An Insider's View for You! -- Month 9 at MCC

I get asked this question a lot. "What's it like working at the MCC office?" 

Well, with workers and volunteers from all over the world coming and going through these hallways every day, MCC can't help but have a great office environment that really reflects what we do!

You're welcome to come visit and take a tour to chat and ask questions and learn more about what MCC does!  Many MCC supporters and other interested people do this every month - just randomly, when they're passing though Pennsylvania, and we all stop what we're working on briefly, 

to say hello!
I'd love to see you!

But here are a few photos to take you "inside" the US's headquarters of MCC.

I love this wall of photos, (above) taken by the MCC photographer,
showing some of the work we do!

Straight ahead, at the tiny end of the hall in the photo above, you can see the offices of "Mennonite (and Brethren) World Conference" which is sharing office space with MCC this year, as they gear up for the 2015 World Conference events this coming Summer -- bringing the world to PA! 

 Though the office is amazingly decorated, MCC's financial supporters will be glad to know that most of the decorations were thank you gifts to MCC -- wall hangings, art pieces, posters, photos, quilts, pottery, etc -- gifts from international partners and international friends and beneficiaries who have known and worked with MCCers in their home countries around the globe for years! What a great way to decorate an office. I love it!

Another way that the the office is decorated is with the photos of MCCers who are serving now in various MCC service programs around the world! In the photo above is the Global Service Learning Department. They coordinate the service programs for young adults from around the globe who come to do service in the U.S. (IVEP and YAMEN,) and the programs in which young adults from the U.S. and Canada spend 1-2 years each volunteering in other international countries -- supporting the work of MCC in those places (these programs are called SALT and SEED).  You can see photos of some of this years volunteers below! If interested, check out the videos and stories about each of these programs by clicking the colored names of each program, above!

Every few weeks the MCC Library - which houses many books, videos, photos and old letters related to the broad variety of work that MCC does now and has done over the years -  sets some of the library's books out on a book table in the hallway, reminding staff and others that we can borrow them and read them. 

This was one of the recent displays in honor of African-American History Month (February). 

Above is a section of wall in the communications department -- the group mostly responsible for the great photos and stories you can find on the MCC website, and in the A Common Place magazine (that you can see online at the link here and can also sign up to get mailed to you by clicking the link above.) This wall is where they hang up photos that represent stories of MCC work they're considering highlighting that month in the magazine and/or online. I always enjoy swinging by to see what's hanging there each week!

(above) These are more great photos of MCC's work -- pages out of the 2014 MCC Christmas Gift Catalogue -- hanging on the wall in the Donor Relations Department. (That's who you contact if you want to financially support the work of MCC).



And this (above) is the department I work in:  "PLDR: Planning, Learning, and Disaster Response."
As you can see we have no walls between our desks anywhere in the building. So... we all hear each other's work phone calls all day long. There are no secrets at MCC! LOL.

And this is my desk. (above). See the wall behind my chair?

 Yep.  : ) Like many of my MCC co-workers, who have posted photos of friends and communities they know and love from when they lived and served with MCC in other parts of the world -- I'm glad to have posted photos of my friends and colleagues who I got to work with for the past 3 years in the Dominican Republic! Love you guys!

And this poster below isn't an MCC document, I don't believe.  It's just a poster hanging at someone's desk here in the office. But it has a lot of great advice on it, so I'll end this month's post with it -- for your deep-thinking pleasure!

Have a great month building community wherever you are during this March 2015! 

And please do come visit me at the MCC office anytime you're in the area!

MCC in the U.S. -- Peace for Soldiers, Hope for the Elderly & Opportunities for YOU.

Did you know that in addition to international humanitarian and development work MCC has projects helping neighbors and strangers across the U.S. and Canada as well.  In this post I’ll highlight 2 of the many diverse projects that MCC works with in the U.S. and that I’ve had the chance to learn about or support in my job this month:

 

   1.)    The Phone that Rings to 20 Phones at Once:

There is a phone number in the U.S. that, when dialed, rings to as many as 20 phones at once! More than 20 trained people all across the country can hear their phone ring or vibrate, and more than 20 can reach for it, ready to help the person who is struggling on the other end of the line.

