Mennonite
Central
Committee

More than 100 young adults begin one-year MCC terms

Tim Shenk
August 22, 2006

A total of 103 young adults are beginning one-year assignments through MCC's Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program and its International Visitor Exchange Program (IVEP).

Through the SALT program, 51 U.S. and Canadian young adults are beginning volunteer positions with MCC partner organizations in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Through IVEP, 52 young adults from countries in these regions are beginning volunteer positions in the Canada and the United States.

Joint Orientation

For the first time in MCC history, participants in SALT and IVEP met for a joint orientation session Aug. 14-18 at MCC's offices in Akron, Pennsylvania. During the week, participants got to know each other, worshipped together and prepared to begin their assignments around the world.

IVEP Assignments

IVEP participants work in a variety of assignments — such as with computers, with children in day care centers, with residents in retirement communities, as language assistants in colleges, as teaching assistants in elementary schools, as pastoral assistants in churches and as farm workers.

SALT Assignments

SALT participants work with children in day care centers, orphanages and shelters, teach English and other subjects and serve in human rights and social service organizations.

Learning from each other

One IVEP participant, Stephannie Dinalissa Maay, 21, came from Serue, a small town in Papua, Indonesia. Maay belongs to Christian Church of Indonesia in Papua and will work at a Lutheran family service center in Philadelphia.

Maay says she has never traveled outside Indonesia before, and is looking forward to improving her English, learning about another culture and serving God through her assignment.

"I never imagined that I would come here," Maay says, who adds that her family is very happy that she has had this opportunity.

During the orientation session, Maay met Andrea Shalay, a 27-year-old student of international politics from Kaministiquia, Ontario. Shalay will begin an assignment at a women's center run by Maay's church in Papua, Indonesia, and she quizzed Maay about Papuan language and culture. "I'm very excited about all the things I will be learning" Shalay says. Shalay says she has appreciated having the weeklong orientation session in order to prepare herself mentally, emotionally and spiritually for her journey.

 

SALT Program

IVEP Program