Update—March 20, 2020: Given the travel restrictions and measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Jireh Mukawa’s summer archival internship has been postponed to a later date.
The Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission has awarded Jireh Mukawa of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, with the 2020 summer archival internship.
The selection committee was impressed with Mukawa’s application and the prospects of his contribution to the archival enterprise of documenting and preserving the story of the Mennonite churches in DR Congo at the newly established Mazala Centre in Kinshasa.
As summer intern, Mukawa will spend four weeks visiting Mennonite Brethren archival centers in North America (Hillsboro, Kansas; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Fresno, California) during the months of May and June 2020. In addition to discovering the unique character of each of these Mennonite archives, he will explore the stories and images housed in them. His focus interests are the history of the Mennonite Brethren mission work in DR Congo, the development of the Mennonite Brethren churches in DR Congo and the practice of archival document preservation.
Mukawa is a masters student in the Community, Leadership and Transformation program at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California. The Batela church, a Mennonite Brethren church in Kinshasa, DR Congo, is his home congregation. The internship comes with a stipend of $1,000. See https://mbhistory.org/news/ for news releases of past recipients.
The Historical Commission is pleased to announce this award as it demonstrates the commission’s commitment to document and communicate the Mennonite Brethren story of God’s work in the world. The summer internship is made possible with support from US and Canadian Mennonite Brethren Churches.
There is still time to apply for a research or project grant. Application deadline is May 1, 2020. See https://mbhistory.org/opp/ for details.
The Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission is responsible for fostering historical understanding and appreciation within the Mennonite Brethren Church in Canada and the United States. It fulfills this goal by: coordinating the collection, preservation and cataloging of Mennonite Brethren conference archival records and publishing books and audio-visual material relating to the history of the Mennonite Brethren Church.
