Coping in the Community
A tell-all tome of the tenuous testaments and troubling trials in the tribe
Early rising
I was awoken by noise outside somewhere. It was one of those instances where you wake up completely clueless as to where you are. I blinked blearily and opened my eyes to near darkness, my watch reading 0515. What the damn hell!?
After those initial seconds of confusion had passed, I remembered where I was. Ah yes: in a trailer, 50 miles west of Prague, at a farm I just moved to the day before. Nevertheless I was not expecting to be woken up by a man singing at the top of his voice:
"... so lucky to have each other, we are bonded together.." or something.
His words were not helping to me feel particularly grateful. Instead I was thinking "What have I done to deserve this?" and "Why, why, why?"
Well actually I had come willingly to volunteer on the farm. I didn't get paid during my stay, but I got food and a bed, so I was set.
Before I went there, I joked to people that I was going to be staying with some hippies. This was because on their website they had projected their views of unity and 'worshipping the creator', but I didn't really know what to expect.
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| Home Sweet Trailer |
Essentially what I had let myself in for, was a group of several families who live a communistic lifestyle, renouncing luxuries and doing everything together. This was initially a shock as it was what I would describe as 'differrent', but I remained open minded and tried to get used to absorb lifestyle. Deffo some hippy elements in there though right?
They gather for worship at 6am and pm each day, they sing and pray together, as well as eating as a group and working in unity. Collectively they refer to themselves as 'the community' or 'the Twelve Tribes' and there are constructs of their establishment in at least ten countries on four continents that I know of.
So I got up early the first morning, after being woken by my room mate (who then proceeded to go and and disturb people in other cabins by doing the rounds and singing at them too) and we went to 'the gathering'.
Each day began with a few songs, then an hour and a half of Bible chat which I found quite boring, and then various people saying what they were thankful to have learned. I was thankful that everyone spoke English- despite being in Czech, the people in the community were from a range of countries, including Czech, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Poland, so as a common ground they all speak English.
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| Off to the gathering |
Science Chat
I thought I was going there to have a farming experience, but in light of the circumstances, I was now there to enlighten myself about this unusual culture and learn about their ideals.
In the vegetable garden I was told about the natural approach to their farming, favouring plants that have not been crossbred and, of course, abhoring the use of chemicals on crops. Fair enough, I thought.
They did not like the concept of artificial selection because of the idea that it is messing with nature. I can agree, as the normal order of things is changed, since you're choosing who breeds with who. But at least they can understand that selecting for certain traits via breeding will result in changes in the offspring over generations.
So they are down with artificial selection. Could they accept its counterpart in the wild, natural selection, and therefore the idea of evolution?
I was grimacing internally as I asked myself that question, already knowing the answer.
Nope, they don't. Evolution 'does not make sense' and the Earth is 6,000 years old. (Presumably then, carbon dating is some sort of lie that scientists have conjured to counter this argument.) But there is no point getting angry about it.
Their beliefs are sacred to them and that is something I had to respect. I did not at any point try to explain what evolution actually is (they clearly don't understand it, and just see it as an enemy) or how its based on logic. I simply said I was an evolutionist and that we all have different ideas.
I had a t-shirt with a Gorilla in military attire that read "Gorilla Warfare" on it during the time I was at the farm (very witty I know). It was clearly not a symbol of my evolutionary standpoint, just a silly shirt from Primark. However, one day someone said, "Look Dion, it's your ancestor on your t-shirt!" And everyone laughed.
It was the opposite of the society I am used to where, among people I know at least, evolution is far more of a popular ideology than creation.
Imagine the scenario where a group of people are ousting a believer, saying, "You think the world was made in six days?! And actually its 4.54 billion years old! You creation-wanker!!"
That would be utterly rude, insensitive and not actually humorous at all, so I was quite disappointed that my beliefs were the source of their amusement that evening, despite me being so kind about theirs.
On a nearly unrelated note, whilst browsing about the Twelve Tribes on the internet to better understand them I came across a list of someone's list of reasons for leaving. I observed this quote: "Women must obey their husbands without questioning. The community views a disobedient wife as rebellious, independent and un-submissive. To persuade the wife to repent, sometimes the husband may withhold sex from her." On the one hand it sounds pretty harsh. On the other, in what world is it where the man who decides on whether sex is withheld? Things really are opposite in the community.
Controversy?
My time with the community was overall a very enjoyable venture, but there are a few things worth touching on to create a fuller picture of their lives. Some of these things have caused a stir.
The education is something that can shock people. They are only home schooled, and taught by parents and other community members. My brief impression of it is that while they learn 'the three R's', a strong focus rests on teachings from the Bible. Suspiciously, I don't think they are big on educating about science and obviously creation is taught over evolution- which is taboo. From secondary sources on the internet, I have read that sex ed. is overlooked, though this may vary from community to community- I hope so.
There is talk on the net and on the news about families in the tribes hitting their children or beating them with sticks. Well at the community I stayed at least, there was no sign of abuse.
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| Left: Me and Sha'an, who I often called Shaun. Right: Me and a girl who's name I can't pronounce or spell.. Ohavet? |
As an interested young man, I found the following a bit challenging: they will only ever court people from within the community. This figures as they don't leave it. But surely that's narrowing the options a bit? Where I was, there were four single men in the 18-25 category. In terms of single women, there were two 40+ ladies. Hmmm.. I guess there were also girls who were 17 and 15, so maybe you could wait around for them to mature? Sounds like grooming though. Not ideal. Yet that's pretty much your only option unless you are sent to another tribe.
Additionally, if you take a fancy to someone, you have to enter this 'waiting period' where you express 'a desire to get to know them'. That sounds odd right? Like kind of with a sexy undertone but not. "Evening Sir, may I express the desire to... get to know your daughter??" Wink wink. And then if you want to marry, the community as a whole must agree. No S before M is, of course, a given.
Despite the prospect of making no 'special friends' at the farm, I was getting used to being there and was really enjoying it. I decided to extend my stay by another week which was greatly welcomed by the clan. They were appreciating my eagerness to help, which was really being received as I felt indebted as a guest.
What a great idea! Yet, during that second week I had encounters with unruly wild horses, extreme chili peppers and colossal shit-heaps. Yes- another great life choice!
Tales of farm life to be continued- click the link below.
And now a story of coincidence on a global scale:
"Ello! I have a small world story for you! This summer whilst travelling around Europe me and my friends (Izzie and Tasha) met a couple from Glasgow in Berlin. We made great friends with them. Then we had to leave they didn't know their travel plans. So we move onto our next destination forget all about our lovely Glasgow buddies, but who should we randomly walk into in both Krakow and Budapest? OUR GLASGOW FRIENDS. So we all went out and got drunk!
Sarah Finn
Sarah, thank you for the story, and bonus points as my favourite city was mentioned- Budapest!
You'll receive a hand made birthday card from Korean Elvis. Just tell me your birthday and I'll give him the heads up.
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