Kirkby - I am Hutterite the fascinating true story of a young womans journey to reclaim her heritage

Praise forI Am Hutterite

A beautifully crafted memoir of a simple, faithful life. I read it with the intense conviction of the many years I spent in judgment of people serving the same God in a different way than I. Reading I Am Hutterite allowed a personal glimpse into a private world, leaving me with the impression that Mary-Ann Kirkby and her beloved Hutterites are the same kind of different as me.

Ron Hall
coauthor of Same Kind of
Different As Me

Mary Ann Kirkby, in her outstanding book, I Am Hutterite, shares her own true story of moving out of the Hutterite culture in Canada as a youth, adjusting to the freedoms of eclectic culture today, but then reclaiming some of the outstanding character traits and faith and courage of the Hutterite culture she originally came from. I strongly endorse this book to understand another family of our own brothers and sisters both past and present.

Paul Meier, MD
author of more than 80
books and founder of the
national chain of Meier
Clinics

A superb memoir that takes us into the hidden heart of a prairie Hutterite colony. In a style both sparing and supple, Mary-Ann Kirkby conjures up both the warmth and simplicity of Hutterite life and the pain of leaving it. This has the makings of a prairie classic.

Award Jury,
Saskatchewan Book Awards

Honest, strong, clear, direct, it opens the door on what has been for so many of us a completely closed world.... If youve ever wondered about the life of a colony, and what it would mean to hold everything in common in this context, I encourage you to read this book. Its a beautifully sad story of one family who held onto faith, while at the same time choosing to stand for their own dignity and worth in a way that the colony could not understand. There is no hatred in this book, only a pervasive sense of loss, longing, and love, as well as an enduring respect for the freedom of what it means to truly live in faith.

Winnipeg Free Press

I Am Hutterite

I Am Hutterite

The Fascinating True Story of a Young Womans
Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage

MARY-ANN KIRKBY

2010 by Mary-Ann Kirkby

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kirkby, Mary-Ann.
I am Hutterite : the fascinating true story of a young womans journey to reclaim her heritage / Mary-Ann Kirkby.[Updated ed.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8499-4810-7 (hardcover)
1. Kirkby, Mary-AnnChildhood and youth. 2. Hutterite BrethrenManitoba Biography. 3. Hutterite BrethrenManitobaSocial life and customs. I. Title.
F1035.H97K57 2010
289.7092dc22
[B]

2009053304

Printed in the United States of America

10 11 12 13 14 WC 5 4 3 2 1

To my beloved parents, Ronald and Mary Dornn.
Thank you for teaching me the value of courage,
the importance of faith, and the power of forgiveness.

Contents

I FIRST MET Mary-Ann Kirkby in 1999 when she spoke at a womens conference that I helped to organize, called Women Connecting Women. Her description of life on a Hutterite colony held us spellbound, as did her bittersweet recounting of leaving the colony and integrating into a new culture. Most compelling was the point of view of her story: the voice of an eager, joyful, but sometimes confused and frightened ten-year-old girl seeking acceptance. To the outside world, she said, we were Hutterites and we were different. Even as a journalist, she kept her past hidden, reluctant to reveal her cultural heritage and open up the old scars of prejudice and suspicion.

The delegates were so moved by her story that they encouraged her to write more.

And so she did.

Her manuscript has been seven years in the making, but like an archaeological dig, this was not a story to be hurried. I joined her in a hunt for a history that was several layers deep, where fragments would reveal themselves in their own good time. Often, when we hit a dead end or a snag, someone would unexpectedly come forward with a photograph or letter that had been tucked away in a bottom cupboard or offer up a memory from long ago.

Occasionally, Mary-Ann would take me to a Hutterite colony. I had often seen the Hutterites shopping in local big-box stores, sitting in a reception room at a hospital, or selling fresh produce at the farmers market. Their unassuming demeanor and old-fashioned way of dress made me believe they were a shy and retiring people, but I quickly learned that on their home turf, their lives were as colorful and complex as those in the English world. In the big community kitchen at the Fairholme colony, I envied the head cooks fully stocked larder and industrial appliances, yet we were able to commiserate about the difficulty of keeping menus varied and which recipe for date squares provided the best flavor. Sometimes, we would time our visits for afternoon Lunschen at New Rosedale, and while we waited for the teakettle to boil, we would devour a plate of freshly baked buns and discuss education and politics. Each time I met with wise elders content with a life well lived, or saw their young peoples artwork or heard their exquisite choirs, I began to understand why Mary-Anns decision to share her story carried a heavy burden: her narrative would not only unravel her past; it would provide unique insight into the hearts and minds of Hutterite people.

Confronting the past has not always been easy for Mary-Ann, but in the end, her reward is a better understanding of who she is today. Her achingly poignant narrative is a balm to anyone who has faced ridicule and rejection, underscoring that who we are comes not from the clothes we wear or the songs we sing or the company we keep, but from a place deep within our souls.

I once believed that when the book was complete, the work would be over, but I now know the real opportunity for transformation lies ahead. When Jacob Hutter forged the Hutterite Church, his vision included a world without violence, where all things were shared; my hope is that this book will remind us that we are all part of the human family and that true harmony can be achieved with love, acceptance, and compassion in the absence of fear and judgment.

A. G.

Arvel Gray is a Winnipeg-based writer/broadcaster and
executive director of Waking the World, a project dedicated to
uniting the voices of women globally.

And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

ACTS 2:4445

THE HUTTERITE FAITH was born in the sixteenth century when Jacob Hutter, an Austrian hatmaker, led a fledgling group of Anabaptists to a new kind of Christian community. On a dusty path in Moravia in 1528, a handful of refugees from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and Austria put a rugged blanket on the ground and on it placed all of their possessions, including everything they were carrying in their pockets. Thus began our history.