People and Their Families. House and Flat. Shops and Shopping

example, their community is structured as a patriarchy: men are in charge, which of course has been frequently a way of interpreting the Bible. Hutterians describe themselves as strict pacifists and reject any form of private property. Their society could be described as original Christian communism - a communism without dignitaries, without foreign policy, without the neurotic need for charismatic figures, and without prison camps.

WEALTH AND COMMUNITY

In the meantime, Ambrosius' son has returned with the spare wheel and, by combining their efforts and using the appropriate tools, the damage is soon repaired - to an accompaniment of strong German-Canadian language.

Ambrosius eyes me - the tourist - with curiosity. Finally, he invites me to visit his settlement. It is a mark of recognition to be allowed to go along with them. Hutterians do not like to be the subject of photos, and there is no tourism in their villages, or colonies, as they refer to them.

When I arrive at the "yard", I of course draw the astonished gazes of young and old - and I am astonished myself. The Hutterian Brethren run a large estate and, compared to the majority of Canadian farmers, they are wealthy people. As a large number of families combine to form a colony, they can easily use expensive machines and household appliances on a communal basis. Seed machines, combine harvesters, cold storage rooms, deep freezes - how expensive all these things are for a small family farm with the pressure of competition.

In the Hutterian communities, solidarity is no empty phrase. If an emergency occurs in a neighbouring colony - which can be over 100 km away - for example, if a barn burns down or a tornado takes the roofs off houses, or anything else that human beings have to suffer at the hands of Canadian Nature, they turn up with tools and machines and help out. The work is unpaid, for help of this kind can be expected in return.

The social duties of the community are planned according to a schedule. One group of women, for example, is responsible for the kitchen in a given week. They cook and serve food for everyone, and they all take their meals together in a dining hall. They wear long, black skirts and black headscarves with white polka dots. There is freshly baked bread, homemade sausage and - only for men - a litre of wine each at the weekend. An appalling situation for modern women.

CHILDHOOD WITHOUT BARBIE AND COMPUTERS

Meanwhile, the Hutterian school has finished for the day. A merry flock of uniformly clothed children charges about the yard. Each colony has its own teacher, who teaches the children in German strictly according to the Bible. Once a week, however, each colony must accept a Canadian teacher, whose job it is to teach the pupils decent English and Canadian social studies.

The children are now playing in front of the huts, the girls in long skirts and headscarves, the boys in proper knee breeches with braces. They catch chipmunks with self-made traps, or make their own toys. Now and again, the boys also hold contests: who do you think can pee the furthest over a ditch? The girls then whisper under their headscarves at a respectful distance.

This puritanical education creates its own "safety valves": almost every family in the clan has between six and ten children, who grow up under the care of the community. There are no plastic toys, no computer games, and hour-long television viewing is out of the question. You could, in fact, say they were happy. Later, however, you can also see these children standing in shops in the nearest town, staring with longing at Barbies or Play-mobils - while their mothers glance furtively at the shelves in the cosmetics department.

THE PROTECTION OF THE COMMUNITY

The Hutterers are extraordinarily skilful craftsmen. Specialists in the community make boots, women sew clothes, and the heavy machinery is repaired by the Hutterers themselves to the best of their ability. Everyone has a task, integrated into a stable social system in which religion has a firm place.

Some adults, however, are unable to stand the group pressure, the rejection of all worldly possessions, and they leave the group. Very quickly, their inexperience makes them fall victim to deception and fraud.

A long road leads me away from the freshly laid out fields