2016 HNGR Symposium
40th Anniversary of Human Needs and Global Resources
A Well-Watered Garden: Cultivating Hope and Transformation
This year’s 2016 Human Needs and Global Resources Symposium was entitled: “A Well-Watered Garden: Cultivating Hope and Transformation.” The Symposium celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the Human Needs and Global Resources program by examining the social, economic and environmental impacts of Human Needs and Global Resources partner organizations working in diverse contexts across Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. The 2016 Symposium built on the program’s long-standing commitment to listen to and learn from leaders from the Majority World. To this end the Symposium was kicked off with a chapel address on Wednesday, February 24, which was delivered by Dr. Melba Padilla Maggay.
Dr. Maggay’s timely teaching, entitled “Unequal Worlds at Our Doorstep,” drew on Luke 16 to invite the Wheaton community to respond obediently to God’s invitation to care for the orphan, the widow, the sojourner and the poor “at our doorstep.” On Thursday, February 25, the Symposium continued with a keynote lecture, entitled “A New Heaven and a New Earth: An Eschatological Vision for Transformation,” delivered by Dr. Melba Maggay to an audience of over 200 Wheaton students, alum, faculty and visitors from the wider community.
The Symposium continued on Friday, February 26, and included presentations and roundtable discussions with representatives from organizations that have partnered with Human Needs and Global Resources in hosting student interns during the past decade. Dr. Laura Montgomery, Dean of the Global and Experiential Learning, opened Friday’s activities with an address in which she recounted the founding of the Human Needs and Global Resources program and reflected on her own experience as a member of the first cohort of Human Needs and Global Resources interns in 1977. Following Dr. Montgomery’s presentation, participants enjoyed presentations by representatives from four different Human Needs and Global Resources partner organizations. These presentations were followed by “breakout” roundtable discussions that were led by our international guests and included the participation of Wheaton College faculty, current students and alum. Symposium guests were invited to attend one of four roundtable presentations, which included: “Working towards Healing, Health and Wholeness” (Dr. Savita Duomai), “Art as Creative Eyesight from the Margins” (Mr. John Hayes), “Healthy Spaces for New Rural Generations in South America (Dr. Apolos Landa) and “Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda” (Mr. Christophe Mbonyingabo). Each session was well-attended (approximately 40 guests per panel) and offered participants to learn more about the work of transformation that is being carried by organizations in Peru, Rwanda, India and elsewhere.
A highlight of Symposium events held on Friday was the “Human Needs and Global Resources Community and Arts Celebration” celebration. Approximately 60 guests, including Human Needs and Global Resources alum, students and their parents, gathered to enjoy and participate in spoken word and musical performance that was facilitated by Celmali Jaime Okonji (the first John Stott International Visiting Scholar in Human Needs and Global Resources) and Leah Samuelson (Art Faculty, Wheaton College). The Symposium concluded on Saturday morning with a brunch and presentations by three Human Needs and Global Resources alum. The brunch was attended by some 125 guests, which included Human Needs and Global Resources alum and current Wheaton College students and their families, faculty and staff.
Plenary Session
A New Heaven and a New Earth: An Eschatological Vision for Transformation,” Symposium Plenary Address by Dr. Melba Maggay, President, Micah Global
Chapel Message
Friday Chapel Message
Dr. Laura Montgomery
Speaker Biographies
Dr. Melba Maggay
A writer and a social anthropologist, Melba Padilla Maggay is a sought-after international speaker and consultant on culture and social development issues, particularly the interface of religion, culture and development.
Dr. Maggay was research fellow at the University of Cambridge under the auspices of Tyndale House, and also served as Northrup Visiting Professor at Hope College, Michigan and Visiting Lecturer at All Nations Christian College in England. She has initiated and supervised various research projects and grassroots work as president of the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, a research and training organization engaged in development, missiology and cross-cultural studies aimed at social transformation.
She serves as lead consultant of the Institute in coaching and servicing the research and training needs of development and mission organizations, both local and international, like the World Bank. She is a three-time top-prize winner in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, the most prestigious literary prize in the Philippines. Besides academic books, she writes fiction and wrote a zarzuela, “Bayan, Isang Paa Na Lamang,” a prize winner in the National Centennial Literary Competition held in 1998 to commemorate 100 years of Philippine independence.
As a social activist, she had been cited for her outstanding leadership in organizing the religious movements, particularly the evangelical Protestant presence, at the EDSA barricades during the Philippine ‘People Power’ uprising in February 1986. Dr. Maggay has sat in the governing boards of both local and international organizations. She sat in the International Advisory Council of the Knowledge Centre for Religion and Development in the Netherlands ( 2007-2010 ), a tripartite partnership among ICCO, CORDAID and the Institute for Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague.
Likewise, she was founding board member of the International Life and Peace Institute, a peace research organization based in Uppsala, Sweden (1985–1990). She is currently president of the Micah Global, an alliance of more than 700 faith-based development organizations worldwide.
