The Amish are a community of fundamental Christians who view themselves as continuing in the footsteps of Jesus. Most Amish moved to North America from Switzerland and southern Germany in the 18th century. However, they have no connection to the America we know – the America of the 21st century. The Amish don’t join the army, don’t accept social security benefits, and don’t participate in elections. Since their arrival in America 300 years ago, their way of life has hardly changed. From the outside, the Amish seem frozen in time – they ride in horse-drawn carriages, use animal-powered ploughs, and don’t use farming machinery, relying instead on manual labor. They’ve turned their backs on modern life. For the Amish, the big institutions which are a basic part of Western society – governments, banks, insurance companies, electric companies and even the health care system – are faceless institutions of evildoers and something to fear and mistrust. Therefore, they try to be self-sufficient and rely on their extensive community life for all their needs.
For two months, I lived with an extended Amish family who had migrated to Bolivia. Every morning, I woke up early and joined the milking, breakfast, prayers, and the daily work in the field, the cowshed, the kitchen, and the greenhouse. The hard manual labor exposed me to their way of life – the relations between them, how they regard other kinds of Christians and Jews, their religious world view and view of the afterlife.
