October 5, 2011

GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) as the Dadaab camp manager for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed profound gratitude to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for its pledge of a hefty contribution for work in the camps.

The LWF, a member of the ACT Alliance, has announced that MCC has committed to a contribution reflecting a value of USD 369,500 including funds for non-food items that comprise 6,316 mosquito nets along with expertise for education projects.

Rev. Eberhard Hitzler, director of the LWF Department for World Service, said on 4 October, "The LWF highly appreciates the trust and the solidarity from Christians all over the world which we experienced in receiving a wide range of support. We are especially grateful about the latest development as we have received this contribution from MCC.

"This means for us much more than just financial assistance," he underlined. "It is a symbol and an expression of the beauty that grows out of reconciliation between Lutherans and Mennonites. It makes us free to serve the neighbor and contributes to a wider reconcilitation."

The population of the world's biggest refugee camp is expanding rapidly at Dadaab. Currently the camp complex deals with some 480,000 refugees fleeing war and famine in Somalia. Numbers are expected to swell to around 550,000 by early 2012.

In a telephone interview from Nairobi, Canadian Ron Ratzlaff, who represents MCC in Kenya along with his wife Martha, told LWI, "The appeal was launched in North America and has been allocated for specific projects in Dadaab."

"The LWF is doing a good job as the lead agency in Dadaab," he added.

At its Eleventh Assembly in July 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany, the LWF took the historic step of asking the Mennonites for forgiveness for past persecutions. Delegates unanimously approved a statement calling Lutherans to express their regret and sorrow for past wrongdoings towards Anabaptists, the forebears of Mennonites.

Then LWF President Bishop Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, described the act of repentance and reconciliation as "communion building and communion defining." He underlined, "We will not just look back; we will also look towards together to God's promised future."

"This sort of enhanced collaboration is exactly what we hoped for," said Dr Kathryn Johnson, LWF assistant general secretary for Ecumenical Affairs. "The Stuttgart action could build on longstanding commitments to the care of refugees already shared by Mennonites and Lutherans.

"Now as we join together in projects like Dadaab our cooperation is enriched by the new appreciation which our church families have for one another. There is a special joy in working together with those with whom we are celebrating reconciliation."

Support the LWF response: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=515&L=86&F=T.

Read more: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=515&L=88&F=T.

Further updates available at: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=515&L=89&F=T.

Lutheran World Information