It’s the GI Rights Hotline (1-877-447-4487), a hotline to help U.S. Soldiers who need to know more about their rights related to various types of complicated discharges from the military – medical or disability discharges, conscientious objector discharges, psychological discharges, and more. The hotline provides support, counsel, and a listening ear to thousands of current members of the U.S. military and U.S. military veterans every year. The team of trained people who answer that phone range from military vets to others who simply cared enough about military staff as people to take get trained on the ins and outs of the laws, rights, and support services that are available to and affect the military community and veterans.

One of those more than 20 phones across the country rings to the desk of MCC U.S. Peace Education Coordinator, Titus, at the MCC U.S. main office, where I serve, in PA.  Titus, who has spent a record 30 years working with MCC promoting peace and justice both in the U.S. and around the world, can often be found with that phone to his ear helping members of the U.S. military who are struggling with life and work issues, and who have thus called the GI Rights Hotline for help.

It may seem odd to some – especially those of us who feel that peace is best created by activities other than war -- that an organization that has as its purpose “Relief, Development, and Peacemaking in the name of Christ” would support a staff member using his time to assist and support military members, veterans, and their families in crisis. But to me, this is the perfect example of Peacemaking. Peace comes from increasing justice and safety for all the people in the world.  No two people on earth see the world quite the same way but each of us needs hope, support, and justice. If you know a military member or veteran in need of help or information about their rights feel free to share with them the number of the GI Rights Hotline as an option. (Info Website: http://girightshotline.org/).     

Other Veteran-Support Info and Resources from MCC:

 A.) Article from MCC Washington Office on "Increasing Suicide Rates Among Veterans:" http://mcc.org/stories/true-cost-war

 

B.) "Returning Veterans. Returning Hope." Sunday School Curriculum Available to Churches:

 ( http://pjsn.org/vets/Pages/Returning-Veterans-Returning-Hope.aspx)

______________________________________________________________________________

 

   

    2.)  Re-Building Homes & Re-Building Lives:

What else does MCC do in the U.S.?  Well, in Philadelphia, for example, the East Coast MCC office supports a number of small non-profits that help low income neighborhoods within the city.  This fall and winter I’ve had the opportunity to help support the work of one of those programs called Kingdom Builders.  Kingdom Builders repairs for free or at very low cost the homes of low-income elderly Philadelphians whose houses are old and in disrepair.  Simultaneously Kingdom Builders  helps non-violent offenders who are getting out of jail in Philadelphia and have limited opportunities to stay out of jail by getting employment and transforming their lives -- since many employers won’t hire someone with “a record” and with limited or no job skills. Kingdom builders employs several post-release inmates each year, teaching them carpentry skills and providing on the job supervision and mentoring, while the employed mentees help Kingdom Builders staff repair the homes of those in need. What a great idea!  Kingdom builders also helps repair church buildings in Philadelphia, and provides construction service trip opportunities for rural church youth groups that want to come to the city to learn more about urban issues and to help.

 ____________________________________________________________________________

3.)  Links to some work of MCC that You  Might Want to Participate In -- in the U.S. -- this Year:

A.) Immigration Law Training (Next Course March 2015)

B.) MCC Washington Office Internships Available

C.) MCC Washington Office Legislative Alerts

C.) Summer Service (Leadership Training) Program for Young People of Color

D.) Sharing With Appalachian People (SWAP) Home Rebuilding Volunteer Program

As you can see, there's never a dull moment -- Globally, or in the U.S. -- for those of us working and serving with MCC. :)

It's a New Year -- 2015! Here's a belated photo "Christmas Letter" celebrating highlights from 2014!

Happy January!

Oh, yes it's true.  I'm late again. But this is my New Years post and Christmas letter in one. It's a photo journey of the hotter half of my 2014:

 Here we go...

 2014 seemed like two years in one!

