First Steps was very blessed in June when the Mennonite Central Committee asked how they could assist our efforts in DPRK. Realizing FS faced a soybean supply shortage at its soymilk production operations, executive director Susan Ritchie suggested MCC could help us buy raw soybeans in China for shipment to DPRK. A subsequent very generous donation from MCC has now allowed FS to purchase 200 tons of soybeans that will keep its facilities fully supplied through the winter.
Kathi Suderman, MCC’s Beijing-based northeast Asia representative, joined us on our latest visit to see first-hand where and how FS operates. Kathi, her husband Rod and their three children have lived in Beijing for nine years and were three years in Taiwan before that. Their roots are Canadian Prairies but they’ve fully adapted to life in Asia.
MCC is a North America-wide relief and development service agency that was founded in 1920. It is supported by Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches in the U.S. and Canada. MCC’s Canadian headquarters are in Winnipeg.
