Sicknesses due to poor nutrition, mosquitoes and flies, ran rampart and many families lost loved ones. Ants, wild caterpillars and locusts plagued the land and made for difficult beginnings in trying to grow any crops. Although many knew about farming techniques, there was a lot to learn under these harsh circumstances.
Pictured are my grandmother (Liese) and her siblings making adobe bricks to build their home. The red Quebracho tree was used for rafters and beams. Polo Blanco boards became window and door frames. The roof was made with reeds, mixed with clay.
I can’t even imagine life going on like this. But it did. Young people fell in love and got married, as did my grandmother - at age nineteen. In the first six and a half years they were blessed with five children. (I wish I could ask her now how she managed, since I remember her as one who easily laughed and loved to tease.)
Nine years into their marriage, a well digging venture turned into a tragedy, when a rope snapped and my grandfather fell 13 meters to the rocks below. He broke his back and legs and became a paraplegic. By a miracle, they did have one more child a few years later, but grandfather lived in pain for five years, before he died of complications due to his injuries.
In 1949 my grandmother married the only grandfather I ever knew, a wonderful man who had lost his family during the war.
(photo credits - Jakob Neufeld, my great uncle)
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10 comments:
Those pioneering times were so harsh and so much tragedy..I loved reading your story Anneliese. It's wonderful that all of this is documented.
Wow, amazing that you have been able to record this family history...and with pictures too! Thanks for sharing this.
Love the new look of your blog :)
Lv - Bonnie
We have things easy...in so many ways! Maybe it was your grandmother's sense of humour that got her through the tough times.
How did they do it? The people of that generation were made of tougher stuff or else they just took grace and strength day by day. My parents often mused that we just wouldn't be able to cope if times got very tough. They lived in Canada straight from Russia but clearing the land didn't happen easy with no equipment.
We have so much to be thankful for and it is so good to be able to read what families went through.
I so enjoyed this "story" again.
Your new blog looks wonderful.
It's stories like this that make me think we should be ashamed of ourselves if we ever complain about anything!
I have been so impressed with the account of your family's history. What a hard life they had in those early years in Paraguay. Your telling of the details gives us a real sense of the hardships they experienced. The pictures are a real treasure. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Our bulletin in church yesterday reminded us to pray for the families who currently live in the Chaco, as they are experiencing severe drought this year. Just wondered if you still have any family who remains there in Paraguay.
Wow...what a wonder woman your grandmother was! Most women of that era had kids about every two years due to nursing, but she must have been very fertile indeed.
Which of her children did you come from? The last "miracle" child?
Jill, no - the miracle child was my mother's younger brother who had a big part in making it possible for our family to come to Canada in 1967. I had a great uncle in BC who was only able to sponsor his nephew because he was still single (the nephew). Then, once "the nephew" became a citizen, he could sponsor his married sister (my mom) with family! (closer relation) They say - where there is a will there is a way. The 'tid bits' in life that shape our destiny... guided by the hand of God.
Thanks for the information. Yes...it is quite something how little details matter so much.
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