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Erwin Cornelson, in his 80s, stands among some of the wood items he donated to this year’s Mennonite Central Committee B.C. festival, auction and relief sale. Each year people come specifically to buy his chairs (made of recycled chair parts), children’s building blocks, bowls and wooden plates. This year’s festival, held Sept. 15-16 at the Abbotsford Exhibition Park, included children’s activities, crafts and bake sales and the auction of quilts, vehicles, furniture and other goods. It raised a record $525,000 for MCC’s relief and development work in India, Sudan, Uganda and Venezuela. No other MCC festival in Canada has ever raised this much money in a single year. A home-made quilt sold for $4,700, the highest price ever paid for a quilt at the B.C. sale. – Mennonite Central Committee B.C.
The Elmer Ediger Memorial Scholarship Fund offers scholarships between $1000 and $1200 US to Canadian and US graduate students pursuing careers in mental health. Four to six students receive scholarships yearly. Candidates must be graduate students in mental health, developmental disabilities or related fields; have at least a 3.25 grade point average (on a scale of 4.0); be a member of a Mennonite, Brethren in Christ or Mennonite Brethren church; and be a US or Canadian resident or permanent resident. Application deadline is Feb. 1, 2001. Applications are available from Wendy Rohn, Mennonite Health Services, 234 South Main St., Suite A, Goshen, IN 46526; phone (219) 534-9689; Web site mhsonline.org. – Mennonite Health Services
Somalia has a new president. Abdiqassim Salad Hassan was inaugurated Aug. 30, ending a period of 10 years in which the country has had no central government. In April, traditional and religious leaders from major clans met for peace talks in Arta, Djibouti, coordinated by that country’s president. In May, over 2000 representatives of various Somali factions met together. Those talks resulted in the writing of an interim three-year constitution, the choosing of 245 parliamentarians and the election of Hassan. – Eastern Mennonite Mission, MCC
Wildfires in Montana this summer sparked Mennonite Disaster Service to set up a volunteer project site in Townsend, Mont., where the Maudlow Fire consumed nearly 81,000 acres of ranchland. While no homes were damaged by the fire, MDS is helping to replace over 180 miles of fencing, including over 40,000 wooden fence posts with steel ones that are resistant to fire. MDS needs volunteers, equipment and materials for this project. To date, 8,000 fence posts have been donated. Another task for the ranchers is feeding their herds, which average 100-200 cattle. Even before the fire, ranchers in Maudlow had low stores of hay because the region has been experiencing drought for three years. Now, ranchers are using their winter supplies two-and-a-half months earlier than expected. The US Agricultural Department estimates that up to an additional 6,000 tons of hay are needed. Many ranchers fear their herds won’t survive the winter and plan to sell their calves before they mature, which could mean losing up to $50 US per head. – Mennonite Disaster Service
An Aug. 3 decision by the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has serious implications, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC). That Court’s decision in the “Harvard Mouse” case allows companies to patent mammals (but not humans). The Patent Commissioner had denied the patent, arguing that different considerations should apply to lower and higher life forms. However, the Court applied the patent rules for plant life to animal life since the Patent Act does not address biotechnology (the manipulation of animal life). EFC believes this decision “changes the legal understanding of the nature of life and the ownership of it”. The EFC is urging the Canadian government to appeal the Court’s decision. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Seven Christian men, ranging in age from 15 to 58, were executed for their faith in North Korea in April, according to sources in China. Many reports of execution in North Korea are impossible to confirm because that communist country is closed to international scrutiny. However, reports reached China through North Korean refugees. In the US Department of State’s 2000 Annual Report on International Freedom, released Sept. 5, there were unconfirmed reports of 23 Christians executed between October 1999 and April 2000. Witnesses before the US Congress in April 1999 said that religious prisoners were treated far worse than other prisoners. A former prison guard testified that “those believing in God were regarded as insane”. He also told of an incident in which a woman was beaten and kicked for praying for a child who was being abused in prison. A number of North Korean Christians have fled to China. Many would claim asylum on grounds of religious persecution, but Chinese government officials rarely allow the refugees to appeal to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Most are forcibly returned to North Korea. It is estimated that there could be as many as 100,000 North Korean refugees in China, but it is not known how many of those are Christian. – Compass Direct
A Christian leader in western Uzbekistan’s autonomous Karakalpakstan region has been jailed since July 25, accused by local police of illegal drug possession. Nicholai Rudinsky was arrested just a few hours after Nukus police had closed down a church youth camp he helped organize. The officials claimed that the local church had “no right to operate a religious camp”. The camp was the second of two youth camps held during July in a camping facility near Nukus and sponsored by the local Mir Presbyterian church. About 50 children had attended the first camp session without incident. Nukus city authorities reportedly did not send the children home from the camp but replaced the church’s camp staff with their own secular personnel. When Rudinsky, a visiting pastor from another city, received word that the camp was going to be shut down by police, he told authorities that the camp was sponsored by a registered church and was legally funded. He was quickly arrested. He was warned he could face imprisonment “for the rest of his life” if he did not cooperate with the investigation, but he has reportedly refused to answer questions about the organizers of the camp. Police claimed they found 0.2 grams of opium on Rudinsky, but his lawyers have not been able to confirm if any charges have been filed. Although no further actions have been reported against the Mir church, the congregation has not been allowed to meet since July 25. In May, Uzbek authorities near Tashkent refused permission for a children’s summer camp sponsored by the Evangelical Christian/Baptist Union of Churches. Last year, four Uzbek Christians, three of them from Nukus, were arrested and given prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years on apparently trumped-up drug charges. However, all were released Aug. 19, 1999 by order of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. – Compass Direct
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Last modified November 29, 2000.
© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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