50—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 2,1978
trip to Poland
meant visits
with old and
new friends
On two occasions, The Reverend and Mrs. Jay C.
Garber, Lancaster R 6, hosted Polish young people who
were in this country as part of the Polish Exchange visitor
Program for agriculturists, sponsored in cooperation with
the Mennonite Central Committee. The Polish men each
stayed for a period of six months, and worked bn the
Garber dairy farm while living with the Garber family.
This Fall, the Garbers had the rare opportunity to travel
to Poland and visit the families of the young men they
hosted. They traveled with a group of 42 people from the
United States, including seven from Lancaster County, all
of whom had played host to agriculturists during the
course of the eight-year-old program. This was the first
time ever that hosts were invited on an exchange visit to
Poland. Mrs. Garber said, “We were treated royally.
They were so pleased for us to take the time to visit them”
One of the Garbers’ visitors, Ludwik Lipowski, is still in
this country on a farm in Kansas, but they visited his
sister in Poland. Another young man, Remigiusz
Slusarski, traveled 250 miles from his home south of
Warsaw to meet the Garbers and took them to visit his
family farm, about two hours north of Warsaw. This visit,
according to Mrs. Garber, “was the best thing that
happened.”
Remi, as he was called in this country, had visited with
the Garber family from the Fall of 1976 to March of 1977.
His parents owned a 40 hectare private farm, where they
had a few cows, chickens, pigs and horses, typical for
small private farms in Poland. They owned pasture land
and raised wheat and hay for their animals. They had
purchased their first tractor this Summer, a used one
from a state farm.
While his parents spoke no English, Remi acted as in
terpreter and a very pleasant afternoon was passed as the
two cultures came together. Their Polish farmhouse,
situated in a village, was “typically old, with a thatched
roof’ and was moss covered, according to Mrs. Garber.
They were told, however, that the family hopes to build a
more modem home in a grove of birch trees ,on their
property. Remi’s parents-had been given no advance
notice of the visit, but his mother prepared a simple meal
HOMESTEAD NOTES
to share with her American guests, the first she had ever
had in her home. “We were welcomed warmly,” Mrs.
Garber noted.
Both state and private farms were on the official
itinerary of the American group. Seventy per cent of the
land is in private farms, and the Polish government is
encouraging these farms to specialize. Garber described
the “unique incentive program” offered by the govern
ment. “The government is now attempting to specialize in
certain kinds of agricultural production in a given area of
the country. If a private farmer wishes to go along with
this specialization, he receives certain benefits from the
government.”
Garber told of a modern beef operation they visited
where a private farmer had built a new bam, with bam
cleaner and other modem equipment. For cooperating
with the government, he received an interest-free loan for
two years to help build the buildings; thereafter he needed
to pay just two per cent interest on the loan. The fanner is
free to market the beef as he wishes, but if he sells beef to
the state marketing system, the amount of his pension will
be in proportion to the amount of beef he sells. This
pension proposal, Garber said, is an incentive to have the
marketing done through the state system, although the
farmer could make more by selling in the open market.
He added, “the young couple we visited seemed pleased
with the arrangement.”
Freedom is always a question which arises about people
living in an Iron Curtain country, but Mrs. Garber said,
“They have a lot of freedom, not like Czechoslovakia or
East Germany. They are quite free in what they can do”
She said they felt their questions about the coufitry were
answered sincerely and honestly by their Polish guide, a
young woman provided by the Polish travel agency which
arranged the tour. They felt they could talk freely and
travel easily on their own.
Garber, who has visited other Eastern European
countries, said, “The Polish people are lucky about their
situation. They feel they have 400 times more freedom
than people in the Soviet Union.” He said he felt the Poles -
were sometimes unhappy with the amount of Russian
presence in their country. For instance, much of what
they raise still goes to Russia to pay oS “war debts.”
Furthermore at the time of their visit there was a shor
tage of paint caused by a great need in Russia to get ready
for the Olympics. Garber said, “They don’t get much in
return.”
By SALLY BAIR
Staff Writer
Mrs. Jay Gai . shows some of the many hand
crafted items that they received from their Polish
visitors or purchased during their visit to Poland.
From his other visits, he feels Yugoslavia has much
more western presence than Poland, with a “tremendous
technology.” Bulgaria, on the other hand, has a very
“Marxist presence, which is a lot more visible.”
