Anicka Fast and John Clarke worked for Mennonite Central Committee in Burkina Faso from 2020 to 2023.

A morning staff meeting and devotional time, 2022

John and Anicka were fired without warning or cause on August 25, 2023, following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, shortly after escalating their concerns about workplace abuse to Executive Directors and Board chair.

(Read their email to the MCC Canada Board chair on August 22, and his response on August 24.)

On Nov. 3, 2023, they submitted a detailed grievance to MCC US and MCC Canada Boards. In this “report of illegal, unethical, or other inappropriate activity to MCC US and MCC Canada boards, naming Executive Directors,” they claim:

MCC leaders have engaged in unethical and illegal actions:
They have abused their power by mishandling a confidential HR process.
They (including Executive Directors) have refused to hear our concerns about this abuse or to answer questions that would allow us to file a grievance without fear of retaliation.
They have failed to show appropriate trauma-informed concern for our family’s needs during a health crisis and in the midst of a situation of extreme political insecurity.
They terminated our employment without warning and without cause and offered us a bribe to keep quiet about their actions and to waive all grievances and complaints against them.
They did not allow us to end our working relationship with MCC Burkina Faso staff and partners in an honorable and culturally appropriate way.
They failed to provide promptly for our urgent financial needs while we were in a crisis.
In short, MCC leaders have abused their power and failed in their fundamental responsibility to keep people safe.

Read the full investigative article by Will Braun in the Canadian Mennonite.

“This can’t be happening.” Fast recalled thinking. “We’ll find another person who will understand. We’ll wake up from this.”
…
A psychologist said Fast appeared to have PTSD, which was formally diagnosed thereafter. “I had trouble accepting that,” Fast said…
“At that point, I still believed that MCC would be there for us.”
…
In the midst of a debilitating mental health crisis—Clarke was subsequently diagnosed with PTSD as well—with no home and two children dealing with their own stresses, Fast and Clarke were without a job and feeling a profound sense of “institutional betrayal,” as Clarke put it.
…
The agreement stated that if Fast and Clarke did not sign it, they would receive approximately $118,000 less.
The couple said this felt like MCC was trying to pay them to be quiet instead of seeking to understand and work through the couple’s serious concerns. They felt that a confidential settlement was not the path to peace.
They did not sign.

Review their termination letter and its offer of funds in exchange for silence. (If they had signed, they would had been promising – on pain of having to give back all the money – never to publicly say anything negative about MCC in any forum whatsoever, never to disclose the existence or terms of the waiver and release proposal, never to file any grievance or complaint, and to drop any complaints they had already made.) Some excerpts:

4. In consideration for the payments and benefits under section 2 above, the Employees:
4.2 waive all recourses of any nature whatsoever that they had, have or might have against the Employer, and any of their respective officers, directors, employees and representatives (hereinafter together, the “Releasees”), arising out of their employment for the Employer and their assignment to Burkina Faso, or the termination thereof, including all forms of internal complaints or grievances under any Employer policy or otherwise, for any purposes and intents whatsoever;
4.4 The Employees agrees not to make any disparaging or derogatory comments or statements about the Releasees, or the Employer’s mission or services, in any manner or on any medium whatsoever, including on the Internet or on any social media platforms (including, without limitation, Facebook and Instagram).
9.4 You must not make any disparaging, derogatory or otherwise negative comments (whether verbally, written or in any other form, including on any type of social media) about MCC or any its officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, mission or services.
9.5 At all times after receiving this letter, you must forever keep both the fact, and the specific terms and conditions, of this separation package completely confidential and, in particular, at no time after receiving this letter may you ever disclose them to anyone other than your immediate family, your legal or financial advisors for the purpose of receiving advice, or as required by law. Furthermore, you must ensure that anyone to whom you make a permitted disclosure under this paragraph does not disclose the fact, terms and/or conditions of this separation package to anyone else.
10. To be clear, in the event that you do not sign the Waiver and Release, you will not be entitled to the full terms and conditions of the separation package outlined above.
11. If MCC has provided you with any component of the separation package above when it learns of any breach by you of the requirements of subsections 9.2 to 9.5, it is a fundamental term and condition that you must immediately repay to MCC the amounts that it has paid to you or on your behalf. It is understood and agreed between you and MCC that the amount that you must repay to MCC under this section 11 represents a portion of the estimated liquidated damages that MCC would suffer in the event of such breach and is not a penalty.

Traffic in Ouagadougou near the MCC office in Zone du Bois

Please sign the petition to demand that cases like these be fully investigated.

John Clarke and Anicka Fast (Burkina Faso, 2020-2023)

Katie Moyer (Mozambique)