Country Programs – Page 3

Maya Textiles: The Books They Couldn’t Burn

June 3, 2021

Ignorance is a blessing. I really mean that. Ignorance allows us to visit places like the Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Textiles and Clothing and leave marveling at the beauty of the huipiles, cortes, and other ...

Luz: Laughter amidst the tears

May 24, 2021

Advocacy, Colombia, Migration, Migration

The protagonist of today’s story is a woman who, for security reasons, I’ll call Luz. Luz was born in La Guajira, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. She describes it as a beautiful region, very warm but al...

Anabaptist churches and organizations respond to violence in Colombia

May 11, 2021

Advocacy, Colombia, Peace and Non-Violence

On April 28, tens of thousands of Colombia marched in a renewed iteration of the National Strike that had begun strongly in November 2019. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Strike stopped but the r...

How border militarization in southern Mexico is putting Central American migrants at risk

May 7, 2021

Advocacy, Honduras, Mexico, Migration

Doña Francisca* keeps a photo of herself and a young relative, Kevin*, on her phone. In the photo, Doña Francisca is wearing a mask, but Kevin is bare-faced, clean-cut and smiling. He looks like a good kid. “H...

Partner Spotlight: The Children’s Program in Palmira

February 5, 2021

Advocacy, Colombia, Partner Organization

These photos were taken February 2020, before social distancing measures were put into place in Colombia. It is a Saturday afternoon and a group of children gather in a community hall located in Palmira...

The Heresy of U.S. Exceptionalism

January 22, 2021

Advocacy, Honduras, Peace and Non-Violence

As extremists scaled the wall of the U.S. Capitol, I sat less than four miles away, staring at my computer screen and trying to follow the news reports covering what some called an attempted coup. Sirens waile...

A chapina in Nicaragua

October 22, 2020

Advocacy, Nicaragua, Peace and Non-Violence, SALT/YAMEN/IVEP

*chapín/chapina is a word many Guatemalans use to refer to themselves. “Dale”—a slang word that means something like “go for it”—is one of the most common words among Nicaraguans. This year as a MCC volunte...

Yes, Racism is Alive in Colombia

October 2, 2020

Advocacy, Colombia, Peace and Non-Violence, SEED

This article is part of a series about racism in Colombia. Read more. “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” James Baldwin Of course, racism is very much alive in Colombia. To know o...

For What Was, For What Is To Come

September 21, 2020

Advocacy, Colombia, SEED

I believe that one of the most challenging things in life is to understand the meaning of our existence and therefore, the things we do about it. Thinking about how everything could be different as the&nb...

Lessons on systemic racism from Chocó

September 10, 2020

Advocacy, Colombia

This article is part of a series about racism in Colombia. Read more. When I was 26 years old, my husband and I moved to Colombia to participate in MCC’s Seed program. We were placed with the Mennonite Bret...

The Food We Share

“Imagino un mundo … donde mujeres y [niñas] podamos caminar en las calles, trabajar, y convivir … sin miedo” (part 3)

“Yo quisiera que termine toda esa violencia” El Día de la Eliminación de la Violencia contra la Mujer (part 2)

Día Internacional de la Eliminación de la Violencia Contra la Mujer (parte 1)