Since Poland is ninety percent Catholic, Garber said,
“It must be a tremendous embarrassment to an atheist
government.” He said religion is so powerful that the
government must work with them. Garber, who is
minister at the New Danville Mennonite Church, has had
travel experience in his capacity as chairman of the
Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions.
Mrs. Garber explained that at one time there had been
many Mennonites in Poland,, but many left or became
absorbed by the other churches, so there are none there . <Th food we wer , serve{ j' was ’ verv ar Arf ica ii v
today. Garber said, “The Mennonite church has just nreoaradJ’ Mrs Garber noted ‘Tthink thev served us
started to identify with churches to Eastern European ! seldom Sad a
SSSb. coffee ‘ “ M 8,6 foods were beautiMly
appreciated by those church people in Eastern Mennonite Central Committee in Akron is again
Xrl I was ..wide spectrum f
Garber said, hi the course of the tap,.hei raid, I saw either farmers or agribusinessmen, and spend sixrnonths
people usmg ihe cradle toe thresher andbmder, G^rber they are all
balers and co • ver y we u educated, and are closely screened before being
farms Jiad modem, large eq p accepted into the program, which is coordinated in Poland
amounts or lana- , .., _ , by the Scientific Association of Agricultural Technicians
Garber said when they visited m September the Poles in Poland. She said their two visitors spoke English “quite
were harvesting wheat, which was two weeks later than we jj ,,
usual because of rainy weather. Com is raised, but for _ ’ . „ , ... . . ,
silage and not for grain production except in the extreme Garber summed up the feehngs of the Amencans when
southern part of the country. He said they were told that he describedwhat he called the most touching thing
com is an “experimental thing. We got it from you and about the visit.
now we need to leam how to use it.” The com did not grow “After all the warm, candid displays of friendships, and
as tall as varieties grown here. Silage was stored in embraces, we traveled by train and arrived'at the
bunker silos, with concrete floors and concrete slabs Austrian-Czechoslovakian border at dawn. We were
dividing them. “They were covered with black plastic stopped so that an Austrian crew could board. We were in
held in place by tires, just like here,” he said. a no man’s land and there were dual twelve foot high
A dairy farm was of narticular interest to the Garbers. barbed wire fences, soldiers and machine guns and a
One state farm they visited had a dairy, a swine operation guard tower. We waited there an hour to be cleared. All of
and bulls for stud service. The cows were Friesian, black us reflected on /how much our visit might help to bring
and white, but with “short legs and stockier,” Mrs. down those fences. The two feelings just cannot exist side
Garber said. by side.”
"We’re going to a sheep auction,” I announced
to the boyfriend.
He just grunted. By now he's used to a wide
variety of odd Saturday night dates. We’ve been
chaperones on a hay ride, represented the paper
at banquets, and even chased sheep through
cornfields. And i.e’s taken it 311 very gracefully.
So I felt it was safe to take him along to the
sheep sale.
These are among the many mementoes which the
Garbers have as a result of their relationship with
the Polish agriculturists who visited in their home.
Garber noted that the “sanitary requirements were
different from ours.” The cows were housed in free stalls
on one side of the barn and turned around and tied in
stanchions to be milked on the other side of the barn.
There was a pipeline with risers to pump the milk back to
themilkhouse.
Mrs. Garber was impressed with die abundance of
flowers everywhere in Poland, and especially with the
' fresh cut flowers presented to them by their Polish
visitors as they eagerly greeted them in their home
country. “This was a nice gesture-flowers mean a lot to
them,” she said.
It wasn't. A sheep sale is one of those situations
where neither one of us can be trusted.
I wanted to bid on everything. He didn’t want to
bid on anything.-The ones I liked, he didn’t, the
ones he liked, I didn't. The ones-we both thought
were okay cost too much.
As the evening continued, and everything
continued out of my financial reach, I grew a little
excited. I wanted a sheep. I was beginning to think
I’d settle for one with three legs that walked
backwards. Unfortunately, those weren't offered.
I made the mistake of agreeing before the sale to
let him do all the bidding. I mainly sat on my chair,
chewing my fingernails, tersely telling him to bid
on that one, no, not that high, do you like that one,
why isn’t your hand up, bid that one up, pulleese,
how much money did you bring with you?
The truck came home empty, sad to say. But
now we both understand each other better.
Next Saturday I think we’ll just try to have a
normal, ordinary Saturday night date for a change.
Maybe by then he will talk to me.