  

I lived the first 6 months in the Dominican Republic - finishing my final (3rd) year of service with Health Horizons International (www.hhidr.org).  Then I moved to the U.S. in late June, where I now  work at Mennonite Central Committee (www.mcc.org).  I have a lot of stories to tell about MCC and the work I'm getting to do this year (2015) with MCC -- all over the world. But for this first post of 2015 I want to look back on just a few special highlight moments of 2014 

in the Dominican Republic!  

So, here is my 2014 summery -- in Photos!

(The photos above and below show me at work in the D.R., teaching and supporting the Community Health Workers in 4 communities as they cared for their patients).

 Carlito and Claudia, pictured above and below, became Community Health Workers after their young son died of leukemia. Like many of the HHI Community Health Workers they heroically decided they wanted to help other families dealing with illness. Carlito and Claudia became some of my great friends in the D.R.  

I am excited to hear they're expecting a new baby now!
- due in Feb. 2015!

Congratulations Carlito and Claudia! 

So glad to see a new joy in your lives!

 

Above and below, my friend Elisa, one of the Community Health Workers, shares info about High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, and Healthy eating and exercise, with her neighbors in Pancho Mateo. Like many of the Community Health Workers she hopes to go on to 

work full-time in Healthcare someday! Go Elisa!

(one of my other great friends, Dania, another Community Health Worker, is there in the background too, in the photo below).

Here we're decorating the little fake Christmas tree at my house in the D.R. last Christmas :) 2013.

 Celebrating Easter (and Semana Santa) 2014 with my Friend Dania's extended Family -- including our second "annual" Easter Egg hunt in a row! This year it rained, so we had to
hide the eggs up off the ground -- we hid them amid the leaves on the banana trees. :)

 

 Riding up and down the Sugar Cane Road on motorcycle to visit the communities we served.

 Boys playing baseball in the street in Pancho Mateo.

One of my favorite young patients "Luis-a" (age 7) learning to color - taught by her uncle and her HHI medical case manager Willy,in the hospital waiting room.
I love this smart and brave little friend!
She's reportedly having major surgery again this month (Feb 2015),
so please join me in sending prayers her way!

This little artist's got a really tough medical road ahead of her.
(Luckily she's a really tough cookie!)

  Above and below, participants in the Type 2 Diabetes Education and Support Group I was so honored to be able to help start in 2014 in Pancho Mateo!  As a person with type 1 Diabetes myself, seeing these neighbors and friends start getting control of their Diabetes was such a delight for me this past Spring!

I was also honored to collaborate (above) with the Dominican Ministry of Health to find funds and help initiate a new training program helping Doctors and Community Health Workers in the Puerto Plata Province learn more about proper cutting edge diagnosis and treatment for 

Diabetes and other related medical conditions!

 This is the team of Community Health Workers I worked with and supervised!  I'm so proud to know them! While many of these folks and their spouses struggle financially, striving to find enough work to put food on the table for their families and manage the costs to keep their kids in school in an area with 90% unemployment and low wages -- instead of sitting around giving up in despair they all volunteer to serve with HHI, spending hours every week providing free first aid and health education in their communities, helping seniors in their communities understand how to take their blood pressure meds, preventing the spread of disease, assisting during outbreaks of Cholera and Dengue, advocating to bring clean water to their communities, and helping people in medical emergencies get down the mountain to proper hospitals for life-saving care.  They are truly amazing and they are the kind of people I want to be every day!

 

  

Kids I love in Pancho Mateo, Montellano, Dominican Republic

 My "Secret" work Good-Bye Party in the Dominican Republic in June. (This one was after and even better than the official "office" one, of course,) thrown by my Co-workers in Pancho Mateo right before I moved back to the States. 

Thanks so much for the love, guys! I love you too!

Here's that always beautiful and dangerous road I had the opportunity to ride up and down, in sun and rain, (thankfully mostly sun,) on motorcycle to reach the communities we served
-- so full or rocks and holes, 

yet so beautiful.

 Here are some of my many friends from the Missionary Community in the D.R.!  

They're a good representation of where Missionaries and Humanitarian Workers in the D.R. 

come from:

Jody = U.S.   Perla = Dominican Republic   Sadrac = Haiti   Leeann = Canada

(Oh, and that's me in the middle)

Here's one of my favorite "Babies" -- Wilmery.

