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Did you know:
- that 70 percent of regularly hungry people in the developing world live in rural areas?
- that many of them are small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are women?
- support for small-scale farmers can improve health, nutrition, and income, and reduce the need for food aid?
MCC is joining with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank
in a major advocacy campaign called Good Soil. This campaign calls on Canada to increase its aid to small-scale farmers. It will launch in Ottawa on March 25.
We need your help! Please join this important food security initiative by writing a letter to your MP, urging increased and sustained support for small-scale farmers.
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Neda Munenge in her cabbage field in Siamvula, Zambia. She received training in conservation agriculture through the Brethren in Christ church and MCC.
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Parliament was not in session during the second week of February, but our annual Ottawa Office student seminar definitely was!
From February 12-14, students from BC to New Brunswick descended on Ottawa to engage with the topic "Citizen. Disciple. Advocate: Christian Faith and Political Responsibility."
MPs from all three major parties, NGO representatives, and academics shared their insights on the intersection of faith, citizenship and political participation. We also braved Ottawa's icy temperatures for a scavenger hunt and outdoor "witness walk" from the Human Rights Monument to Parliament Hill.
It was a pleasure having such an engaged group of students join us in Ottawa. We're eager to see how these students bring their own understanding of advocacy back to their homes, schools, and communities.
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Earth Day takes place on April 22. Canadian Foodgrains Bank has produced an excellent resource to accompany Earth Day, featuring ideas for worship, action and advocacy. Download it here.
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Read previous editions of our newsletter here. |
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Quotation
of the month
"Relentless incrementalism consists of strings of reforms, seemingly small and discrete when made, that accumulate to become more than the sum of their parts. Relentless incrementalism is purposeful and patterned, not haphazard and unintended. The drip drip drip of individual changes over time carve substantial and planned shifts in the structure and objectives of public policy."
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Take action:
Pray for Gaza
Six months after the latest Gaza war, the situation of people living in Gaza is desperate and considered unlivable. Only a fraction of the $5.4 billion pledged to rebuild the coastal enclave has arrived. More than 100,000 Palestinians remain displaced and all 1.8 million residents of Gaza live without adequate water, power and support services. This desperate situation is compounded by the ongoing blockade on Gaza.
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Office update:
Jennifer Wiebe, Interim Director
Jenn Wiebe (together with former Ottawa Office Director, Paul Heidebrecht) recently published an article in The Ecumenist. Entitled, "Keeping the Faith? Tracing the Struggle to Amplify the Peace Witness of Canadian Churches," the article traces the efforts of Canadian churches to influence public policy for peace.
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