The
Mennonite Centre in Halbstadt has been very busy this past week with tourists
from the Mennonite Heritage Cruise. For
three days we received one or two busloads of people who had chosen to explore
the Halbstadt area. This gave them the
day in our area as well as a lunch of borscht and blinchkies prepared by Ira
our cook. Because of the contacts that we
have built with locals over time, there were some new opportunities to explore.
These special arrangements always come with a certain amount of risk.
For years,
Mennonite tourists have come and admired the seven story Willms flour mill from
outside of their large yard. This year
for the first time ever, tourists got to go onto the grounds of the mill and
even explore the interior. This happened
because Oksana, our manager, had a conversation with the town mayor. He had invited the news media to tour some
local attractions in the hope of leveraging this increased attention into
improving our roads. This is how Oksana found out that the mayor had some access
to the mill. Because we have helped the
mayor recently with some projects, he agreed to use his influence to open the
mill to the tourists coming this week.
He was personally there before the first bus arrived to make sure that
the watchman unlocked the gate and that another guide had unlocked the
mill. The bus was late in arriving and
the mayor left before the first bus arrived but everything went smoothly on the
first day.
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| The Famous Willms Mill |
We all
assumed that things would go well on subsequent days. Of course, this is Ukraine and things can go
off track. On the second day, there was
a new watchman who had not been told that we had access to the mill. The mayor was also not present personally but
Oksana called him and soon the gate was open.
However the watchman said he did not have the key for the mill. The person with the key had been taken to the
hospital by ambulance during the night and no one knew where to get the
key. I was with some disappointed guests
as we circled the building from the outside.
By the time we got around, the door had been miraculously unlocked and
we could go in. I never did find out
where the key came from. Sometimes in
Ukraine it is just better not to know.
The mill is
a fascinating and dangerous place to visit.
The person appointed as guide the first day, just pointed at the door
and the stairs and then let us proceed on our own. There is rubble everywhere on the floor and
no barriers where the floor ends and you can look down several storeys. I climbed right to the top floor and walked
around the attic. All the original flour
milling equipment is gone. In its last
years of operation, the place had been used as a milk cannery. It is now an empty derelict building that
stands as a silent testimony to the prosperous Mennonite economy that ended
here one hundred years ago.
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| Machinery Inside the Mill |
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| Attic of the Willms Flour Mill |
The tunnels
built by Mennonites over 100 years ago were also popular with the
tourists. They had the opportunity to
explore three different locations. Again
this was only possible because of the willingness of local authorities and
property owners to accommodate our request for access. There were many questions from the tourists
as to why the tunnels were built and much speculation as to the
motivation. The exploration by the
workers cleaning the tunnel entrances under the former Mennonite Credit Union
(now the local sports school) has created increased local interest. I am receiving requests from people who want
to organize a party and crawl through the small opening and explore the areas
that are not easily accessible. Will I
participate in that? Maybe - I am
tempted. I will keep you posted. I understand that there is an experienced
team in Thailand to locate and extract us if something goes wrong.
The following pictures of tunnels are from an area that is not easily accessible. It shows several tunnel areas as well as an underground well right in the tunnel shaft. Presumably the well was dug to give access to water to people in the tunnel.
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| Well located inside Tunnel |
Now that the
tours are over, the Mennonite Centre has to return the keys which got us the
access to the underground structures.
This was the agreement we had with the owners. We have also removed the special lighting
that we installed. If we had left the
lighting in the tunnel under the old Central School, it is the belief of our
staff that it would soon corrode from the moist air or be stolen by staff from
the town that also had access to the area.
I was aware
that there were members of the Fehderau family on the Mennonite Heritage
Cruise. I had written last year about
the book written by their father who grew up in Halbstadt and came to Canada as
part of the 1920’s migration. I knew
where their ancestral house was. We
discussed with Oksana about negotiating with the current owners to get access
for the Fehderau clan to the house where their father (and grandfather) had
lived. Oksana did not know the people
who lived there but I encouraged her to make a cold call and test the
reception. We walked there in the afternoon
and could not get passed the gate. One
of our staff saw us and directed us to approach the building from the
back. There we bumped into a lady that
Oksana knew from her fitness class. This
lady said that her mother lived in the Fehderau house but was away at the
moment. The lady had the key and
promised to give the Fehderau family access.
We thought everything was arranged. The day before the tours started to
arrive, the lady with the key had other obligations on one of the days of the
tours. We crossed our fingers hoping
that it would work out. It did work
out. I was in Berdjansk on the Sea of
Azov with another tour group when Mary texted me that the Fehderau family was
at the Mennonite Centre and had obtained access to the house. Her text said that the family was overwhelmed
to be inside their ancestral home. This made it a very personal trip for them
and it was rewarding for us to have assisted in this. Special arrangements for
tour groups are always a risk but very rewarding when they work out.
We are back
to our normal routine at the Mennonite Centre. This morning we were met at the
office door by a tearful lady from Melitopol requesting assistance for
purchasing her chemo drugs. Yes we are back at work.
If you wish
to know more about the work of the Mennonite Centre, you can check out our web
site at: http://www.mennonitecentre.ca/ or follow our daily activities on
Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Mennonite-Centre-Ukraine-735361069838076/
