Editorial

There was excitement for Mennonite refugees living in Kapfenburg, Austria, in spring 1948, when a truck with the MCC logo arrived filled with comforters from North America.Soon after, the distribution began.My parents, Henry and Irene Bergen, each received a quilt, plus a baby comforter for me.

One of these comforters, a heavy quilt with thick batting,was made from 4 colourful flour sacks stitched together.The baby comforter was a knotted quilt.The third was the quilt pictured on the right. Late that summer, our family boarded the SS Samaria for the trip across the Atlantic to Canada. The baby blanket served all five of us children.Finally, in rags, it was discarded when grandchildren came on the scene.

I don't remember the flour sack quilt, but the strawberry quilt was always a favourite of mine, so Mom passed it on to me.With age,the material became fragile, and after being used for picnics and play by our children, it became frayed and torn.

It was only after it was torn that I realized the value of this blanket for me--one of the very few things we brought to Canada from Europe, and a symbol of what MCC has done for us.Now, I take the blanket with me when I talk to children in school or church about refugees.

One Sunday morning, a few years ago, I brought the blanket to church with me for children's storytime.We talked about refugees, giving, and MCC, and the story of my blanket.Then I spread out a new quilt, ready to be knotted and sent overseas. Several of us helped guide little fingers to tie the knots.One of the children was Merry, who'd recently come to Canada from Africa with her mother and brother.

After the service, Merry's mother came to see me withtears in her eyes.Not too long ago, they'd been refugees and a blanket from MCC had given them comfort.Now Merry had tied a knot in a comforter that would go to another family in need.A circle had been completed.

Over the last 10 months MCC, overall from US and Canadian donors, has shipped 24,988 quilts from donors in the US and Canada to the following countries: Serbia, Tanzania, Ukraine, Zambia, Laos, and Lebanon.About 14,000 of these were sent to MCC partners in Lebanon, after the war there this summer, for displaced persons.

Many of us would not be in Canada if it weren't for MCC. It is important for us not to forget this story.LBP