Link to VICE article on Mennonites in Bolivia

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August 19, 2013 update: Please read this interview with journalist Jean Friedman-Rudovsky in connection with the article below. It’s a good and frank look at how Jean worked at the story; it also offers some suggestions and signs of hope.

The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia | VICE United States www.vice.com For a while, the residents of Manitoba Colony thought demons were raping the town’s women. There was no other explanation. No way of explaining how a woman could wake up with blood and semen stains sm… Continue reading →

What I’ve Learned Picking Saskatoons

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I’ve learned a few things while picking saskatoons, the sweet purple/red fruit of the saskatoon bush currently in season in Manitoba. These lessons may or may not be transferable to other endeavors.IMG_4027

1.Picking in a patch someone has discovered before you is slow hard picking. It’s akin to poor biblical Ruth gathering leftover grain behind the field harvesters. (My middle name is Ruth.) Nevertheless, dessert for supper can also be secured, if slowly, from one-here-one-there berries missed by the people who came before. Continue reading →

Second, better thoughts on “Honour the Apology”

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When the invitation came via Facebook to attend “Honour the Apology,” a national day of prayer in response to news of nutritional experiments on aboriginal children through the Canadian residential school system — I responded with “Maybe.” I had time to go, but I’d “heard about” more than taken the time to “know about” this news. I have to admit I’m the type of person who likes to know what she’s getting into before she participates in causes! I remember feeling a similar large ignorance and uncertainty when I got involved in an evening of prayer and lament for sexually abused women in the Mennonite colonies of Bolivia several years ago. Continue reading →