For The Record

Submit birth, marriage and obituary records online.

Personal Ads

Meet new friends today!

Advertising

Put your message in front of 19,000 readers.

PDF documents on this site require the free Adobe Reader:

Get Adobe Reader

2008-07-22 issue:

MCC concludes tsunami aid

by Mennonite Central Commitee

Print Article

  AKRON, Pa.—In the village of Ulee Tuy, Indonesia, 150 families who lost their homes in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami are celebrating the completion of their new houses that Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) helped build as a final project in its tsunami response. The families prepared a feast, performed dances and hosted government officials during a hand-over ceremony in Ulee Tuy on June 24.

“It was really a very special time,” said Jeff Yoder, an MCC tsunami response coordinator. “People were excited about seeing the housing.”

In early July, MCC closed its office in Indonesia’s Aceh province after providing nearly $10 million in relief and recovery assistance in Aceh following the tsunami. MCC’s tsunami response programs in India and Sri Lanka are also nearing completion. While MCC continues to work in other parts of Indonesia, Jeff Yoder and his wife Laura Yoder, who taught university social science courses, are finishing their MCC assignments in Aceh.

The tsunami left hundreds of thousands of people without homes. More than half of MCC’s funds in Aceh went to reconstruction projects, including 623 houses, 22 small bridges, one junior high school and numerous drainage canals and levees. In addition, MCC supported a wide variety of projects in relief, public health, education, job creation, trauma healing and peace-building.—MCC