Farming, Saturday, Saptombtr 14, 1996
This team exchanged Ideas during a summer stay in Poland and came away with
lasting friendships. From left, kneeling, are Ralph McLaughlin, Gerald Boyd, and Nell
Wenger. Standing from left are Vonnle McLaughlin, Connie Rutt, Amy Strickler, and
Mandy Dagen.
Poland No Longer Considered Foreign
Country By 4-H Exchange Team
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
A different culture did not pre
vent close bonding of friendships
between four county 4-H’ers and
their Polish peers.
This summer, four county 4-H
members and three 4-H leaders
spent three weeks in Poland as part
of an exchange of ideas at the first
Polish International 4-H Camp
held in Swomegacie.
“The first night 4-H members
from Poland, Hungary, Latvia, and
the U.S. each huddled in their own
little groups, but by the second
day, the groups were so inters
persed that you couldn’t tell who
came from where,” said Connie
Rutt, who led the Polish exchange
trip.
It was Rutt’s fourth trip to
Poland. For her, it was exciting to
see the growth of the 4-H program
that she helped established in the
previously Communist-controlled
country. But, for the four county
4-H members, this visit was their
first visit outside the states,
although 11 Polish youth did spend
a few weeks here last summer.
"I was a bit leary,” said 17-year
old Gerald Boyd, son of Kerry and
Deb Boyd of Ephrata. “But it
turned out much better than I
expected.”
Gerald was particularly
impressed by the family relation
ships in Poland.
“Families are much more
important in Poland than here,” he
said. “Most families have only two
children, but their grandparents
live in the same house and every
one gets along.”
Each 4-H member stayed with a
different Polish family. Neil Wen
ger, the 17-year-old son of Nelson
and Alma Wenger from Manheim,
stayed on a farm and pitched in
with the farm chores. Because Neil
lives on a dairy farm he couldn’t
help but compare the differences in
agricultural practices.
One of the most glaring differ
ences is the way milk is handled. In
Poland, the milk sat without refrig
eration in the bam for two days.
Some was then bought in, boiled,
cooled down, and the family mem
bers drank it hot or warm. The lef
tover milk was set at the end of the
lane —again without refrigeration
and later picked up (supposed
ly) by a milk processor.
Needless to say, the Americans
did not desire to drink milk, but
they did find much of the food to
their liking.
“We ate constantly,” said
Amanda Dagen, daughter of Ed
and Tina Dagen.
Mandy, as she prefers to be
called, said that sauerkraut and
potatoes in addition to other foods
were served every day in the home
in which she stayed. Unlike the
other members, Mandy was
offered Coco Puffs and cornflakes,
which she declined in favor of a
typical Polish breakfast that
included cheese, bread, cucum
bers, and tomatoes. She was con
stantly offered warm Coke, hot tea,
and some type of fruit drink..
But the most glaring difference
between the teens, Mandy said,
was their lack of fashion
consciousness.
“They didn’t seem to be con
cerned with wearing plaids, flow
ered shirts or whatever together.
And it was common for them to
wear the same clothes several days
in a row,” Mandy said.
She suspects that the lack of
money in Poland accounts for the
lackadaisical attitude about
clothing.
Feeling guilty about the many
clothes packed into her suitcase,
Mandy didn’t wear all that she had
packed. But when one of the Polish
teens saw Mandy’s packed suit
case, she kept exclaiming, “So
many . . so many
clothes ...”
“When I left, I gave my jeans
shirt to the girl that I stayed with
and she seemed really proud of it,”
Mandy said.
The team did examine the prices
for clothing in Polish stores and
discovered that a pair of Levi jeans
cost about $lOO in American
money—a prohibitive amount for
the Polish economy.
The county teens were also
impressed with how much the Pol
ish teens knew about American
government
“They knew more than we did,”
she said.
“The pride in being Polish
impressed me,” Neil said. “The
people really hold on to their his
tory. Everything is rebuilt like it
was before it was destroyed by the
Communists.”
Since Connie's first visit to
Poland, she said that there has been
lots of rebuilding. She is impressed
that 33 out of 49 provinces have
established a 4-H program. At this
point, the 4-H program is
government-run. Rutt said her
message to them is that they must
get volunteers to help with the
program. But volunteerism is
greeted with skepticism. Because
of the previous Communist con
trol, Polish people are very skepti
cal of ulterior motives and can’t
fathom why people would volun
teer unless they have a hidden
agenda.
The smallness of Polish cars
caused a problem for Gerald, who
had a difficult time fitting his
6-foot 2-inch frame into the cars,
but it was the speed that terrified
Mandy.
While most Polish drive fast and
erradically, it seemed Mandy’s
host drove the fastest at an average
of 85 mph.
She wanted to wear a seat belt
but her host family insisted she not
wear one because it wasn’t
required while riding in the back
seat Nonetheless, Mandy tried to
dig one out from where it was hid
den in the crevices but couldn’t
Amy Strickler, daughter of Sam
and Dottie Strickler of Quarryvil
le, celebrated her 16th birthday
while in Poland. She was surprised
and delighted with a Polish birth
day cake made with Jell-O, peach-
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