The MCC Communications Department released this story on March 17. --Tim

After seeing the effects of tropical storm Stan in her country, Guatemala, the hurricane damage in New Orleans did not surprise Bernardo Rojas.

What did surprise Rojas and most of the other participants in the Latin America work and learn team was that in a country with so many resources, there was still so much work to do, not only in physical buildings, but also in the lives of people.

"We are all vulnerable," Jessica Deras López of Honduras said after seeing New Orleans. "It doesn't matter what we have."

Along with three other Hondurans and five Guatemalans who work with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) partner agencies, Deras López worked for one week alongside volunteers from the United States and Canada in Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) housing projects in New Orleans.

In the second week, the group visited the devastated areas of Pass Christian, Mississippi, visited Anabaptist churches in the New Orleans area and met with MCC workers Tim Barr and Monica Barba to hear and share ideas about their work in Gulf Coast recovery.

They also met with Pam Nath, MCC listening and discernment worker in New Orleans, who shared about the efforts of local people to bring about a more full and just recovery. In addition, they visited the New Orleans Worker's Center for Racial Justice.

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Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox have endured 35 years of solitary confinement after being framed in a murder that everyone now knows they didn't commit—locked up for daring to speak out against inhumane conditions in Angola, Louisiana State Penitentiary. They now spend every day in a 6x9 foot cell on the site of a former plantation.

Call on the US Department of Justice and the Louisiana Governor to investigate the cases of the Angola 3 who are still imprisoned.

You can learn more and take action at Color of Change: Changing the Color of Democracy.

The march on Jena, LA was only a few months ago. Yesterday Senator Obama gave a significant speech on the impact of race and racism in our country. The time has come for white people in this country to acknowledge the horrors and sin of our collectively racist past. Make your voice heard, and may justice roll down like waters. --Tim

Below are excerpts from a document that Monica Barba and I submitted to the MCC Central States Board last month. Its dated but still somewhat helpful for anyone wanting to know more about our work along the Gulf Coast. --Tim

1) Meetings with Partners
Through the dedicated work of Pam Nath (above, right), two meetings with current partners receiving funds in New Orleans have happened as of the day this report is being typed (January 29, 2008). Another meeting is planned for February 13, and MCC Central States Board executive committee members have been invited to attend. These meetings started as an attempt for us to receive feedback about the grant process thus far, as well as feedback about what we should prioritize with the remaining GDR funds (approximately $400,000 remains unspent and uncommitted). However, the meetings have taken a very different turn than we expected, and our partners are encouraging us to work collectively to expand funding for work they are doing on the ground.

We have also scheduled a partner meeting to listen to groups in Mississippi and Alabama on February 12. We have fewer partners in those states, and the disaster impact (as well as recovery) is different than in New Orleans.

Although our listening to and engagement with partners has not produced the results we expected—at least not yet—it seems to us that this should be interpreted as verification of the importance of listening and developing relationships with partners before pushing ahead with program plans.

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This is the most recent Gulf Coast action alert sent out by the MCC Washington Office. Click here to be added to the distribution list. Thanks, Krista, for your partnership! --Tim

Issue:
Hundreds of thousands of New Orleans residents are still displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Many still live in neighboring states. Many want to return home.

Background:
Despite the desire of thousands of people to return home, and despite estimates of more than 12,000 homeless people in the greater New Orleans metropolitan area, the U.S. government recently started to demolish public housing apartments in New Orleans. These demolitions, in conjunction with spiraling housing costs, effectively deny thousands of residents the ability to return in the near future.

United Nations officials and U.S. human rights groups point out that the U.S. response to its displaced communities has been inconsistent with international human rights protocols, especially the U.N. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Nonetheless, Congress is dragging its feet on passing legislation that will help return families to their homes and bring U.S. policy into conformity with international standards.

Faith Reflection:
Isaiah suggests that if we choose to use our time and resources on behalf of the hungry, to satisfy the needs of the oppressed, and to repair broken walls, that our lights will shine in the darkness and our night will become like the noonday (Isaiah 58). Respond to factors causing hunger, oppression and lack of housing in the Gulf Coast by encouraging policy solutions.

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On March 6, one hundred Indian workers stood up against human trafficking and inhuman conditions at the Signal plant in Pascagula Ms. This was the latest escalation in the fight against human trafficking and slave-like conditions for immigrants lured to America with false promises of green cards and decent jobs. To read more, see the story and video footage by WKRG Channel 5 News in Mobile, AL. You can also find the story on the national website of ABC News.

Afterwards, Indian workers, Mexican workers, Brazilian workers, day laborers and supporters gathered at St. Alfonse Gym in New Orleans for a celebration of unity and the growing strength of the movement to stop human trafficking. The Mexican farm workers created a play based on the stories of the Indian workers and performed it with translations into 4 languages. The Indian workers not to be out done broke into song and got everyone up and dancing and this being New Orleans the celebration culminated with a brass band and a 2nd line. You can find photos of the event at Ted Quant's flickr account.

Thanks to Ted Quant for sending the text and links of this post.

The message below is from Leonard and Lorena Penner, long-term Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers in New Orleans. I met the Penners only a month ago, but I've quickly developed an appreciation for their sincerity and deep love for the people and city of New Orleans. I think you will find those qualities reflected in the letter below. --Tim

3/2/08

Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters,

Friday afternoon we met with Churches Supporting Churches (CSC) as we have before. We were talking about hope. The importance of giving hope for the many scattered members of these pastors who are members of CSC.

There were over 20 of us at tables in the meeting room when a woman appeared in the room. No one knew her. She asked for and was given permission to speak. She told us that she went to what used to be her church but the doors were closed so that she has not been able to find her pastor. (There are, of course, also churches without doors and churches without walls to hold any doors.) She went on to say how important it is for churches and their pastors to come back. Someone met her immediate needs and then she was gone.

Just as she had come, no one knew were she was from, she was gone. However, her message did not leave those of us in the room. And I cannot put it aside now so I need to tell you. We, you and I and many others, need to join hands to help to sustain hope for and with these pastors and their families. It is now 2 1/2 years since the storm. Let us not allow these brothers and sisters to lose hope.

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Ted Quant is the director of the Twomey Center for Peace Through Justice at Loyola University (New Orleans). Ted and the Twomey Center have a long history with "the Mennonites" in New Orleans.

March 3, 2008

Dear Friends,

On February 19, I wrote to you asking for your support for thirty Mexican “guest workers” courageously organizing against the slave-like conditions in the strawberry fields of Amite, Louisiana.

Since last I wrote to you the Department of Justice has opened investigations into labor trafficking and other violations of these workers legal and human rights. I will keep you posted on the plans and progress of this campaign and how you can continue to be supportive.

Read more! »