MENNONITES IN ARGENTINA

"Run! Quick!"

The teenage Jacob Wiebe, corn-coloured hair and shocked blue eyes, grabs a box and runs for the granary. He has to get rid off it fast. His brothers cover him. Some distract their mother. Others, those who raised the alarm, keep a look out. Shortly he comes back, acting as if nothing had happened. As soon as he can, he whispers "I hid it in your bag. Please don't say anything."

I am astonished. I've just become an accomplice to a young Mennonite's transgression. Jacob has broken one of the rules of his strict religious community, in the southeast of the Argentinian Pampa. What Jacob's hidden in my bag isn't drugs, nor alcohol, nor porn, definitely not a gun. It's a simple radio with a CD player. If his parents catch him with a stereo, they'll smash it to pieces with a hammer, like last time...