Faraway People & Treasures of the World

Global Village features two new documentaries today.

Menonites in Mexico

In the village of Yalnon in the state of Campeche in Mexico, a group of Mennonite families have set up a community. They follow traditional Mennonite precepts in which religion rules their lives.

In the village of Yalnon in the Mexican state of Campeche, a group of Mennonite families work the land and lead simple lives, with no cars, electricity or any other modern conveniences which they regard as evil temptations. They live like the Amish communities in some parts of America. The men wear dungarees and the women, austere dresses. The people practising the Mennonite religion are direct spiritual descendants of the Anabaptist movement, a branch of the Protestant faith, which began in the 16th century in Holland. When Mennonites were persecuted, they were forced to live and today many Mennonite communities are dispersed all over the world.  Some ended up in Mexico.

Cornelio arrived in this part of Mexico 21 years ago. Roads and houses had to be built from scratch. In Mennonite communities, fathers and sons work together on the land. Fathers teach their sons how to become good farmers. In these communities, only work matters. Work is a healthy way of getting physically tired and of keeping the mind busy. Through work, Mennonites can atone for their sins and be protected from evil temptations. Cornelio and his wife Helena have twelve children, like most Mennonite families in the community. In these communities, many people do not speak Spanish but an old German dialect. Children go to school until the age of 12 just to learn to read and count. Most children cannot write.

Le Havre

The rebuilding of the French city Le Havre.

On the Seine estuary in Normandy, where the broad river flows into the English Channel, lies the French city of Le Havre.

On 6 September 1944 Le Havre had almost ceased to exist. Two days of air raids by British bombers had devastated the town which was still occupied by German forces. More than 5000 people died in the attacks which reduced more than half the city’s buildings to rubble and destroyed its entire infrastructure. Le Havre’s municipal administration was obliterated, along with virtually all its schools, shops, and churches. The destruction caused by the bombing was too widespread to even think of reconstructing the town on a historical basis. So the French government boldly approved a master plan for rebuilding Le Havre as a modern, urban unit. It was a spectacular, radical decision without parallel in architectural history. Auguste Perret was entrusted with the task.