Volume 26 Issue 14D

Middle Eastern adventure for Winnipeg students

Hannah Kroeker and Fiona Janzen ride camels in the Wadi Rum. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Westgate students engage with Ben, an Israeli man who spoke about losing his daughter in the conflict. He is part of the Family Forum, a group that connects bereaved Israeli and Palestinian parents. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Raya Cornelsen and James Friesen sit by the separation barrier in Bethlehem, just outside of Banksy's Walled Off Hotel. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Students scramble up to the Burdah rock bridge with their Bedouin guides. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Raya Cornelsen and Nancy Loewen overlooking the treasury in Petra. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

The Westgate students pose in front of the treasury at Petra. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Westgate students kayak on the Sea of Galilee. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Westgate students meet with the young people who are a part of the Galilee Dreamers. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Westgate students eat at the Fauzi Azar Hotel in Nazareth. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

Westgate student Sarah Schellenberg, right, chats with two students from the Galilee Dreamers. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

In Madaba, Jordan, Westgate students learn how to make maqlube, a dish consisting of meat, rice and fried vegetables placed in a pot that is flipped upside down when served, hence the name ‘maqluba,’ which translates literally as ‘upside-down. (Photo courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)

After two years of living through a pandemic, we never expected that we would be able to travel to the Middle East. After so much uncertainty, we were so fortunate to be able to be a group of 15 graduating Grade 12 students visiting Israel/Palestine and Jordan.

 

Interpretive path tells story of reconciliation efforts in rural Saskatchewan

Leonard Doell shares a few words at the event. (Photo by Emily Summach)

Wilmer and Barb Froese serve as masters of ceremony during the program. (Photo by Emily Summach)

George Kingfisher, Young Chippewayan ancestral chief, and Ray Funk describe each other as ‘like a brother.’ (Photo by Emily Summach)

Students from Rosthern Community School in Rosthern, Sask. hold up a collaborative art “quilt” they made for the event. (Photo by Emily Summach)

Guests examine the chainsaw-carved archway that serves as the entrance to the interpretive path. (Photo by Emily Summach)

Visitors pause to read a storyboard along the interpretive path. (Photo by Emily Summach)

Theresa Driedeger examines a storyboard and the views of the land from the top of Stoney Knoll. (Photo by Emily Summach)

The final storyboard on the path overlooks the land surrounding Stoney Knoll. (Photo by Emily Summach)

Members of the Stoney Knoll Historical Committee and special guests cut the ribbon to open the new interpretive path. (Photo by Emily Summach)

An area of disputed land in Saskatchewan has become a seedbed of reconciliation with the launch of an interpretive path to make the story of that journey come alive for visitors.

 

Humble confessions, compelling stories

Norman Meade and his late wife Thelma, left, are pictured with Neill and Edith von Gunten along the Manigotagan River in 2010. (Photo courtesy of the von Guntens)

Walking Together: Intercultural Stories of Love and Acceptance (book cover)

As Neill von Gunten and his Black companions departed an increasingly volatile Chicago rally at which Martin Luther King Jr. had taken a brick to the head, KKK members and other whites attacked their bus at a red light. Bricks flew through windows. Rioters rocked the bus.

 

‘Heeding Christ’s call to break down barriers’

The congregation of Altona Mennonite Church dedicated its new accessibility ramp during a Sunday morning worship service in June. (Photo courtesy of Loren Braul)

Ken Loewen, a metal artist and sculptor, created three images of worshippers at the cross to incorporate into the railing. (Photo courtesy of Altona Mennonite Church)

Members of Altona Mennonite Church built a ramp to make their worship space more accessible. (Photo courtesy of Robert Martens)

In June, Altona Mennonite Church completed the construction of a new ramp, to help make its worship space more accessible. But, whereas many churches might have built the ramp and just left it at that, the Altona Man., congregation held a dedication for it during a Sunday morning worship service.

‘She cared a lot about everybody’

Members of Gail Schellenberg’s family gathered at IJC’s new training centre named in her honour, for its dedication. Pictured from left to right: Bob Schellenberg, Jesse Wolfe, Selenna Wolfe, Kim Thiessen, Byron Thiessen and Brenda Schellenberg. (Photo courtesy of Initiatives for Just Communities)

A newly renovated training centre at Initiatives for Just Communities was dedicated to its former executive director and lifelong educator, Gail Schellenberg. (Photo courtesy of Initiatives for Just Communities)

Gail Schellenberg influenced the lives of thousands of people during her career as a teacher and principal in Mennonite high schools across Canada, and later as executive director of Initiatives for Just Communities (IJC). She died from cancer in 2020, but her legacy lives on in people’s memories.

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