Preservings $20 Issue No. 26, 2006 - Home at Plett Foundation

patch.
Every fall, all the Fairholme Dienen are hired
by local potato growers to help sort potatoes. This
translates into 3 weeks of potato sorting, with
every Diene working an 8 hour shift, every 2 nd
day. If your colony is in financial difficulty, as is
the case with Fairholme, the money goes toward
paying off debts. Otherwise, the money could
go to any charity.
This venture was initiated by Chris Vetter, after
he received inquiries from interested growers.
Still, this is largely a volunteer project, because if
the Dienen had said, “No, we don’t have time,”
Chris Vetter would have accepted this.
Selma developed a computer program for
Weinzedl, farm bosses. She also spends a great
deal of time in school, doing administrative work
for Anna, as well as volunteer administrative work
for the HBNI IITV system.
Clearly, we should be asking, “What can I
do in Oak River, for Oak River? Or even, for the
larger Hutterian community, for the world?
When the tsunami disaster hit, did we Hutterites
do our part in helping the unfortunate
people whose lives it devastated? Yes! Each
colony contributed $1000 or more in financial aid,
on the advice of Jake Vetter, our Elder. Still, it’s
fair to ask: Is that enough, considering the great
material wealth we enjoy?
What about the poverty that exists right here
in Canada, in Manitoba, in Winnipeg? Do you
think Hutterites could help? How?
I don’t mean for the Haushalter simply to
sign a larger donation, say for $10, 000, rather
than $1000, because that doesn’t really require
much from you or me, now does it?
If we want our Hutterite community to change
for the better, then we need to be a fixer, not a
finger pointer.
My volunteering examples all involve
women, because no one in Hutterite society has
more free time than Hutterite female graduates.
In main-stream society, after graduation comes
either university (and a part-time job!), or a
full-time job.
Not so for Hutterite Dienen. They have free
time, and lots of it, especially in winter. Yes, there
are arts, crafts, sewing, but those are hobbies, and
mostly, activities you do for yourself, not for the
benefit of your Hutterian community, or the wider
world community. In fact, it can lead to Eigennutz
(selfishness)!
Young Hutterite Buem (young men) do generally
get a job assignment after graduation. So, is
there room for volunteer work for Buem? I say,
“Definitely!” Both before and after graduation.
Remember, in the colony, many of our needs
are taken care of by others. That gives us even
more free time than Liz Basel! She must prepare
3 meals a day, every day, do all the shopping for
all the groceries, as well as the shopping for all
household goods. She must do banking and accounting.
The list goes on and on.
We need to ask ourselves: how are we Hutterites
using all the glorious time our wonderful
system provides us with?
I was talking to a friend of mine about volunteering,
and he stated: “One of our high-schoolers
started helping our electrician with electrical
work, on his own, whenever he had free-time.
Now, he’s our electrician’s right-hand man.”
My friend concluded by saying, “Now, who
do you think is going to be our colony’s next
electrician? There’s a good chance that this highschooler’s
volunteer work will pay off big time!
Even if he won’t be our next electrician, he’s
establishing himself as a hard worker, someone
willing to do more than his share. People notice
this; they keep it in mind whenever there is a role
to play or an Amtle (job) to fill.”
Another area to think about is bake or garage
sales. More and more Hutterite colonies are trying
these. Most of the money goes straight into
more material goods for their own community.
Maybe this generation of graduates could start
bake sales where the proceeds would go to a
soup kitchen in Winnipeg, Winnipeg Harvest, or
Habitat for Humanity, or any other charity, rather
than the acquisition of one more material “thing”
we can well do without.
In addition, Hutterite children need their own
books! We teachers have absolutely NO BOOKS
to give our students where they will see their own
Hutterite lives reflected and validated. We now
have one, the very 1 st children’s book, by Linda
Maendel, Elm River. Several more are on the
way, all from BUHEP students or teachers, who
are already very busy with teaching.
