Health and community development

January 13, 2017

Healing hands in South Asia

South Asia workers bandage an injured woman, develop a friendship, and learn more about their calling in a broken world.

Focus is a weekly 3 minute radio program which airs on WDAC (94.5 fm) on Saturdays at 8:55 p.m. This program aired on Saturday, January 14, 2017.

Published in Focus podcasts

September 1, 2016

In January, Twila Fisher became The Hill School’s first manager of community and economic development. The Pottstown, Pa., prep school sought to strengthen the surrounding neighborhood of Hobart’s Run. With passion and dedication, Twila has been working hard to revitalize the community. Here, Twila reflects on the challenges and Christian foundations of community development.

“I don’t know a lot of things, but I do know what community looks like,” I said emphatically while combing over the faces of local leaders in the room. They nodded softly with understanding smiles.

Published in Alumni stories

March 24, 2016

As K’ekchi’ farmers struggle with coffee fungus in Guatemala, EMM worker makes partnerships for solutions

A mountain trail leading to the K’ekchi’ Mennonite Church in Rosario, Guatemala. EMM worker Ted Smoker is working to link K’ekchi’ coffee farmers with coffee farming education, which can help farmers defeat the roya coffee fungus. Ten K’ekchi’ coffee farming families attend the church, between them producing a total of about 20,000 pounds of coffee per year.

SAN PEDRO CARCHÁ, Guatemala – Like many small-scale Guatemalan coffee farmers, K’ekchi’ coffee growers have been plagued in recent years by a destructive Central American coffee fungus known as “la roya.” Hoping to promote solutions, Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) worker Ted Smoker has been helping to link K’ekchi’ farmers with education opportunities through Anacafé, a nonprofit organization that represents thousands of coffee farmers throughout Guatemala.

Published in Worker stories

March 3, 2016

Eastern Mennonite Missions workers help build new clinic in Guinea-Bissau

Nurses Madeleine Ndiaye (left) and Tening Mané (right) stand in the consulting room, prepared for their first day in the new clinic. In 2014, Mané completed a two-year nurses’ training course, paid for in part by EMM fundraising, that allowed him to return to Catel as director of the clinic.

CATEL, Guinea-Bissau – After two and a half years of construction, a Catel clinic began operating out of its new building on February 29, 2016.

Published in Worker stories

May 29, 2015

EMM worker impacted by relationship with refugee community

Sean FitzGerald met Naw Hser Hser, a human rights advocate who works for the Karen Women’s Organization, when he traveled to Burma and Thailand.

LANCASTER, Pa. — Eastern Mennonite Missions worker Sean FitzGerald finds himself deeply and positively impacted by his recent service among and his ongoing relationships with Karen refugees from Burma living in Lancaster, Pa.

Published in Articles

March 6, 2015

New York Garifuna Mennonites organize assistance for new immigrants

NEW YORK CITY, New York – The Mennonite Garifuna churches of New York City have been working to assist numerous Garifuna immigrants who have arrived in New York since June 2014. To date they have assisted approximately 140 families, helping them with food, clothing, legal assistance, and travel fare to legal and medical appointments.

Published in Articles

March 2, 2015

A sweet influence

EMM worker Debbie Coats examines a patient in Cambodia.

An after-school program for seven- to fourteen-year-old children in very rural Cambodia expanded into two new villages in 2014. Parents signed up 120 children, more than EMM workers John and Debbie Coats expected.

Published in Articles

March 2, 2015

2014 annual report

In this issue:

PULSE
From the president's heart

PORTFOLIO
"His purpose was for the nations to seek after God ..." -- Acts 17:27 (NLT) (Click to view photos)

No longer trusting in magic (click here to read)
EMM workers Jack and Julia* experience God moving in Asia.

Vision within reach (click here to read)
An update on the water filter business in Asia.

Fighting the ugly secret (click here to read)
Chilean couple, Ricardo Ibaceta and Eliana Medina, continue their puppet ministry to prevent sexual abuse.

On our radar (click here to read)
EMM sent its first U.S.-based YES team in 10 years in 2014.

Striding forward (click here to read)
PROMESA, a bilingual Christian school in Cusco, Peru, paid off the purchase of land for expansion of the school!

Learning English, experiencing love
Summer English camp hosted by Gehman Mennonite Church.

A sweet influence (click here to read)
An after-school program in rural Cambodia expanded into two new villages in 2014.

A Luke 14 birthday party
A birthday party morphs into a Luke 14 banquet.

Endless possibilities
EMM workers share about their privilege of working with several of EMM's international mission partners.

A phenomenal job (click here to read)
Mennonite pastor and church planter George Nyaundi has worked for peace in Sotik, Kenya since December 2007.

Graduates! (click here to read)
The first graduates of the Vietnam Mennonite Church's four-year Bachelor of Theology class walked in November 2014!

Encouraging results
EMM workers Joe and Gloria Bontrager reflect on their first two years serving in Tanzania.

Cornelius experiences (click here to read)
Over seven years of prayer, language study, developing deep relationships, and fully investing in work and life in a local community, God is transforming lives.