Learning Racism at a Young Age

The name calling started when she was about three years old.

Credit: kali9/iStock

Published On: April 19, 2022 May 29, 2022

The following is an excerpt from a blog written by Adele Halliday. Your Mission & Service gifts support anti-racism programs and initiatives like the ones Halliday develops as the United Church’s Anti-Racism and Equity Lead to help all of us be in deeper, more equitable relationships with one another.

The name calling started when she was about three years old. They were racial slurs, and names, and taunts. My child, my own flesh and blood, was being ostracized for having Black skin. The people slinging the insults? Other children on the playground….

She may not have necessarily always understood the particular terms that they used, but she knew that it was related to her Blackness and her racial identity. And this deeply wounded her tender heart….

Despite all of our intentional modelling, teaching, and proactive actions, our child is still already developing internalized racism and inferior notions of herself.

The children who were taunting her were offering explicit and overt notions of racism, but they were children! They had not even started primary school! And yet, the children had already learned behaviour (at home, or elsewhere in society) that Whiteness is superior. And, they had the audacity to vocalize that to an innocent little child….

This is in part why I am so deeply committed to dismantling racism in all its forms—racism is damaging and destructive for all people in society. It reinforces negative notions for people of colour. I live it in a particular way because of my own racial identity, as a Black person who has lived with racial injustice my entire life.

The systemic nature of racism is something that cannot be ignored…. This effort to overcome racism is a continuous effort. And I am committed to this work for the long haul.

I hope that you will be too.

Nutrition Program in Somalia Helps Save Lives

Somalia is going through its worst drought in 40 years.

Suheyb and his mother Hodan receiving nutritional supplements.

Credit: Trócaire

Published On: April 19, 2022 May 22, 2022

Hodan has three children. Her husband works as a charcoal burner and is the family breadwinner. He works hard but the $3‒$5 he makes each day just isn’t enough. Eight months ago the family had a farm. But all their livestock died during a devastating drought, and they had no choice but to leave their home to try to find help.

In Somalia, one in seven children die before the age of five. Therapeutic feeding centres dot the country, but they are overwhelmed. The country is going through its worst drought in 40 years, and more than half a million farmers and herders have lost their crops and animals. Humanitarian agencies say they have less than 3 percent of the money they need to help.

That’s why for the last three years, in partnership with Development and Peace‒Caritas Canada and Canadian Foodgrains Bank, your generosity through Mission & Service has been supporting a nutrition program in the Gedo region of Somalia. There, families receive nutrition education, supplements, and treatment for malnutrition in healthcare facilities.

Hodan’s son Suheyb was badly malnourished when she brought him to the health facility for care. She had already tried everything she could on her own and he wasn’t getting better. For just over a month, Suheyb received treatment. In the end, he got better.

“I never imagined that my child would recover,” says Hodan. “I am very happy to see my child’s health improve. I will continue to give him his therapeutic food regularly.” Even though there’s enough food to feed everyone on the planet, conflict, climate change, disasters, and unjust systems that strip people of their resources mean that each of us has to be strongly committed to achieve the goal of a world without hunger. Please continue to provide immediate support and advocate for long-term solutions. Together, we can build a better world. Thank you.

Nourishing Bodies and Hearts: Ashrafi’s Story

https://youtu.be/z3NQJh0HxDs

“I feel belonging because of the garden. It has changed my life.”

Published On: December 17, 2021 May 15, 2022

One in nine people around the world are going hungry according to the United Nations. Since the pandemic struck, 40 percent more people in need of a nutritious meal have turned to the Fred Victor Centre, a Mission & Service partner, for help. That’s one of the reasons why the 240 community gardens it runs are so important.

“Every day, we’ll see 250‒300 people standing outside for food. That is all the encouragement we need to keep growing and cooking. We donate most of the fruits and vegetables to our kitchen, and our participants get fresh veggies and support from us,” says Ashrafi, Fred Victor’s garden centre coordinator.

Today, over 200 families, many living in poverty, grow their own nutritious food at Fred Victor’s gardens thanks to generous supporters like you. But there’s more to the gardens than the food.

Ashrafi says children learn where food comes from by gardening, and participants tell her they feel less stress and pain, have more energy, and meet new friends because of the gardens.

“People from different cultural backgrounds share their vegetables and herbs with each other. Through sharing, they come to appreciate each other. At the core, we are all the same,” she says.

