Material resources impact report - Winter 2024

An update on MCC material resources projects

Picture of students at Rumbek Comboni Primary School in South Sudan carry their dignity kits which were provided by MCC.

South Sudan Ukraine Canada — Jan 2024

menu_book Impact report
Health
January 15, 2024

Investing in education for girls

 

Picture of Amida Yunis James, student at Rumbek Comboni Primary School, holds her new dignity kit and school kit she just recieved.
Through your compassionate support, female students across South Sudan’s Lake State, like Amida Yunis James, received dignity kits. These kits are filled with the supplies they need to manage their monthly periods safely and discreetly. (MCC photo/Christy Kauffman)


You're helping young women in South Sudan stay in school, one pad at a time.

In countries like South Sudan, a girl's period is one of the most significant barriers she will face in continuing her education. One-time use pads from stores are prohibitively expensive, and without access to the basic tools to manage their periods with dignity, girls will skip school and even drop out altogether.

With the generous support of donors like you, 1,778 dignity kits have already been assembled and distributed in 2023 to young women across many of the 128 schools in the Rumbek Diocese, the area in which our partner Loreto Rumbek operates. These kits include items like a bucket for storage or washing, hygiene items like soap and a comb, and reusable menstrual pads. 

 

You're providing care for today, tomorrow and years to come

While the pads provided in dignity kits are reusable, eventually they wear out and need replacement. With your support, students in Loreto Rumbek schools' vocational programs also receive semi-completed dignity kits to help create new reusable pads for themselves and for their peers.
Picture of Millicent Teresa Otieno, 42, Loreto Rumbek School sewing instructor, holds an example of the reusable menstrual pad finished by the school dignity kit sewing project.
Millicent Teresa Otieno, a Loreto Rumbek School sewing instructor, holds a reusable menstrual pad made by students in her class. (MCC photo/Christy Kauffman)

Partner spotlight: Loreto Rumbek

Founded in 2008, Loreto Rumbek is an all-girls secondary school, mixed-gender primary school and Kindergarten and primary health centre in South Sudan. As a longstanding partner of MCC in the region, Loreto Rumbek's team has been critical in distributing vital support to students entrenched in poverty and living in areas that conflict has made it challenging to access.

Wrapped up in your kindness

 

A picture of Marina* and her daughters are pictured with handmade comforters, hygiene items, relief kit and cans of meat supplied by MCC.
Displaced by the conflict in Ukraine, Marina and her  daughters had nothing to sleep on or to cover themselves with at night. Thanks to you, they are now wrapped up in comforters and have been supplied with hygiene kits. (Photo courtesy of AMBCU)

In the heart of Ukraine, the Association of Mennonite Brethren Churches of Ukraine (AMBCU) serves people who are in crisis amidst the ongoing violence. In moments when hope runs thin, the relief kits, comforters, hygiene kits, school kits and canned meats provided by caring people like you have provided comfort and shown compassion to more than 5,217 people through this unique partnership. 

A picture of Tori Klapstein, MCC material resources volunteer, packing relief kits.

Volunteers like you are changing lives, one kit at a time

Every week, Tori volunteers to pack everything from blankets to hygiene kits to be distributed to people around the world affected by disaster. She knows that these resources make a practical difference in people's lives and also show them that they are loved and cared for. (MCC photo/Monet Lamphere-Ma)

"Serving God’s Kingdom is simpler than you’d expect. Even coming once a week. It’s what we’re called to do."

Tori Klapstein

MCC Material Resources Volunteer, Abbotsford BC