MCC's Southern Africa Coordinating Group

Two weeks ago the MCC leadership team from southern Africa met to consider the strategic implications of our work in the region. This involved the MCC Reps from Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland along with the Regional Peace Coordinator and a number of visitors from North American MCC offices. We hosted the event at retreat centre south of Johannesburg called The Field.

It was a time to re-energize and to renew ourselves physically and spiritually and to explore how we might look at things from new perspectives. During the course of our days together we utilized the action learning cycle to reflect upon, learn from and document our developmental experiences over the past year. Within the broader organziation MCC is engaging in a new strategic planning cycle and so we spent a good bit of time exploring the realities of working with HIV/AIDS, Education, Food Security and Water, Peace-building, and the church related partnerships we have committed to.

It was a good time together, being attentive to the movement of the Spirit, uniting us in our tasks and finding focus in our work. One of the outcomes was creating a base for a regional strategic planning framework that will guide MCC work in the region for the next few years.

One bitter sweet moment was saying farewell to Carl & Carolyn Stauffer who have completed 16 years of ministry with MCC in southern Africa - building and giving signficant leadership to MCC's peace-building work since 1994.