The Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) program is a joint program between Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Central Committee. It places emphasis on expanding the fellowship between churches in the Anabaptist tradition and developing young leaders around the globe. Participants spend one year in a cross-cultural assignment starting in August and ending the following July.
Stories about YAMEN participants
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“Every second, God is here, helping me”
“A chapter of my story was written while with YAMEN,” says Diana Martínez. The young church leader from Colombia served as an educational assistant at Casa Hogar Belén, a children’s home in Managua, Nicaragua, 2017–2018 through YAMEN. YAMEN (Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network) is a joint program of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite World…
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A recipe to cure homesickness
Laos and Indonesia are both in South East Asia, so some kinds of food are similar. But sometimes, as Laotian teaching English on YAMEN in Indonesia, I miss Lao food. When I make food from home, it helps me to not feel as homesick. Cooking Lao food to share with others helps me to share…
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YAMEN ambassador of peace amid violence
Damaris Guaza Sandoval says her year of service in La Ceiba, Honduras, was about equipping young people to be God’s ambassadors of peace where violence is common. The 26-year-old from Cali, Colombia, worked as a social worker with Proyecto Paz y Justicia (PPyJ; Peace and Justice Project), a ministry of MWC member church Iglesia Evangélica…
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How it works: Emergency food distribution
In many parts of the area near Kibwezi, Kenya, I see corn that has dried up. Driving around, it’s hard to find any corn that people will be able to harvest this season. In February 2018, MCC’s partner Utooni Development Organization (UDO), which I volunteer with, started a food relief project in one of the…
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A transformative year: YAMEN participants meet God and people
Bogotá, Colombia – “The gospel connects us all no matter where we are,” says Laurey Segura. She lived out this realization as a teacher and youth worker with the help of Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN), a joint Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite World Conference (MWC) program which allowed the Costa Rican Mennonite…
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Spanish speaking YAMENers face unique challenges in Latin American placements
Serving in an area of the world relatively close to your home country where the dominant language is the same as your own might seem relatively easy. But Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) participants who hail from Latin American countries and are serving in other countries in the same region are seeing differences first-hand.…
