January 6, 2012
Patricia Kisare provides analysis on the November elections in Congo.
W don’t really know who won the presidency, because there are many indications that the electoral process was flawed. Local and international election observers found the elections to be fraught with widespread irregularities. The Carter Center reported that “the quality and integrity of the vote tabulation process has varied across the country, ranging from the proper application of procedures to serious irregularities, including the loss of nearly 2,000 polling station results in Kinshasa.”
Read the article here.
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Africa, Articles, Issues | Tagged: DR Congo, elections, Third Way Cafe | 
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Posted by jesseeppfransen
January 3, 2012
Jesse Epp-Fransen reflects on the need for hope in a world full of turmoil, both in the biblical era, and today.
We… live in a turbulent world, desperately in need of good news. In America 15 percent of the population experienced poverty in 2011. More than 2 million people are in federal or state prisons, or in jails awaiting trial. One in nine African-American males ages 25-29 was in prison or jail in 2009, according to The Sentencing Project(1). The Mayor of New Orleans recently noted in a statement that “from September of last year to February of this year, a student attending John McDonough [High School] was more likely to be killed than a soldier in Afghanistan”(2).
Read the full article here.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Crime and Justice, Issues, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
December 23, 2011
Theo Sitther writes for Third Way Cafe of the revolutions around the world and the connections to the Christmas story.
In this season of Advent, the words of Mary bring hope. Christ enters our broken world, uplifts the lowly, and feeds the hungry. Christ’s birth brings hope of newness and renewal. Was this a year of revolutions? In many ways, yes. How will we in our comfort respond to the injustice in our own communities and our world?
Read the article here and let us know what you think in the comment section.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Global Economic Justice, Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged: Advent, Christmas, egypt, Mary, revolution, tunisia | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
December 23, 2011
Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach writes about the end of the Iraq war and rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the latest Third Way Cafe.
One would think that policymakers would have no interest in getting into another conflict in the region. But since early November, U.S.-Iran relations, which have long been frosty, have gotten even more tense.
Read the full article here.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Issues, Middle East, Uncategorized | Tagged: Iran, Iraq, militarism, Third Way Cafe | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen
October 24, 2011
Emily Wilson-Hauger reflects on the importance of advocating for environmental justice in the Third Way Cafe.
I recently helped draft a petition letter to President Obama and Congress urging them to support the integrity of the Clean Water Act and halt any efforts to undermine this important environmental law. As I sat at my desk on Capitol Hill and reflected, I wondered if this letter really could effect change.
Photo by Tammy Alexander
The following weekend, I traveled to West Virginia to enjoy autumn in one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the country. Sunday afternoon our group set out on a hike along a small river. As we hiked down into the streambed, the postcard-worthy downstream view immediately distorted. The bedrock was an uncharacteristically coppery color; the strange milky color of the water had piles of strange floating foam; and the awful sewage smell made us want to retreat back up the trail. On the drive out, we then observed houses with foundations visibly crumbling and families living in severe poverty.
After some research on the North Fork Watershed of the Blackwater River, I found that…
Read more here.
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Posted by emilywh
October 10, 2011
Tammy Alexander reflects on the stories we tell about immigration ten years after September 11th in Third Way Cafe.
Photo by flicker/pixor.
The Bible is full of stories of migration, of people moving back and forth for food or safety, for opportunity and family connections. Ruth didn’t have to go through a border patrol checkpoint and show her papers to enter Judah.
In fact, in Moab Ruth and Naomi benefited from an Israelite law, spelled out in chapter 24 of Deuteronomy, which instructed farmers to leave part of their harvest in the field for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.
Today, especially during a time of recession, there is a feeling that there isn’t enough to go around – not enough money, jobs, food. But such an attitude of scarcity and fear makes us blind to the abundant gifts immigrants bring. Study after study shows that immigrants have a net positive economic benefit to the U.S., that they bring more in economic gain than they consume in services.
Read more here.
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Posted by jesseeppfransen
September 23, 2011
Theo Sitther reflects on his trip to Colombia for Third Way Cafe:
U.S. aid has worsened the crisis for communities in Colombia. Over the last decade the United States has
Pastor Willman pictured here with Bonnie Klassen (MCC Colombia Rep.). On the grounds of the Las Palmas high school. Photo by Theo Sitther.
provided more than six billion dollars, mostly for Colombia’s military and police to defeat illegal armed groups and eliminate drug trafficking. While communities like Las Palmas struggle to gain access to basic services, more than five million other Colombians have been displaced from their lands due to ongoing violence. Economic support for holistic development programs has been sorely lacking.
Read more here.
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Posted by Patricia Kisare
