Building a culture of peace takes many forms. In Burundi, a school helps ethnic groups work at mutual respect. Individual trees in a Somali reforestation project honor people who have died in regional fighting. A mother's experience of personal loss becomes a compelling argument for building peace. All are part of the peacemaking that lies at the heart of Mennonite Central Committee's identity and ministry.

Why I'm a pacifist
Seven years ago my eight-year-old son Timothy died of cancer. My own loss has helped me to understand in a small way the pain and the grief of a mother whose child is blown to bits by a missile, killed by a sniper, permanently disabled by a landmine, or raped by someone with a uniform and a gun.

School builds peace among Burundi's ethnic groups
Ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis have long dominated news from Rwanda and Burundi, tiny countries in the heart of Africa. Less widely known is the discrimination suffered in both countries by the Batwa people.

Somalia -- planting trees for life
More than a decade of clan-based civil war in Somalia has devastated the landscape as well as human lives. An MCC project links trees-planting with peace.

Lebanon -- Encouraging peacemakers
To encourage their efforts, MCC Lebanon and the MCC Middle East Department annually send five to eight people from the region to Eastern Mennonite University's Summer Peacebuilding Institute.

Uganda -- Talking for peace
For nearly 50 years, tensions had run high in northern Uganda between the Iteso people and their Karimajong neighbors. MCC helped arrange a meeting between the two groups.

Video game military tactics desensitize children
Esther Epp-Tiessen says 40 volunteers, including children, parents, grandparents, and university students, visited stores throughout Winnipeg and rated each store as either commendable, acceptable, needing improvement, or unacceptable. She says the ratings were used to reflect the nature of the games stores were selling combined with promotional marketing techniques.