MCC Hosts North Korean Delegation

Abbotsford , BC – Walking through the sunlit buildings at Vander Meulen Greenhouses in Abbotsford, the five men from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), known to many North Americans as North  Korea, gestured and talked animatedly about what they were seeing. Armand Vander Meulen answered questions about plant care, green house construction, and farming practices. Vander Meulen also showed them the “seconds” that are donated to the Fraser Valley Gleaners, which the group would visit later that morning. It was an exchange between people interested in growing food for hungry people, organized by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC.)

MCC has provided the DPRK with food and supplies worth more than $13 million since 1996. According to the World Food Program, the DPRK faces chronic food shortages as large as 1 million metric tons per year.
 
The DPRK delegation is made up of high-level agriculturalists who are working to find solutions to this food crisis as well as build on its relationship with MCC. Their two-week tour of Canada will take them from BC to Manitoba and Ontario where they are looking at potato and vegetable farming practices. Here in BC, they visited both traditional and organic farms and greenhouses, spent time with scientists at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Agassiz as well as the Abbotsford Agriculture Centre of the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and the UBC farm to learn about sustainable urban farming. They also visited with two of MCC’s partners in its work in the DPRK: Fraser Valley Gleaners who provide dried soup mix, and First Steps, with whom MCC has partnered to send soybeans and provide equipment for soymilk production.

At the Fraser Valley Gleaners, the delegation was captivated by the fact that all those who were at work there that day preparing food for dehydration were volunteers. Last month, a shipment of MCC canned meat and soup mix prepared by the Gleaners arrived in the DPRK to feed 12,000 orphans there. As the men toured the facility and engaged with the volunteers, they asked them why they chose to do this without pay. One volunteer named Fred, told them that he volunteered at Gleaners for many reasons like doing something worthwhile with his time now that he is retired, and making friends with other like-minded people. But ultimately, his participation was a result of his convictions.
 
“My faith compels me to help those who need help, no matter who they are,” he told the group. “This is what God asks me to do and I’m glad to do it.”
 
As they left the Gleaners, Dr. Pak who is a program director at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the DPRK, smiled and said, “This place gives me a good feeling.”
 
Before they left BC, the delegation met with MCC  BC staff and exchanged gifts. Wayne Bremner, Executive Director for MCC  BC, presented each member with an MCC pen and pin as well as a package of smoked salmon.
 
Dr. Go, the team leader and Vice-President of the Academy of Agricultural  Sciences, and the other members of the delegation presented Bremner with a beautiful ceramic tea pot. He expressed a desire to see a good relationship with MCC continue into the future and a hope that more exchanges like this one will happen.

Photo at top of page: A delegation of agriculturalists from the DPRK visited the Fraser Valley Gleaners in September. (L-R) Mr. Jo, Carl Goosen (Fraser Valley Gleaners manager), Dr. Go, Jon  Nofziger (MCC Peace and Development Education) Angelika Dawson (MCC Communications) Dr. Pak, Mr. Li and Mr. Chae.