This is the 16th consecutive year that Bay Area Mennonite
churches have sponsored The International Gift Faire, a unique
opportunity for local residents to make an impact on world poverty
while learning more about folk arts of Africa, Asia and Latin
America. It will be held Oct. 22, from 9am to 8pm and Oct. 23 from
10am to 4pm at Lincoln Glen Church Fellowship Hall, 2700 Booksin
Ave. in San Jose.
This is the 16th consecutive year that Bay Area Mennonite churches have sponsored The International Gift Faire, a unique opportunity for local residents to make an impact on world poverty while learning more about folk arts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. It will be held Oct. 22, from 9am to 8pm and Oct. 23 from 10am to 4pm at Lincoln Glen Church Fellowship Hall, 2700 Booksin Ave. in San Jose.
The International Gift Faire features hundreds of unique gifts and home decor items in bamboo, wood, natural fibers and ceramics – things like baskets, ornaments, musical instruments, toys, rugs and brassware – from developing countries like Bangladesh, El Salvador, Thailand and the Philippines.
These handicrafts are imported by Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit marketing and job-creation program of the Mennonite Central Committee. Its mission is to create economic opportunities that help people help themselves. Last year Ten Thousand Villages aided more than 60,000 crafts people in more than 30 countries, enabling them to afford improved health care, nutrition, housing and education.
All proceeds from the Gift Faire are donated to Ten Thousand Villages which allows the purchase of more crafts from an increasing number of poor people. More than 200 volunteers operate the San Jose Faire which helps to eliminate the exploitative profits of middlemen.
Last year shoppers from Hollister to Palo Alto helped earn more than $60,000 for Ten Thousand Villages. For more information, call (408) 264-1662.
The Mennonites trace their origin to Anabaptism, a Reformation movement begun in Switzerland in the 16th century.
The Anabaptists were persecuted by both Roman Catholics and other Protestants because of their distinctive beliefs: only adults could be baptized; they refused to take oaths of allegiance to governments, accepted only the Bible as authority and refused to serve in the military.
Among the religious groups today which are descended from the Anabaptists are the Huttites, Amish, and Mennonites (the largest group, named for Dutch Catholic priest Menno Simons who converted to the Anabaptist faith and helped lead it to prominence). Today there are about a half-million members of these groups in the United States, about a million worldwide.
A notable part of their faith relates to serving others.
This is especially apparent in the functioning of the Mennonite Disaster Service. Mennonites have always helped each other: the famous barn-raising scene in the Harrison Ford movie “Witness” (although featuring Amish) is a good example, symbolizing “the love of Christ and the advantages of mutual community helpfulness.”
But in the in 1950s the Mennonites began to organize further and expand this mutual aid beyond their own membership. As a people of peace opposed to military participation, the Mennonites find disaster relief another opportunity to serve the nation as a whole.
Each year more than 3,000 volunteers participate in post-disaster cleanup and repairs, at no charge to victims.
Closer to home
Another selection of unique hand-crafted gifts from third-world countries will be available for purchase at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 651 Broadway, Gilroy. The African Team Ministries Sale will be held on Oct. 31 and Nov. 7 after the 8am and 10am worship services. For more information, call (408) 842-4415.
