Made in Manitoba

Gloria Fligg is the author of the brand new fun and lesson-filled children's book called Don't Be Preposterous, Mr. Rhinoceros.

Fligg is also a teacher at Springs Christian Academy in Winnipeg.

"I do what's called student services working in a department for children with additional needs. As well, I support a lot of the early year's literacy, and do a lot of reading groups," says Fligg.

Her new children's book is geared to help children understand why the world has changed drastically in the past year.

Shaylin Klassen from Steinbach has published her first Christian YA novel in a trilogy, called The Headspace. 

"It's a young adult coming of age novel and it focuses on a teenage boy who grew up in an abusive home. Throughout the course of the book, it shows how he is trying to heal from that," says Klassen. 

A local family band is releasing a song and video featuring youth from Winnipeg’s North End who were disproportionally affected by the pandemic. 

The Janzen Boys is a band made up of a father, John, and two of his three sons, Simon and Mick Janzen. The family from Manitoba lived in Japan for 10 years before returning to Winnipeg. 

Rose Church's Worship band is releasing their second single called 'Nothing Left', their victory song about Easter.

Justin Anderson is the worship leader at Rose Church and the lead singer of the worship band called Rose Worship.

"I hope people connect with it, we had a lot of fun making it. We wanted something upbeat to incorporate the feelings and the emotion people have for Easter," says Anderson.

Arielle Jodine is sharing her newest single all about this past year being a bit of a detour, but also part of God's plan.

'Author & Finisher' is available on all platforms on March 19, 2021. 

Jodine shares how the song came to her and the inspiration behind it.

"It was about a month into that first quarantine round, probably April of last year, and I'm sitting with the Lord, journalling and I felt like life was on pause," she says. 

While Steve Bell may have been nominated for another Juno award this week he says that one of the biggest honours he received came from another worship artist.

Canadian Christian artist Jon Buller recently took one of Bell's songs and recreated it for his YouTube channel 'Hear the Music Mondays.'

A singer from Southeastern Manitoba is releasing a faith-based song called 'What Are You Running From?'

The Steinbach singer, Lorne Kauenhofen, goes by the stage name LMNK which are his initials. 

"I've grown up listening to music and singing. I remember when I was young, there's this one thought in my head that kind of encouraged me to keep going with music."

The encouragement came from Kauenhofen's older sister. 

"I was doing the dishes, singing quietly to myself and I remember my older sister peeking around the corner, listening."

A Mennonite man from Manitoba trying to succeed as a professional rapper in Vietnam has already made headlines in the City of Hanoi.

By day Luc Loewen, originally from Steinbach, is an English teacher to young Vietnamese students intent on learning the valuable language, by night he is a rapper, mixing beats under the moniker ‘Nuce.’ Marrying his longstanding interest in music with his recent passion for travel was not something Loewen ever thought would be possible.

Music is a powerful tool for communicating and one local artist has made it his mission to spread the gospel through his songs. 

Nixon Katabira, born in Uganda, now lives in Winkler with his wife and their four children. 

"I was born and raised in Uganda in a small town, between two cities. I was raised by a single mom. My mom was Catholic but she allowed me to go to a Pentecostal church. My career in music started developing then," says Katabira.

Fourteen years ago, Travis Price and David Shepherd stood up for a fellow high school student who was being bullied simply for wearing a pink shirt. That night, both young men bought pink shirts and wore them the next day to show support for their fellow student.

That simple act of kindness and sympathy in small-town Nova Scotia has inspired an entire movement dedicated to promoting healthy self-esteem, empathy, compassion and kindness. That is the spirit behind the final Wednesday of February being named Pink Shirt Day in Canada.