This post is also available in: Spanish
People from the Low German Mennonite colonies may come into Centro Menno in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a variety of reasons. While store men and taxi drivers picking up a bulk subscription of the Mennonitische Post to sell to individual subscribers in the colonies are common customers, a handful of other colony people stumble into Centro Menno with an often-random assortment of requests.
Horst and Judith Braun, Centro Menno coordinators with MCC Bolivia, recall a gentleman coming in to ask for suggestions for curing a sick horse. Just a few weeks before that, someone else came in asking about bulls for breeding. On another occasion a man asked Judith if she knew what hospital his son might be in after having suffered an accident. Judith didn’t know who this man was, who his son might have been, nor which hospital, in a city of two million, this man’s son might have been taken to.
How can the Brauns respond and be prepared for such unexpected requests? Horst says that what helps the most is staying connected and knowledgeable of local resources. The more those in Centro Menno have connections, the better they can pass on helpful information to those that come in. In most situations the Brauns themselves don’t have the answers, but what they do well is look for answers.
In the case of the sick horse, Horst phoned a colony contact that he knows uses a cell phone and is also the colony veterinarian. Meanwhile, a couple of men from another colony that Horst knew still used animal traction came into Centro Menno. Horst figured they would know more about horses and involved them in the conversation. Through an emerging set of interactions orchestrated by Horst, the man’s question about the horse’s health problems were being answered and new connections made. Horst himself was excited about making these connections and commented on how those involved would now recognize each other when they either come into Centro Menno or see each other on Seis de Agosto, a street where Low German Mennonites do much of their shopping when coming to the city.
Why does Centro Menno become the place where people think to come for answers? For one, all of these conversations are happening in Low German. The Brauns are themselves of Low German background, speaking the language and understanding the culture. This is a plus in the middle of a Bolivian city where the Latin/Bolivian culture can feel foreign to the colony culture of Low German Mennonites. While many colony Mennonites interact and hold business transactions frequently with non-colony Bolivians, there are always those situations that seem out of the ordinary where the tact of culturally like-minded people can generate trust or respond to settle nuances, allowing a simple question or brief interaction to turn into an engaging problem-solving session or the lifeline to seeing a family member in the hospital.
Horst further reflected on how you don´t always understand the extent of a situation right away. Someone might come to you with what seems like a simple or absurd question without divulging the details.
This is what happened to Judith when a man was asking about which hospital his son might be in. At first, he didn´t tell Judith that he was looking for his son, he just mentioned the name of the person. Not knowing either of these people, Judith was confused as to why he would think to ask her. After some back and forth, the man finally mentioned that the person he was looking for was his son, who now lived in a different colony. This put the scenario in a different perspective: Judith now felt the importance of being able to help this man find his injured and possibly estranged son. Without much recourse, she called a contact that she knew lived near the colony where this man´s son was living and, sure enough, the contact had heard of the accident and was able to indicate in which hospital they had taken this man´s son.
This synergy of dialogue, desire to help, and, at times, sense of urgency can define much of the unexpected and unusual interactions that the Braun´s find themselves in at Centro Menno. This combination of dynamics and cultural understanding has allowed the Brauns to hear stories of those who have lost loved ones to COVID and other illnesses.
These stories have also allowed people to open up about their questions and doubts regarding the COVID vaccine. Like much of the world, the Low German Mennonites have a wide panorama of responses to the vaccines. Stacking these doubts on top of the traditional separation and suspicion of government policies and institutional norms can make the topic of vaccines very sensitive. The Brauns emphasize the importance of allowing the colony Mennonites themselves lead the questioning and the direction of the conversation to avoid prying too much. Another strategy is to ask what their colony leaders say about the vaccine. This allows people to open up to talk about the vaccine without having to necessarily risk giving their own opinion that could conflict with their authority’s position. This also communicates to the colony people that the Brauns understand the importance of colony leadership structures.
Pulling all these scenarios together provides a sense of what working in Centro Menno is like and how Centro Menno is an important place for colony Mennonites in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In the midst of packing and handing out the Post, managing the cash register, and attending to the library, there will always be time for those requests that might fall through the cracks anywhere else… and don´t forget to pass the tereré.
Nathan Toews is one of the country representatives for Bolivia.