Horse Progress Days, Day 1

A buggy parking lot

Friday morning brought hundreds of horse-drawn buggies, bicycles, scooters, walkers, and hired vans full of Amish and Mennonite folks, who to my untrained eye all looked the same.  Later I could notice differences in dress patterns, head coverings, men's hats and suspenders, etc.  We had gotten up and out of our tent quick because I didn't think there were many events the boys would enjoy, but certainly the first two would be entertaining for them.  People continued to pour into the grounds and gathered at the main outdoor arena to watch the kick-off event: the bull whip cracking demonstration.  A couple guys walked around the arena cracking different types of whips.  It certainly was interesting, but it was more interesting to me how quiet the thousands of people were that had gathered to watch.

While we listened to the whips and learned fun facts about bull whips and the people cracking them, close to 40 buggies had lined up at an entrance to the arena.  These buggies were drawn by ponies and driven by children!  This event was called the "Pony Express" and allowed kids to have center stage driving all different types of buggies and carts, with between 1 and 4 ponies hitched to the front.  Most buggies also carried siblings or friends of the driver, who usually all wore matching homemade clothing.

While Nico went around to a few different seminars, the boys and I found a petting zoo and not a sandbox but a cornbox, complete with buckets, shovels, and diggers the children could manipulate with levers.  When a lot of people who have a lot of children get together, let me tell you, there are really a lot of children.  They had eight full-size playgrounds donated and set up near each other in a field.  Children could ride around and around behind a horse pulling a "train" of barrels that were each laid on their side and cut like train cars.  I interacted with some of the other mamas and felt their gentle humanity.

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous to be surrounded by Amish and Old Order Mennonite folks.  Other than seeing these quiet, keep-to-themselves kind of people on the train, my only real interactions with Plain/Old Order folks had been a bit distressing.  I felt really judged and unwanted.  This, coupled with experiencing other religious groups that have strict rules about men and women not touching (as in hugs or handshakes) or even allowing eye contact between men and women... I didn't know what the rules would be here and I just didn't want to break them!

I watched to see what kind of interactions happen between Old Order folks themselves, and whether men would talk to me or women would talk to Nico.  By the end of the weekend I was sure they were all just normal people!  To my surprise I even saw innocent flirtation among the teenagers!  All my interactions with people were pleasant and I found myself getting comfortable around these "strangers to the world".  I didn't feel any judgement from anyone and had a few meaningful young mother conversations.

About mid-morning on Friday we ran out of water.  As we walked up and down the vendor tents failing to find a water spigot to refill our water bottles we ran into a friendly face, Ryan Deramus, at the Tillers International booth.  He helped us find the fabled drinking water spigot, which turned out was not potable.  Poor Moisés was near tears with thirst and I had no money on me to purchase a water bottle, so as I slowly tried to think through our next step toward hydration, Ryan threw his hands up and declared, "Oh I just can't take it!" and bought Moisés a bottle.  Thanks Ryan!

We met up with Nico and scouted out some shady spots to eat our lunch and nap since our tent was in the hottest and sunniest field around.  Nico struck up a conversation with some folks nearby our picnic location and learned some Pennsylvania Dutch phrases.  The look on their faces was both tickled and puzzled that this man from "society" would be interested in learning bits of their language.

Moisés riding a horse!

Friday afternoon, besides wanting to ride the horse-drawn barrel train 100 more times, Moisés wanted to actually ride a horse.  Nico took him to a seminar about horse-powered logging with Jason Rutledge from the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation, and on the way they asked one of the event staff on horseback if he would take Moisés on a short ride, a request to which the rider happily obliged (see photo).  Later we hung around the pony barn where two small girls had hitched up their pony and were racing another girl riding on a pony's back.  Moisés was delighted to ride in the buggy with the girls, up and down the field.

That evening we caught dinner with Ryan.  After aiding in our bedtime prep, Nico met with Ryan and his two colleagues from Mozambique near their tents.  Sitting outside on the grass, they talked and sang into the night.  A man and a woman, the Mozambicans were both master oxen drovers, working with Tillers International on agricultural development in Mozambique, and had come to do a learning exchange at the Tillers site in Michigan.  They taught Nico how to say "Moses" in Portuguese, which sounds like "Mo-ZAY-eesh", a new nickname for our firstborn.

In the cool of the evening, the four had started their time together by singing a few hymns in Shona, an indigenous language spoken in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.  Nico already knew and loved one song they sang: Hakuna Wakaita.  Later, as they talked about politics and the state of the big changing world, Hakuna Wakaita gained deeper meaning for Nico, see the English translation below.

Hakuna wakaita Hakuna wakaita sa Jesu Hakuna wakaita sa Yee Hakuna wakaita sa Jesu Hakuu hakuchina Nda manya manya, kwese, kwese Ndatenderera, kwese, kwese Nda tsvaga tsvaga, kwese, kwese Hakuu hakuchina

English translation There's no one, there's no one like Jesus There's no one, there's no one like him There's no one, there's no one like Jesus There is no other name I have searched everywhere I have run around everywhere I have looked around everywhere There is no other name