Education for transformation

"People can educate themselves about I the world through textbooks and lectures from highly educated professors," says Pader Lee, reflecting on her experiences as a participant with the Yella program, "but the old clich�, 'You don't know what it's like for me until you've walked in my shoes,' is true."

Yella, a learning tour to Israel/ Palestine organized by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Ontario and Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, offers young adults the opportunity to do just that. Yella is about exploring questions of Christian faith and life by interacting with Christians, Jews and Muslims; encountering complex peace and conflict issues; and considering the context for Jesus' life and ministry. It is experiential education.

Education is not inherently good. The following note, originally placed on a teacher's bulletin board, and now included in MCC's Connecting People's manual, is a helpful reminder ofthat fact: "Dear Teacher: I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness: Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and killed by high school and college graduates. So I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. . . . Reading, writing and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human."

Education should be about more than gaining knowledge. It should be about transformation.

"Before we travelled to Israel/Palestine, it was easy to 'hate' one side or the other," says Lee. "But when we got to know people behind the stories, it was hard not to empathize with both sides."

Learning - the kind that changes the way people understand Jesus, the world, the kingdom, the good news and themselves - must be grounded in real life, everyday human stories and relationships. Yella participants hike the 65-kilometre Jesus Trail from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee.

"People travel to Israel and experience it from the comfort of their tour buses, but they do not fully experience the hardships of travelling on foot in these regions," says David Landis, co-founder of the Jesus Trail. He says the purpose is to "engage travellers with their surroundings and the communities around them. We want people to see what Jesus saw, to hear what he heard and feel what he felt."

Transformation can happen when we get out of the classroom and off the airconditioned bus, when we move beyond our comfort zone and interact with people who see the world differently than us.

[Sidebar]

NkaujKabSab Cha, left, Pader Lee and Linford Stutzman take a hike from Jerusalem to Jericho as part of Yella 201 0.

[Sidebar]

Yella is about exploring questions of Christian faith and life by interacting with Christiansjews and Muslims; encountering complex peace and conflict issues; and considering the context for Jesus' life and ministry. It is experiential education.

[Author Affiliation]

BY ALLAN REESOR-MCDOWELL

Special to Canadian Mennonite

[Author Affiliation]

Pader Lee, a Yella 2010 alumnus, attends First Hmong Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont Allan Reesor-McDowell, a Yella 2012 leader, works for MCC Ontario and attends Community Mennonite Church, Stouffville, Ont For information on Yella 2012, visit ontario.mcc.org/yella.