The Mennonite Central Committee Representative to the United Nations, Chris Rice, recently wrote an article for Christianity Today about his work titled “The United Nations is a Mission Field.” We’ve greatly appreciated working with Chris particularly during the coup in Myanmar. He was very active in connecting the voices of communities on the ground to…
Tag: Peace
Reflections on Political Violence
The 48 hours around my birthday were intense this year. In Myanmar, there were widespread non-violent demonstrations and general labor strikes protesting the February 2021 coup d’état. The military junta responded with brutal force. They turned guns and grenades against the peaceful protests. They forced Doctors and Teachers to go to work at gunpoint. Doctors…
CCA Conference on Myanmar
Last month, the Christian Conference of Asia held a four-day international conference on Myanmar. There were 57 participants representing various ecumenical groups, Christian organizations, NGOs, universities, government agencies, and so on. I represented Mennonite Central Committee at the conference and moderated a couple of sessions. The goal of the conference was to develop a communique…
Webinar: Climate and Peace, Stories from around the World
Mennonite Central Committee, the Church of the Brethren, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation will be hosting a webinar on climate and peace. This is an opportunity to hear directly from people working around the world on how climate change is driving conflict within local communities and what work is being done to address…
Myanmar is no longer the most violent place in the world
In June 2024 the former MCC Cambodia & Myanmar Peace Coordinator, Audrey Thill, published an article in Foreign Policy on How Myanmar’s Wood Funds Its Brutal Military. It’s a fantastic article pulling back the curtain on the illicit economy driving conflict and deforestation. The article is on Myanmar but also looks at similar issues in…
Peace Clubs, Signing Agreements, and a Ministry of Presence
In March, MCC signed an agreement with the Prey Veng Department of Education to facilitate Peace Clubs during Primary School Life Skills classes and train Primary School Teachers on the operation of Peace Clubs. This agreement includes a sustainability plan with the Primary Schools gradually taking on more responsibility for the Peace Clubs and eventually…
Podcast: Distributing aid in Myanmar at great risk
The MCC Relief, development and podcast recently hosted an interview with one of our partner staff in Myanmar. I’m sharing the podcast and transcript below. For security reasons our partner is not identified in the interview and the partner staff is going by Mr. Khong. It’s a wonderful opportunity to hear about the situation directly…
2024 Prison Fellowship Cambodia Annual Conference
We’re aware of three organizations working in prisons in Cambodia. Two of the three – Peace Bridges and Khmer Vulnerability Aid Organization – are already current MCC partners, Prison Fellowship Cambodia is the other. I’ve been wanting to connect with Prison Fellowship to see if we could work towards a partnership with them too but…
Myanmar: Saying No To War
In October, the Three Brotherhood Alliance – a partnership of three armed ethnic groups in the north – launched an offensive campaign against the military junta that lead the coup in February 2021 (and which, to varying degrees, has been the dominant force in the country since taking power through a coup in 1962). The…
Hiking to Pokhara World Peace Stupa in Nepal
During our time in Nepal, we hiked up to the World Peace Stupa located on Anadu ‘hill’ across the lake from Pokhara. The Stupa is at a height of 1,100 meters – which would be absolutely classified as a ‘mountain’ in Cambodia – but is considered a hill in Nepal. Apparently, in Nepal it’s only…