Recent happenings, part 2

I. Visitors
At the beginning of November, we were visited by two celebrities of the Old Colony Mennonite world we work in. Kennert Giesbrecht and Wilfred Neufeld, editors of the newspaper Die Mennonitische Post, stopped in Charagua on their Jeep trip from Manitoba, Canada to the Paraguay Chaco. The Mennonites in our area had been asking for weeks when the two would arrive, so when they did, we took them to Durango Colony for an evening of hearty eating, story-telling, and much more visiting by kerosene lamp until 10.30pm.


II. Guarani-Mennonite women's exchange

Also in November, we helped arrange for a group of indigenous Guarani women to spend a day at a Mennonite home in Durango Colony. The main purpose was to see how Mrs. Doerksen makes laundry soap--something these women are learning to do in order to sell for a bit of family income. They also took in how Mennonite farmyards typically operate, exchanged gifts (see photo above), asked many questions of each other (through translators) over terere, and enjoyed a huge "typical" Mennonite meal. It was striking to realize how similar the roles and tasks of women are in these two communities: caretakers of family and animals, handiworkers/aritsans, little exposed to the "outside world" and usually not able to speak/understand Spanish, and much more.
Above: Ramont serves the hosts terere, which was much joked-about.
Below: The group which met at the Doerksen home. We are now planning for a group of Mennonites to visit the women's home communities in January. It's been a pleasent surprise to work with Mennonites who are so enthused about this kind of cultural exchange.

III. Food
Above: our first ripe mango
Below: bocaditos and cheesecake for a recent cafecito with our neighbors (I'm into all things cream cheese since I recently learned to make it from yoghurt :)