2023/2024 Annual Impact Report - Canada and International

Following the Hamas attacks on Israel last fall, the Israeli military response in Gaza launched one of the direst humanitarian crises of the last year. MCC staff overseeing projects in Gaza say the level of destruction is unfathomable.

Your love in action empowered an immediate response.

Your donations to MCC’s Gaza response allowed our partners to hand out emergency food supplies and bedding for hundreds of displaced and terrified families with no delay. Support has since taken the form of cash transfers and cross-border food shipments when humanitarian aid is permitted to flow.

Your faithful support builds on MCC’s 75 years of working in Palestine and Israel, which has allowed us to grow long-term relationships with our partners. Many MCC partners on the ground in Gaza have continued working, even with their own lives in danger. Their years of experience are essential in times of disaster.

“It’s really only possible to respond in situations like this with trusted, existing partners,” says Sarah Funkhouser, who, together with her husband, Seth Malone, is the MCC representative for Jordan, Palestine and Israel.

Ovagini Rani (pictured above) has seen five homes washed away into the Jamuna River over her lifetime. Her current home sits on the banks of the Jamuna in Bogura, Bangladesh, and every year she hopes it remains there after the rainy season. Two recent rainy seasons have brought so much flooding that Ovagini has found fish at her doorstep more than once. In those conditions, there’s almost no way to reliably grow anything.

But your generous support has equipped her with a life-changing solution and a creative approach.

MCC partner Maitree Palli Unnayan Sangathon (MPUS) is teaching farmers like Ovagini to think vertically. By building simple triangular frames from bamboo and planting crops that thrive vertically, Ovagini doesn’t have to worry about losing her crops when the river rises. Now, not only can she grow more food for her family, but she can also sell seedlings and compost to her neighbours, increasing the amount of money she can bring in for her family.

Ovagini can make 5,000 takas ($58) most months on top of the 10,000 takas her husband makes from working day labour jobs. Your support has empowered MPUS to innovate, which has enabled Ovagini to support her daughter’s studies at university in Dhaka in ways she couldn’t before.

Access to clean water is essential for living a healthy life, something Deepa Mandal Paswan knows firsthand. She’s a farmer in the Jahada district of Nepal and had to rely on her neighbours’ offer to use their wells and pumps so she could access clean, safe water. Without convenient access to clean water at her own home, her children’s health was suffering.

But because you gave to MCC, Deepa and her children now have the security of their own safe water point.

MCC partner SAHAS (Helping Hands) dug a borehole well 100 feet down into fresh, clear groundwater that now provides water that is safe for drinking, cooking and bathing, with no treatment needed. This well is one of 53 under the current project, and Deepa says her life is noticeably better as a result.

“It will be easier for me because I had to go [to my neighbours] and sometimes I had to disturb them,” says Deepa. “I’m very happy about having my personal water point.”

With that barrier removed, her daily life has gotten easier and safer.

Deselech Alemu’s second child, Aberham, was only three months old when he started to get sick. Deselech thought it was probably a result of his being malnourished, but she couldn’t afford to make any changes to his diet. Living on only her husband’s day labour wages — around $2 a day — in Batu, Ethiopia, meant that affording enough food to survive was already a challenge, never mind medicine for a newborn baby.

But because of you, today, her little boy is happier and healthier than ever.

The staff of MCC partner Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission (MKCDC) knows the needs of the community and moms like Deselech who need support the most.

They provide food or cash to handle the most immediate needs but also offer support for breastfeeding, child vaccination and hygiene to keep babies safe and healthy long-term.

Without MKCDC’s help, Deselech would have been totally on her own, with no support. But because you generously gave, she and both her children are healthy and able to stay in their community.

In December 2016, Alsar Zarour and her family were getting off a plane in Calgary, Alberta, feeling cold and alone. They’d fled their home in Syria into Türkiye, where they received news that they’d been sponsored to come to Canada by a group of total strangers.

Alsar remembers looking at her mother and saying, “Who would be waiting for us?”

