in war-time—and more than 70 years later, he left a legacy of generosity to Mennonite institutions, including Bethel College.

Schmitt, of San Bernardino, Calif., died Aug. 2, 2010. He remembered Bethel and other schools, as well as charitable organizations, in his will.

Schmitt was born in Java, Indonesia, in 1931. During World War II, his father and grandfather were taken prisoner and subsequently lost their lives. The rest of the family escaped and received help from various Mennonite church agencies.

Schmitt came to the United States as a young man and put himself through medical school. During his career, he worked in pharmacology, internal medicine and radiology.
He never forgot his experiences during the war, and he gave generously of his resources to others as a way of saying thank you to those who had helped his family.—Bethel College


First Nations housing crisis complex, says MCC
WINNIPEG, Manitoba—While media attention has focused on the shortage of houses and lack of water and sewage systems in the Attawapiskat First Nation community in northern Ontario, many other First Nations communities are experiencing similar problems, says a spokesperson for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada.

As the populations in First Nation communities continue to grow, the demand for housing, water and sewage systems will also increase, says Harley Eagle, co-coordinator of MCC’s indigenous work program.

The housing crisis, he says, is “part of an old story” that cannot be resolved by the Canadian government through externally imposed solutions that have been developed without consultation.

Eagle believes the basis of lasting solutions for the housing crisis and other problems experienced by Indigenous Peoples can be found in the treaties, the historic agreements between the Crown and First Nations that establish promises, obligations and benefits to both parties. The deplorable housing situation in Attawapiskat First Nation has prompted the community to declare a state of emergency.

MCC Ontario has a 20-year history of building relationships with people in the Attawapiskat community. In response to a request from the community it is shipping 1,000 winter blankets, 500 hygiene kits and 25 relief kits to Attawapiskat.—MCC Canada

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