I met her, and her mom and Dad when she and her mom both came to the clinic, sick.

She and her parents welcomed me into their family, and when my parents and aunts and uncles came to visit me in the D.R. this past Spring (definitely one of the biggest highlights of 2014 for me!) Wilmery's (and also Willy's) house was definitely one of the first places I took them to visit!

Carlito and Claudia's house was another important stop of many:

 Here are my parents, Aunts and Uncles visiting at Carlito and Claudia's house in Pancho Mateo.

Thanks to my Parents and my Aunts Sue and Fern and Uncles Rich and Marlin for letting me drag them all over the North Coast of the D.R. meeting people and seeing sights!  They munched on sugar cane, got hugged by everyone, rode up the bumpy sugar cane road to visit my friend Estela, and even got an unexpected first-hand lesson in cock fighting!  

 I was a member of the leadership team at New Life (English) Church 

in Sosua, Dominican Republic, until June when I returned to the States.

 Here are my closest Co-workers at work in the D.R.

There's something about working 24/7 in rather unpredictable conditions, and often without electricity, that really bonds one to their co-workers and neighbors, that's for sure!

 I definitely love
and miss all of my friends, co-workers and neighbors in the Dominican Republic! Transitioning back to the U.S. (and all of this snow!) has been a big adventure of it's own!

So, now I'm living in PA and working at MCC (Mennonite Central Committee - MCC.org), and I have more upcoming stories to tell about that too...

but that will be for the February Post!

A belated Happy New Year to All!

May God send you Peace, Joy, and Love, in the coming year!

Christmas at MCC -- Life-Changing Gifts, and Cards, and Firelight Aglo -- December 2014 -- Month 5 at MCC in the United States :)

It's December already!  The months have flown by and though there's so much to tell about MCC (Mennonite Central Committee,) and also about the work still going on in the D.R. that I'm involved with, I've once again gotten behind on my blogging!

This coming New Years I will  "resolve" to do better! :)

 COMPUTERIZED CHRISTMAS FIRE COMES TO MCC

So what have I been doing at MCC? There are many things.  My position puts me in daily conversations and meetings with MCC workers and volunteers in countries and places from Lebanon to Guatemala to Israel to Philadelphia, to the Democratic Republic of Congo to New York City, to Canada, to California, to Vietnam, to Sudan, every day! There's so much great humanitarian, disaster relief, and community development work going on at MCC that I get to be a part of supporting (both around the globe and in the U.S. and Canada too) that it's hard to pick and choose what to write about.

So, this month -- since it's December -- It seems reasonable to focus on the Christmas stuff!  What happens at MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) around Christmas time?  Well, I can tell you, it's a great time of year!

 
1.)  First, here's a story (click the name of the story for the link):

CHRISTMAS MEAL STARTS MINISTRY TO NIGERIAN DRUG USERS



This (above) is just one very small story of the work that MCC supports local individuals (in-country nationals) in doing all around the world.  Part of my job is helping small organizations like Home Makers learn how to find sustainable income to keep their projects running and going strong.

2.)  The second thing that happens shortly before Christmas at MCC -- something I've loved for many years when I would see it show up at various churches I attended, long before I ever came to work at MCC -- is that the MCC Christmas Catalogue shows up! It's a great way to learn more about the work MCC is doing this year, and a great opportunity to give a gift that will truly change lives, not just fill someone's stocking with a gift that they'll recycle or return, or throw away tomorrow.

The MCC Gift Catalogue can be found here online,
although
I like this link over here even better because it gives more specific examples and ideas.

I would love it if some of you would consider a donation to help one of the projects of MCC this year, if you're interested!

It's one of many great ways to GIVE A SMALL GIFT THAT CHANGES LIVES.

Below are some of the categories you'll find in the catalogue.  Of course, since MCC does relief and development work in countries with ever-changing needs (including the U.S. and Canada too,) giving a gift labelled "WHERE NEEDED MOST" allows MCC to use your donation to help those in greatest need!