Meanwhile, a refugee sponsorship group from Calgary’s First Mennonite Church was eagerly awaiting their arrival, excited to show the family their new home.

"When we got into our house that night, I will never forget,” Alsar recalls.
"They asked us if we have everything we need. We didn’t even know we had a house! We had spoons, everything was there, we didn’t need anything. We only came with our clothes."

Today, eight years later, long after the formal sponsorship support ended, Alsar counts many from that group among her closest friends. They visit regularly, sharing the ups and downs of life.

Every year, the incredible generosity of MCC refugee sponsorship groups creates lifelong friendships and changes the lives of hundreds of people who have been forced from their homes.

MCC has been working in Palestine and Israel for 75 years, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed in all that time — our commitment to non-violence as the foundation of every step toward peace. For months after the reignited violence in Gaza after October 7, it seemed like our calls for an end to the violence were ignored by the Canadian government.

But you raised your voice and the government listened.

Hundreds of you sent letters or emails to government officials telling them clearly that Canada should be calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and they listened. MCC staff in Ottawa engaged in press conferences and multiple behind-the-scenes meetings with members of multiple political parties. In December, Canada’s government joined the growing group of nations calling for the end to violence in Palestine and Israel and voted in favour of a UN resolution calling for the same.

Peace still hasn’t come to Gaza, but your support of MCC’s advocacy work has brought our calls for peace into the halls of government and made significant steps in Canada’s support for a non- violent end to the conflict in Palestine and Israel.

Less than 30% of women in Afghanistan over age 15 are literate. Decades of conflict and the Taliban’s increasing influence have prevented generations of girls from attending school. Without basic education, many Afghan women can’t earn money or access essential information on their own.

But with your help, women and girls in Afghanistan are finding ways to get the education they need to empower future generations of women.

An MCC partner* in Afghanistan has developed a curriculum to teach skills such as literacy, peacebuilding and child protection to groups of women. Classes run for an hour each day, over three years. It’s all done at great risk, as Taliban laws have banned most education for women across the country.

A staff member* with MCC’s partner says by ensuring women have access to education, the ripple effects go beyond the immediate benefits.

“If you want to educate [the next] generation, you have to educate a woman because, especially in Afghanistan, women are all the time with their children.”

*Names have been withheld for security purposes

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

But thanks to your support of MCC’s dignity kits, more girls can attend school without worrying about their period. The kits contain several reusable pads, underwear, towels and cleaning supplies, all designed so the pads last for years before needing to be replaced.

With dignity kits, girls are empowered to take charge of their own health and can pursue their education with one less barrier.

Grace Bayles knew she wanted to keep her wedding budget low. She’s a regular thrift shopper, so she knew what kinds of deals she could get if she kept her options open. But even she was surprised when she found the perfect wedding dress hanging on a rack, just a week before her wedding, at the MCC Thrift shop in Warman, Saskatchewan.

“I decided so late in the summer to look for another dress, so I only had a few days to find something,” said Grace. “It was magical because it felt like another affirmation that God can provide for us…. It was a sign of his provision.”

Grace and her husband Bob held their wedding last summer in Ontario, and her story is a great reminder that you never know what you may find when you need it at an MCC Thrift shop.

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Seek, MCC’s newest young adult service program, is a discipleship experience that invites young adults to explore, engage and reflect more deeply on what it means to be an Anabaptist follower of Jesus in a complicated world. Over a period of six months, a small group of 18-to-20- year-olds live and learn together in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with many opportunities to explore their faith and the beauty of Cambodia.

Madeline Simons recently finished her term with Seek and says the thing she thinks will stay with her most is the sense of community they built together.

“We heard everyone’s own testimonies and stories about their lives — that was really special because you just get to know people on such a deeper level. And you have so much perspective on their life. I think every time I heard someone’s story, I was kind of in awe of what they had to go through, how strong they are now. That was really valuable.”

Pictured: Madeline Simons (far left) and other members of the 2024 Seek cohort in front of the Banteay Srei temple in Siem Reap province during their term in Cambodia. (Photo courtesy of Madeline Simons)