About volunteering on the Mennonites farm | club75

One of the most interesting moments of our trip through Paraguay was volunteering at one of the Fernheim farms near Philadelphia, the Chaco region in Paraguay. We took care of cows and chickens, but as the farm owner also had a small shelter and saved wild animals, we fed pumas, tapirs, skunks, and many other animals that we had not even dreamed of getting to know so closely before.

Fernheim is one of the three Mennonite communities (not only. It includes both: people of other faiths and atheists. Originally they were only Mennonites) in Chaco, with about 5000 Mennonites of German origin and 1000 other citizens. Cologne includes 26 villages with over 300 farms in total, and the town of Philadelphia, the capital of the region of the same name.

_{Typical entertainment includes: horse racing, tractor expose, car rallies, contest for the best cow, bull or chicken and sale of the cowboy hats}

The language spoken by the locals is called "Plattdeutsch" and is a mixture of German and Spanish. Of course, everyone also knows Spanish, and most of them know Guarani, which is taught in schools in Paraguay and is treated as the second official language. Currently, 90% of Mennonites have Paraguayan citizenship. The remaining 10% are immigrants as the migration in the region is constantly positive.

Mennonites' beliefs are based on Anabaptism (same foundations as Amish). The main differences are the postulate of accepting baptism only after reaching the age of majority, separation from the institutions of the Church and its hierarchy (no clergy, bishops, etc.), pacifism (Mennonites are not allowed to possess weapons), a categorical ban on swearing in anything, a ban on holding office (Mennonites cannot engage politics, holding higher offices), striving for self-sufficiency (Mennonites, if possible, buy everything exclusively from each other), and separatism. When you want to buy a plot of land or rent an apartment from Mennonite, you will first be thoroughly checked to see if you adhere to a similar system of values. Such "tests" may take up to several years. Additionally, Mennonites are allowed to marry only among themselves, and they make sure that they do not sin. A person with sin can be excluded from the fellowship and be deprived of family and friends.

_{More rich estancias are artificially kept green, but the cost is enormous, also for the environment}

The more radical ones, who, however, are in a decisive minority, approve of life without great pleasures that would distract them from God, they live without electricity, like the Amish (this was introduced in Philadelphia only at the end of the 1980s). They use horses instead of cars and clothes that look as it has been taken from the XIXth century.

Mennonites interpret the Bible literally and understand the part about making the Earth subordinate to them as the right get most benefits from their land, which results in the greatest deforestation of trees and environmental degradation in human history. Chaco disappears from year to year, even faster than the Amazon forest.

_{Most common landscape in that area. Soon, the grass will disappear as well, because the underground water reservoir is smaller each year - total desertification is expected in that century}

The beginnings of the Mennonites date back to the first half of the 16th century in the Netherlands. Religious persecution made them move to Prussia and Poland (at that time "the state without stakes"), and later to Russia, in Siberia. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia forced communities to search for new lands. In 1930, they moved to Paraguay, where thanks to donations from their brothers in faith living in the United States, they managed to create a rich community in a relatively short time. The Paraguayan government welcomed them with open arms, gave the still untouched lands of Chaco, secured religious freedom and the irrevocable right to refuse military service by a special decree.

_{Migration of the Mennonites - the museum in Filadelfia}

For the next two years, the Mennonites lived in complete isolation. There were no roads leading to the villages at that time (the first - transChaco, was built only in the 1960s). In 1932, the Chaco War broke out, during which Bolivia faced Paraguay. It was then that the first Paraguayans marched through the town as armed army units.

Mennonites continued to form strong communities. Currently, they are centered around three churches, but on the same basis: the Mennonite Church, the Brethen Mennonite Church, and the Brethen Mennonite Evangelical Church. In addition, there are Jehovah's witnesses and Catholics in the town. The communities also have their own cooperatives to which they allocate part of the earned money. As a result, the city has high-level state education, free health care, a radio station, two local newspapers devoted to current events, and an organization to help buy agricultural goods and distribute them in Paraguay. The Mennonites also created almost 1,400 km of roads in the region without the help of the Paraguayan government (but without asphalt. The asphalt road on this side of the Paraguayan River is only Transchaco). All this would not be possible if it were not for community thinking. It should be remembered that Paraguay is the second (and taking into account the current situation in Venezuela, the third) poorest country on the continent and the government does not have much funds for investments, in particular, in such remote and sparsely inhabited regions.

_{Our work at farm - one month of the amazing experience}

Another symptom of the Mennonite separation is the creation of separate districts for the Mennonites themselves. In the 21st century, it was no longer possible to keep the town in the hands of just one social group. With electricity plugged in in the 1980s, a large number of immigrants began to arrive, and then, in 2006, when Philadelphia was declared the capital of the region, even more foreigners arrived.

The solution was to create separate neighborhoods.
So we have three neighborhoods in the city for aborigines of three different tribes (Guarani, Uj'e, and, more in isolation, Guidaiche), we have neighborhoods for Latinos and for the Mennonites themselves.

The cooperatives also create their supermarkets with two prices - one for the Mennonites who pay the compensations, the other, slightly higher, for "ordinary residents" and us, tourists.

_{Work included taking care of the wild animals in the shelter}

Philadelphia is not a tourist town. There are two hotels and a few eateries, there is one museum, and two residents work as guides in the local National Park (for outrageously high prices, but in the city everything except the meat is expensive), but still, the sight of the stranger arouses curiosity.

Is the town worth visiting? Certainly, although it is worth hurrying up. Chaco is one of those regions that will disappear from the maps this century due to massive felling and global warming. Even today people lack water, and summer temperatures reach 45 degrees Celsius. About it, I will write another time though

_{Work included taking care of the wild animals in the shelter}