Dr. Savita Duomai
Savita Duomai is currently serving as Project Director of Shalom Delhi ( A Unit of Emmanuel Hospital Association ), which is a Center that cares for People living with HIV in New Delhi, India. Having sensed God's calling to serve people living with HIV when she was 16 years old, Savita joined Shalom soon after completing her medical training in 2007. She is part of a dedicated team at Shalom that provides holistic care to some of the most marginalized persons in society. Savita is married to Jeremiah, who is a research scholar, and they have a 5 year old son Daniel and a 3 year old daughter Sophia.
John Hays
Together with his wife Deanna, and daughters, Savannah and Alexandra, John lives in Shadwell in the heart of London’s East End. At the outset of the Industrial Revolution, London’s East End became known as the world’s first notorious “inner city,” and Shadwell continues to be one of the poorest communities in the UK with child poverty measuring at over 60%.
John and Deanna serve as General Directors of InnerCHANGE, a Christian mission order working for Kingdom transformation in places of great poverty. Members of InnerCHANGE live incarnationally in slums, barrios, and inner cities on five continents around the world. John and his family are members of St. Paul’s Shadwell. John founded InnerCHANGE in April 1985 when he moved to Minnie Street, the poorest, most overcrowded street in Orange County, California at the time.
He was determined to launch a holistic ministry that worked relationally to bring good news and renewal from inside-out. John has been a businessman on Wall Street and in Tokyo, and has worked on and off as an artist. He graduated from Princeton University and received his Masters in International Relations from Yale. John is the author of Sub-Merge; Living Deep in a Shallow World as well as a contributor to Living Mission. He is also the artist who produced “Safe Mission,” a large pencil drawing that has been used as a banner for the Urbana Missions Conference.
Dr. Apolos Landa
Dr. Apolos Landa was one one of two Luke Society’s regional coordinators when the positions were first created in 1996. His responsibility initially was to oversee all of Latin America.
However, that changed when the Luke Society split Latin American into separate regions for Central America and South America in 2006. Today, Landa oversees six ministries in South America. Landa is blessed with gifts of wisdom, understanding and leadership. His superb relational skills have led him to many connections in the ministry field that have benefited the Luke Society. Landa continues to live in Moyobamba with his wife, Pilar. They have two children and three grandchildren.
Christophe Mbonyingabo
Christophe Mbonyingabo is the founder and executive Director of CARSA (Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance). Christophe has lead his team to develop and implement an intervention named “Cows for Peace” (CFP) that seeks to foster reconciled relationships between genocide survivors and their direct perpetrators through its three programmatic arms: Workshops, Cell-Groups, and Cooperative Cow-raising. Even though he has been involved in academic research Christophe considers himself to be a practitioner who is interested in justice, peace and reconciliation. He has been involved in different Peace-building initiatives in the great lakes region and he enjoys sharing stories of hope. Christophe lives in Kigali, Rwanda with his wife Diane Kantarama and four children.
Symposium Schedule
Wednesday, February 24
Chapel
Dr. Melba Maggay
10:35-11:15 am, Edman Memorial Chapel
Thursday, February 25
Mennonite Dinner with Symposium guests
5:30-6:30 pm, Ewert/Coolidge home, 401 N. Scott St.
Symposium Plenary Address
Dr. Melba Maggay
7:00-8:30 pm, Coray Gym - Beamer Center
HNGR Intern poster reception
8:45-10:30 pm, Coray Gym - Beamer Center
Friday, February 26
HNGR Chapel
10:35-11:15 am, Edman Memorial Chapel
A HNGR Journey
1:00-1:20 pm, Coray Gym- Beamer Center
Dr. Laura Montgomery, Dean of Global and Experiential Learning, Wheaton College
Profiles in Transformation
1:20-2:40 pm, Coray Gym - Beamer Center
- Dr. Savita Duomai, Director of Shalom Clinic of Emmanuel Hospital Association, India
- Mr. John B. Hayes, General Director InnerCHANGE, England
- Dr. Apolos Landa, South American Regional Coordinator for the Luke Society, Peru
- Mr. Christophe Mbonyingabo, Director of Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance, Rwanda
People and Places of Flourishing
3:00-4:15 pm, Beamer Center
- "Working towards Healing, Health and Wholeness", Dr. Savita Duomai(Phelps Room)
- "Art in the Margins: Transforming Futility into Fertility", Mr. John B. Hayes (Parmalee Room)
- "Healthy Spaces for New Rural Generations in South America", Dr. Apolos Landa(Fireside Room)
- "Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda", Mr. Christophe Mbonyingabo(Coray Alumni Gym)
Community & Arts Celebration
4:30-6:00 pm, Phelps Room and Fireside Room in the Beamer Center
- Celmali Jaime Okonji, John Stott Visiting Artist
Saturday, February 27
Celebrating 40 years of HNGR
10:30 am-12:30 pm, South Party Room - Beamer Center
Brunch for HNGR alumni, current interns, and families (RSVP required)