The garden has changed Ashrafi’s life, too.

“As an immigrant, I came here feeling isolated. My family didn’t know where to start. But now I feel I’m standing on my own feet and I know the community. Every day when I walk home from work everyone says, ‘Hi Ashrafi, how are you?’ They make my day happier. I feel belonging because of the garden. It has changed my life. Thank you for your support.”

Food and Hygiene Kits for Ukraine

Supporting Ukrainian refugees through Gifts with Vision

At the refugee point in Barabás, a small Hungarian village on the border of Ukraine, ACT Alliance member Hungarian Interchurch Aid offers food, drinks, and hygiene items for people fleeing the Ukraine war.

Credit: Antii Yrjönen/FCA

Published On: April 19, 2022 May 8, 2022

The scenes are heartbreaking: Families confined to underground subway stations. Children standing alone in endless lines at borders. Mothers printing their names and contact information in permanent marker on their children’s backs lest they get separated―or worse.

By the end of March 2022, over 4 million refugees had fled Ukraine, 90 percent of them women and children.

Gifts with Vision―the United Church’s giving catalogue―has just unveiled its latest gifts to help them.

A gift of $25 will provide families fleeing from Ukraine with a hygiene package containing items like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and disinfectant. A gift of $38 will provide one food basket with staples such as cooking oil, buckwheat, canned fish, dried peas, and condensed milk; and $40 will provide one hygiene package plus a supply of incontinence products.

“What really strikes me about the food basket is the attention to detail. It has chocolate and cookies in it. That speaks volumes to me about going beyond the survival basics and trying to build morale,” says Kathie Murphy, the United Church’s Annual Giving Associate. “The hygiene basket is so thoughtful, too. It’s not just about personal hygiene―it also includes laundry and cleaning products. And remembering incontinence materials for those who need them is all about helping people maintain their dignity.”

Sarah Charters, director of the United Church’s Philanthropy Unit, is glad the new gifts have been added in time for Christian Family Sunday. “It’s a day the church sets aside to reflect on the importance of families. I hope people will be inspired this year to take action for families fleeing Ukraine,” says Charters. “We can’t end the war in Ukraine, but we can do something to help. Every little bit of good we do makes a difference.”

You can give a gift of food and hygiene through Gifts with Vision or by calling

1-844-715-7969. Thank you for your generous support.

Taken and Detained: 17-Year-Old Khalil’s Story

“I feel as if I am in a big prison.”

Khalil, shown here, was taken from his home and detained by Israeli police.

Credit: DCIP/Ahmad Alsharif

Published On: April 19, 2022 May 1, 2022

Can you imagine military breaking into your home in the middle of the night, arresting and detaining your child, and then taking them away to be interrogated? This happens nightly in Palestine.

It happened to Khalil, a teenager who lives in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Last June, Khalil was simply standing with his mother outside their home when he says he was attacked and assaulted by Israeli police passing by and then detained for two days before being released on bail and placed on house arrest. Even though house arrest has been lifted, he lives in constant fear.

“When I go to school, I’m constantly worried about my family…. When I pass through the checkpoints at the entrances to the neighbourhood, whether on my way to school or on my return, I feel as if I am in a big prison,” he says in a brave photo essay he shares about his experience.

Khalil’s essay was just released by Defence for Children International (DCIP). Your generosity through Mission & Service supports this advocacy organization in defending children’s rights by offering free legal aid, documenting violations of international law, and advocating for greater protections. Although Israel ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, DCIP says that Palestinian children like Khalil continue to be systematically denied protections. Last year, 78 children were killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.*

On May 5‒8, 2022, the United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel is hosting a conference in London, Ontario. Called Responding to a Cry for Hope, the event will be largely led by Palestinian speakers sharing their own experiences. Thursday evening will focus on the Israeli military treatment of Palestinian children. The Rev. Marianna Harris, a United Church minister, is one of the organizers of the event. “I have been involved in this work since 2002 when I heard what was going on in Palestine, and it completely shocked me. Since then, I’ve been to Palestine three times. I have friends there. What’s happening just isn’t right.”

Harris encourages Mission & Service supporters to take the next step and connect with UNJPPI. “I would encourage people to learn more about what is happening and what we are doing by visiting unjppi.org,” she says. “Join Canadians who are standing up for the rights of Palestinians. The hurting has to stop. I believe good can happen, and we are called to help make it happen. We are called.”