Of the Amish and a United Africa
When I came here, I did not expect to find a community in the States that had no access to internet or electricity, and I was surprised there was one such group– the Amish. This changed my single story view of America.
I was interested to know how they existed and lived their lives. We had this visit scheduled in our weekly tours. The destination is the Amish Farm. Its is a unique community of sorts located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Amish are a Christian sect that separated from the Mennonites in 17th century Europe and began emigrating to America in search of religious freedom.
Why are they so unique? They use no electricity, don’t own cars nor drive, limit formal education to the eighth grade, live in rural areas, adhere to a statement of faith known as the 18 Articles, emphasize an agrarian lifestyle, use horses and buggies as their primary means of transportation, worship in homes rather than in
church buildings, wear some form of distinctive plain clothing and speak a German dialect as their primary language. The Amish call non-members ‘English.’
One thing that stood out for me is that the Amish are the only closer people to Africans in America I have come across though they aren’t of African descent. The Amish appeared as a quite close-knit community and I believe as Africans we should learn from them in order to develop a united African continent. The mere fact that host family dinners and other general dinners we have been invited to, just like the one which climaxed our day hosted by the Kenyan community, seeks to forge a united African continent.
Just imagine how Africa would look like if we had such dinners everyday in Africa. Our dream as young African Fellows is to have one united continent and a visit to the Amish Farm in Lancaster, PA and a dinner in York should serve as a pedestal.