The Amish in Pennsylvania

In the middle of the Occupy Central drama, I had to go to the USA to visit a number of universities to explore opportunities for collaboration in Service-Learning.  It gave me a chance to visit the Amish country in Pennsylvania. 

The Amish history started in the later 1600s in Switzerland.  They were called Anabaptists because they insisted that those who were baptised as an infant have to be baptised again to be a true believer.  They believed in living simple lives and refused to adopt modern technology.  In the 1700s they emigrated from Europe.  They ride horse-drawn buggies rather than gasoline powered cars. 

They use horses to plough the field.  

You can have a four horse-power plough. 

Their horses can be beautiful and intriguing, when they look at you with those huge eyes.  

They ride scooters but not bicycles. Because you cannot go very far with a scooter, hence you are less likely to leave home.  

They dress very modestly, and do not like to get their images taken.

They are excellent farmers.

They are also excellent carpenters.  They are experts of modular design - they make benches and then stack 3 benches on a frame to make a table.  

They make all kinds of intricate roller games for entertainment.

For hundreds of years, they demonstrate to us that we can live simply and modestly if we really want to.