April and May Menno Bote

The May issue of the MCC Bolivia publication Menno Bote is going to press today. This month features some of the hundreds of photos taken by Willmar and Kennert Giesbrecht, editor of the Canada-based Mennonitische Post. Over the course of five days last week they visited some 15 Mennonite colonies, held three "Post-Treffens" (including one here at Centro Menno), and drank who knows how many gallons of tereré.  This issue also has an article originally run by Mennonite Weekly Review, written by Robert Yutzy, called "The high cost of being right." Translated into German, it seems to apply directly to colony/church life here (and everywhere else, of course).

Other items in the May issue include a chapter from the "Steps to a change in thinking" resource book for those struggling with depression; a chapter from the book Amish Grace; an article based on the Dinah character of Genesis, encouraging young people to speak up if they've been sexually abused; an article describing how to improve legume pastures for livestock; children's puzzles; a short history of where the term "Old Colony" comes from; an article on the 1952 Bolivian nationalist revolution; an MCC news release on women living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria who have begun sewing businesses; classified ads (mainly selling tractors); and national and international news briefs.

Here also is the cover from the April issue, which featured an article by Mennonite History professor Royden Loewen, who was recently in Bolivia to work on his forthcoming book on "Horse and Buggy Mennonites."

Also in that issue we ran a few infographics to visually portray who subscribes to the Menno Bote. The three word clouds on the bottom show what the most common first and last names are; the bigger the name, the more common it is. The circle of circles shows which colonies have the most subscribers; the bigger the circle, the more subscribers. And the line graph at the very top shows to which countries we send the Menno Bote. (You can click on the image below to enlarge it).