               HOPE                                            HEALTH                                    JOBS/LIVELIHOODS


3.) One last beautiful moment of Christmas at MCC actually happened already, way back in early-November!  It's something that most organizations in the world would never have the opportunity to stop and do, I don't think, and it was a beautiful moment that really touched me.  MCC, you see, has almost 1000 staff members (large numbers of them unpaid volunteers from the U.S. and Canada, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, all serving 3-5 years terms, in countries far from their extended families.) They don't generally go "home" for Christmas.  So in late October the email goes out at the MCC U.S. Main office in Akron, Pennsylvania, and at the MCC Canada Main Office in Winnipeg. "It's time to sign the Christmas Cards for the International Program teams!"   In Akron, they pop a CD into the computer (the one usually used for international skype meetings between "main office" where I work, and the international programs staff abroad,) and a computerized fire blazes on the screen, and the Christmas carols play.  And the staff at the Akron PA office stop their typing at their computers, set aside their phone calls and skype meetings, they stop balancing budgets, and sending out Thank You's to donors, and preparing for that next training they'll be giving next week to new staff, and they meet in the room with the "fire" blazing, in shifts, to sign Chistmas cards -- lots of Christmas Cards.  They're cards that will then be sent next to the Winnipeg, Canada office, and then on from there, cards for the volunteers and staff serving in each country program of MCC around the world (and MCC serves in 60 countries.)  The cards have to be signed in November, so they can get to the proper countries, through all kinds of postal systems and transportation arrangements, in time for Christmas!  The most beautiful thing to me wasn't the laughter as folks pretended to warm themselves by the computerized "fire," or the chocolate candy and cards and Christmas songs and cameraderie around that card-signing table. No.  It was listening to my co-workers -- most of whom have been at the MCC main office longer than me -- chatting about the people who would be receiving the cards.  They said things like: "Oh yeah, did you hear, Sonya's baby is cutting her teeth.  Yeah they've really been losing sleep over there in _______ (name of country)."   "Oh yeah, it sounds like their program teaching job skills to the teens there is going really well, but did you hear his story about how that crazy goat busted in in the middle of their class last week? That was hilarious! ..." or  "Oh, you know I was just talking to them yesterday and they were super excited to get that package of books that you sent... Jenna's in fourth grade now you know..."

                                      "Hey, who's got the stack of cards for the Asia Programs?"

It was another one of those amazing moments at MCC when I was reminded that MCC, no matter how huge it is (an organization with country offices supporting local workers in 48 countries and partnering with local humanitarian leaders in at least 12 more,) still has all of it's people on speed dial.  Everyone knows everyone.  Everyone at that main office in Akron cares about the MCCers and staff serving in the other country programs. The international staff send their own care right back to many at the main office as well.  They care about each other's kids, and hobbies, and the last book they read, and the work that they're all doing -- in 60 countries around the globe! As a new person in the main office I was thrilled to come across names that even I knew on the Christmas cards we were sending out, people I've already had the chance to work closely with -- people who are in Sudan, Columbia, Israel, Haiti, and more.  It was another one of those great moments -- moments that seem to happen basically daily at the main office, I've noticed -- moments of being reminded that MCC cares enough about it's huge extended staff and volunteer team to plan more than 2 months in advance, to stop the "work" for awhile just to remind everybody "We love you this Christmas! We're a team -- like a family (though we're definitely not perfect!) Even if you're far away serving this Christmas, we know you and your family and we're remembering you this Christmas, by name!"


So, herre are a few photos of the Christmas Card signing in Akron:

     Sending a photo of a Peaceful Holiday Moment from an MCC country program in 

     Latin America to MCCers working for "little  

     steps toward Justice, Peace, and safety" in the Middle East, Europe, and around the globe.

               

      My colleague Lynn (he works with MCC education programs globally,) testing the "warmth" of the computerized fire! :)

May you all have a Joyful Christmas Season!

August 2014 - A New Adventure: Mennonite Central Committee

As many of you know it was a busy summer for me.  I'm just now getting caught up on the blog!

In the end of June, 2014 I transitioned out of my position at Health Horizons in the Dominican Republic and into a position in the Planning, Learning and Disaster Response Department at the main U.S. headquarters of Mennonite Central Committee, in Akron PA.

