A glimpse into the Amish lifestyle

Don and Dianne Kramer, former teachers from northeast Iowa, made their way through the Sigourney and Keota area libraries to share their interest and knowledge of Amish culture. A group of people that most don’t know much about, due to the little interaction between each other’s worlds, the Kramer’s wanted to answer questions and let people know about the employment of simplicity in the life of the Amish.

“We’ve always lived around them and we’ve enjoyed visiting with them, but what really got us going was tutoring at Divine Word College, where people come from around the country with the goal of becoming a missionary for the Catholic Church,” Dianne said. “They asked us if we knew anything about Iowa subculture, and we said we knew some things about the Amish. We put together a short program and then our library in Dyersville found out about it and they wanted us to expand upon it. We had a good reception when we did our more in-depth presentation there and soon after we became part of the program “Library Talks” which is made up of numerous libraries across the state.”

One of the most important things to know about the Amish are the limitations within each church community. Examples include not using public electricity, not being able to attend high school or college (education goes until eighth grade), nobody can run for public office and nobody can divorce as marriage is forever and eternal. Together, these are just some of the elements of the Ordnung or the set of rules set and carried on by various Amish peoples.

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