Why can’t Hutterite graduates write children’s
literature, about Hutterites, for Hutterites?
Do you know what a need there is for children’s
book tapes, stories recorded on cassettes, English,
German and Hutterisch? What a fantastic amount
we could amass, if even 25% of the graduates at
every colony volunteered just an hour of their
time daily!
This doesn’t mean it will be easy, or that
volunteer work doesn’t require sacrifices on
your part.
When Oak River students first informed me
that they wanted me to be their guest speaker for
their September graduation, I knew it would be
a very busy time of year for me.
I was still marking work from last year’s IITV
course, and starting a new school year, as well as
planning for the IITV orientation day in Baker.
I could have said, no, but I’ve learned that while
I can’t do it all, I can do more today than I did
yesterday. So I said, “Yes.”
However, months ago, I bought some beautiful
fabric for my family, in anticipation of a
Glenway Hulba. I wanted to make new outfits
for my 3 little girls, a new shirt for my husband,
and a dress for myself. This is a Hutterite tradition
– any really special occasion usually calls
for new clothing.
I planned to make these outfits last week,
but I was busy teaching in the mornings. The
only time I had for writing my speech was in the
afternoon, while my girls were sleeping. When
they awoke after 3, writing was impossible until
they went to sleep at night.
As the week wore on, I continued to use all
my afternoons and any spare minute on my graduation
speech. It became clear that I would not
have time to make a new dress for my baby.
By Tuesday, I realized that sadly, my two
older girls would also go without.
By Wednesday, I saw that Ray’s shirt would
have to go, and late Thursday evening, I came to
the tragic conclusion that my own dress would
also fall by the wayside.
Did you notice that my dress isn’t brand
new? Wasn’t it a small sacrifice to make, so that
I could find time for more important work, like
writing a speech.
How often do we say, “I don’t have time,”
instead of considering what frivolities (like new
dresses) we could eliminate, so we have more
time for volunteering, for giving of ourselves
to others?
I would like to conclude by reflecting on our
shared Hutterian heritage. Volunteering is not
really a completely new idea to Hutterites, as perhaps
you might think. It just has a different name
in Hutterite society. It’s called “G’ma Orbit”.
In community, if you manage your cook week,
your Obwosch wuch, your weekly Friday cleaning
job well, that’s not good enough. If you just
do what you absolutely know to be your part, your
job, then you haven’t done your part.
If you are strong and able, your part is to
work until all the work is done. You MUST do
more than what is absolutely necessary, in order
to fulfil your duty to the community.
Community work ALWAYS comes first.
As my Suzanne Basel used to say, “If a colony
has even one member willing to do more than
his or her share, then the colony is lucky and has
been blessed.”
These sayings are uniquely Hutterite, and reflect
the sacred heritage our ancestors left us. All
focus on fulfilling Christ’s commandment of love
- daily acts of loving service for our neighbour.
Remember, our repentance for sin, and our
faith in Christ must be made visible in doing
God’s will.
Then the righteous will answer him, saying,
“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did
we see You a stranger and take You in? Or naked
and clothe You? Or when did we see you sick,
or in prison, and come to You? And the King
will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say
to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least
of these, My brethren, you did it to me.” This is
the ending of the familiar story Jesus tells us in
Matthew 25, verses 37-40.
If you read Matthew 25: 41, it becomes clear
that the unrighteous are not condemned for doing
evil, but for their failure to do good.
Scary, isn’t it?
Thus, it comes back to volunteer work. Work
for others. Work for the community.
When you leave Oak River, or your own Hutterite
faith community, either because of death,
or simply because of marriage, or because you
moved away, we know that your family and close
friends will miss you. The question is: “Wie wetn
die G’ma dich vermitzen? What legacy will you
leave behind?”
I wish you courage, strength, and wisdom as
you seek to capture and revitalize this precious
essence of what it means to be Hutterite, a disciple
of Christ, living out His commandment of love.
God be with you! Der Herr sei mit Euch!
90 - Preservings No. 26, 2006