Bolivian Mennonites

[apandaaries]

Just wanted to share this fascinating (but short) photoseries on Mennonites in Bolivia. Their primary language is German, but the photographer was able to speak to most of the fathers (heads of the house, of course) in Spanish to get permission to photograph them. I always love inside looks to self-contained communities, and thought others might as well. Very interesting, including the woman milking a cow barefoot. Fascinating stuff. Link to Slate unbroken:

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/ ... e=facebook

[FakePigtails]

I saw that earlier and thought it was really interesting. The mother in that one photo looks so tired :( I looked up more info on these groups to learn about their background and found this heartbreaking article: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-ghos ... 0n8/page/0

It's really everything we've ever worried about with fundies condensed into one community. Awful, awful stuff :(

[DGayle]

Beautiful photos, but there doesn't look like a lot of joy. It's sad that they have no part times or activities for socializing aside from going to church. It looks like they're just existing.

[DGayle]

I saw that earlier and thought it was really interesting. The mother in that one photo looks so tired :( I looked up more info on these groups to learn about their background and found this heartbreaking article: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-ghos ... 0n8/page/0

It's really everything we've ever worried about with fundies condensed into one community. Awful, awful stuff :(

"“That’s all behind us now,†Civic Leader Wall told me on my recent trip there. “We’d rather forget than have it be at the forefront of our minds.†Aside from interactions with the occasional visiting journalist, no one talks about it any more."

That could be the Duggars right there.

[apandaaries]

"“That’s all behind us now,†Civic Leader Wall told me on my recent trip there. “We’d rather forget than have it be at the forefront of our minds.†Aside from interactions with the occasional visiting journalist, no one talks about it any more."

That could be the Duggars right there.

Oh my goodness, I'd read that article on Vice before, but somehow my brain did not connect them...maybe since I read that almost two years ago, but still.

Horrific, isn't it? Seclusion, isolation, and fundamentalist beliefs do not lend for healthy environments, no matter what country.

[iheartchacos]

I see they ascribe to the same philosophy as the Duggars, if they're asleep it doesn't really count.

[maybeizfundie]

There are Mennonite communities all over South and Central America. Many fled there and to Canada, when the USA wasn't initially welcoming.

And definitely some very terrible things have happened in some of those communities, which is pretty predictable whenever you have a group of people that is isolated, insular, and high-demand.

[ADoyle90815]

I see they ascribe to the same philosophy as the Duggars, if they're asleep it doesn't really count.

Just what I was thinking, it sounds just like the excuses made by the Duggars, if they're asleep or clothes were kept on, it doesn't really count.

[RebelYell]

I have absolutely no doubt that terrible sexual crimes happen everywhere, all over the world. But I am convinced that nowhere is it so bad as amongst extreme fundamental groups. I can speak from personal experience that incest, molestation/rape, and bestiality are rampant among the Mennonites and the Amish. There is little to no sexual education and much victim shaming as well as just outright bullshit justifying. Like, a three year old girl was "putting it in so and so's face that's why he did it."

A lot of times it is known and talked about (nothing stays a secret in a small community), but no charges are pressed. I feel violently ill and helpless just typing this.

My great great grandparents actually moved to Bolivia from Canada (their parents came from Russia in the 1870's) and were I believe part of the Old Colonist order. They spent their older years, died and were buried there in Bolivia the 60's. It would fit what I know of them, and what I know of the way my great grandfather raised my grandfather.

Edited to add that I know I still have extended family in Bolivia to this day living very conservatively. How insular, I don't know. But I've heard lots of stories about the Bolivian Mennonites.

Also, even though I have SO MUCH fundie family, a lot of them are much more mainstream than in the past and I hope that this is the generation that will break the cycles of sexual abuse. My husband and I will be doing our part to teach our children *which we will have when the good lord lays it upon my headship's heart to tell me to lay off the birth control* about good and bad touch and secrets. The buck stops right here if I can help it.