Our trip to Ukraine in July 2007 was both a personal and family pilgrimage. When we asked our grown children if they wanted to join us we were thrilled to hear a positive response from all four of them. In the end however, Brian and Lori decided that travelling with a one-year child to Eastern Europe was not a good idea. We respected their decision and made plans to travel with Rob and Sonja. It was an added bonus when my brother Rick and his wife Marjorie decided to join us as well as Ted’s sister Chris. Then Gordon and Carolyne Epp-Fransen along with Jesse and Dianna also decided that the time was right for a trip to their ancestral villages.
There were many reasons for embarking on this journey. One that stood out for me was related to a story my Oma Block had told at a family reunion at Camp Moose Lake (Manitoba) the summer of 1980, four months before she died. At an evening campfire that warm summer day Oma asked the family to gather around. She wanted to share a story with us that she had kept secret for over 60 years. We were quickly drawn to her old frail body sitting by the fire. What she told us rocked us as a family. There wasn’t a dry eye in the dining hall.
During the Russian Revolution the Machno bandits were raiding Mennonite villages causing untold harm to people and property. One night they came into Oma and Opa Block’s village, Neu-Chortitza. Oma was pregnant with their first child. Opa was not home. A bandit approached Oma and in spite of her condition assaulted her physically and sexually. Oma was distraught. After the bandits fled, Oma dragged herself outside to the well in their back yard. Her mind was filled with grief and shame. She thought that Opa would not understand her helpless state and possibly blame her for the rape. She decided that life wasn’t worth living. She determined to throw herself into the well and end her grief and shame. As she lay by the well quivering and weeping, she heard the footsteps of someone approaching. She was seized with fear, but then completely relaxed when she heard the familiar voice of her Aeltester, a man she greatly admired. She had been discovered by her church Bishop, Rev. Jakob Rempel. They talked for a while. He assured her that Julius (Opa) would have only thoughts of love and support. Her feelings of shame were misplaced, he said. There was nothing to forgive. The future was with Julius and not at the bottom of the well. Through that encounter at the well, Oma Block chose life. She later lost the baby she was carrying, but a year or so later my father was born and by 1926 they had migrated to Manitoba. The fireside story left the family stunned.
Nearly 60 years after the rape, Oma Block was visiting my family in Campden, Ontario while I was in high school. She had an opportunity to meet Ted. She could not get over how much Ted resembled his grandfather. She told me later that fall (1976) that she was so pleased that my relationship with Ted was blossoming. After all these years she felt she had a way of repaying Jakob Rempel for his great kindness. I didn’t really understand her rather cryptic comment. She waited four years to tell me and the rest of the family what she really meant. He had given her new hope at the well and the fact that nearly six decades later the grandchildren of those at the encounter were seemingly headed for a life together was giving Oma tremendous joy.
In July 2007 we went searching for the well. Rob and Sonja were the first to find the house, using the village plan that Viktor Penner (our tour guide extraordinaire) provided. We were ecstatic. Once Ted caught up to me at the house, we went to the back yard to find the well. Try to imagine the flood of emotions as we approached the well. How special it would have been to be able to go back to tell Oma that together with Jakob Rempel’s grandson I found her well of hope.
There were many reasons for embarking on this journey. One that stood out for me was related to a story my Oma Block had told at a family reunion at Camp Moose Lake (Manitoba) the summer of 1980, four months before she died. At an evening campfire that warm summer day Oma asked the family to gather around. She wanted to share a story with us that she had kept secret for over 60 years. We were quickly drawn to her old frail body sitting by the fire. What she told us rocked us as a family. There wasn’t a dry eye in the dining hall.
During the Russian Revolution the Machno bandits were raiding Mennonite villages causing untold harm to people and property. One night they came into Oma and Opa Block’s village, Neu-Chortitza. Oma was pregnant with their first child. Opa was not home. A bandit approached Oma and in spite of her condition assaulted her physically and sexually. Oma was distraught. After the bandits fled, Oma dragged herself outside to the well in their back yard. Her mind was filled with grief and shame. She thought that Opa would not understand her helpless state and possibly blame her for the rape. She decided that life wasn’t worth living. She determined to throw herself into the well and end her grief and shame. As she lay by the well quivering and weeping, she heard the footsteps of someone approaching. She was seized with fear, but then completely relaxed when she heard the familiar voice of her Aeltester, a man she greatly admired. She had been discovered by her church Bishop, Rev. Jakob Rempel. They talked for a while. He assured her that Julius (Opa) would have only thoughts of love and support. Her feelings of shame were misplaced, he said. There was nothing to forgive. The future was with Julius and not at the bottom of the well. Through that encounter at the well, Oma Block chose life. She later lost the baby she was carrying, but a year or so later my father was born and by 1926 they had migrated to Manitoba. The fireside story left the family stunned.
Nearly 60 years after the rape, Oma Block was visiting my family in Campden, Ontario while I was in high school. She had an opportunity to meet Ted. She could not get over how much Ted resembled his grandfather. She told me later that fall (1976) that she was so pleased that my relationship with Ted was blossoming. After all these years she felt she had a way of repaying Jakob Rempel for his great kindness. I didn’t really understand her rather cryptic comment. She waited four years to tell me and the rest of the family what she really meant. He had given her new hope at the well and the fact that nearly six decades later the grandchildren of those at the encounter were seemingly headed for a life together was giving Oma tremendous joy.
In July 2007 we went searching for the well. Rob and Sonja were the first to find the house, using the village plan that Viktor Penner (our tour guide extraordinaire) provided. We were ecstatic. Once Ted caught up to me at the house, we went to the back yard to find the well. Try to imagine the flood of emotions as we approached the well. How special it would have been to be able to go back to tell Oma that together with Jakob Rempel’s grandson I found her well of hope.
Esther, that was a very moving story that needed to be told. You told it so "well".
ReplyDelete