Leaving the D.R. was very difficult and I’m still maintaining many connections there, (and assisting with one project there that I’ll tell you about in a later post,) but in my life I’ve learned to just follow God’s leading one year at a time, and it seemed clear that this year, at least, God wanted me at MCC.  So I moved to Akron, PA and joined 59 other new MCC workers at a week and a half-long orientation session in Akron. 

Now, I’ve always loved MCC as an organization.  MCC, the outreach arm of the U.S. and Canadian Anabaptist churches, works in 60 countries around the world, with offices currently in 48 of those countries and local partners in all 60 countries. MCC does the work of “Relief, Development and Peace in the name of Christ.” Unlike many organizations that do great humanitarian work around the world, most of MCC’s staff in those offices around the world are volunteers.  At MCC they’re called Service Workers and most of them serve 3-5 year terms.

Walking into the training I was impressed with the sheer numbers – 60 new staff and service workers in an orientation session! A couple of us were staying to serve in the U.S. and Canada and the rest heading out to countries all across the globe.  As I got to know these folks, my orientation buddies, I also became impressed by their passion, their experience, and their levels of expertise for positions (many of them full-time volunteer jobs) that they were putting their U.S. possessions in storage for or selling altogether.  Single people were going. Husbands and wives; couples with small children; retired couples who had sent their youngest away to college and were now heading into an international field of service.

We had:

• A U.S. Attorney heading off with his International Development trained wife --  to do advocacy work in Haiti
• A female Canadian Engineer flying off to help Communities build Sand-Dams to provide water to villages and crops in Mozambique,
• A young man from El Salvador who speaks 5 languages heading back to Columbia, where he's been volunteering fro several years, to continue strengthening communities there and working for peace in a country torn by conflict.
• Another young man, from Mexico, who has been serving in rural communities across Latin America for years heading back once again for another three year volunteer term.
• A couple who met in high school while missionary kids growing up in Congo, now heading back to lead the country program there for MCC.

The list went on and on.

I was impressed by the diversity and global knowledge of the group, and also excited that we had people who were Local Staff from MCC programs in South Africa, Mozambique, and Columbia all at orientation with me too. After orientation they would go back to their own countries to continue working in instrumental positions in their MCC country programs, providing leadership, and helping the people of their home countries. 

"Music, rap, working with children, teens, families, conflict resolution, non-violence, construction of Peace." (A presentation by one of the Columbian staff members on MCCs current work in her home country, conflict-torn Columbia, South America.)

(Reporting on a Colombian women's trauma-healing support group. Here the women are talking about the murders caused by civil-war style fighting in their communities and sewing the story into a quilt as a visual way of thinking about the horrors and beginning to tell their story.)

And I don’t want to forget to mention the Canadians and U.S. citizens who attended orientation so they could return to their own communities in Canada and the U.S., working for economic justice, racial and cultural reconciliation, and many other great aspects of MCC's global work that also encompasses North America.

So, it has been a pleasure to get to know some of the many MCC workers who are, have been, and will continue to be serving around the world.  Below are links and photos to three stories about just a couple of the many cool programs and projects that MCC Volunteers (service workers) and local country-staff have been doing in various countries this Spring & Summer.
Click the blue links below to learn about:

1.) Hygiene and Health Kits for Refugees & People Recovering from Natural Disasters

2.) Disaster Preparedness and Recovery training for Pastors following Typhoon Haiyan

3.) The Children at the Border -- Helping address root causes

I will post a couple of links like this at the bottom of every post of mine this year, (and beginning in November I'll plan to post monthly).  I hope you'll take a few minutes to click on just the topics that interest you, to get an inside scoop on the work that MCC is doing around the world :).

1.)  Hygiene Kits from U.S./Canadian churches & MCC help refugees and people recovering from natural disasters around the world (currently more kits are needed in Syria).

2.) Filipino Pastors Strengthen Skills for Future Disasters following Typhone Haiyan.

3.) Two Links re: the "Children at the Border Crisis": Dealing with Root Causes of Central American Migration to the U.S. &  Helping South & North of the border