Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

hort time by a visit at the home of some friends. Among them were two Mennonite families, formerly wealthy land owners and proprietors of a very large modern mill. Nevertheless our joy was not unmixed, for what we saw and heard made us sad. These good people had been deprived of all their property, and 242 FEEDING THE HUNGRY were now living in very humble quarters within sight of their former mill. One of their erstwhile hired men, who was kindly disposed, loaned them the keys so that they could take us through the mill. Our hearts were touched by the report that these families did not have food to eat. All through the winter they had measured and allotted to each in the family but a very limited portion, but now by spring the reserves were exhausted. I saw the pain in the eyes of the father at the thought that his family, who had lived under such comfortable conditions before, now were starving. Some of our American friends may inquire why we did not at once send them food. A natural question to ask. But we must say that we did not send them food, as our heart and mind would have dictated. Our agree- ment with the Russian government which permitted us to enter Russia for feeding purposes, stipulated definitely, that in sections where we began to distribute food, we would do so to all the needy in like measure, regardless of race or religion. Nikopol is quite a large town, and we could not begin to supply all the needy with food, so we were not permitted to do any feeding. We had to leave these good people with bleeding hearts. Only some weeks later, when some of the food remittances were at our disposal, was it possible for us to remember them. At the local government office we were kindly re- ceived, but soon we noticed that there was considerable prejudice against some of the Committee members, who had been selected to distribute the food of the A.R.A., which organization was planning to begin feeding in that section soon. A kindly word and the attitude of fairness seemed to have a good effect upon the official, who prom- ised to cooperate in the labors of mercy. The A.M.R. had some time earlier organized a committee in this community, and had sent some food to be distributed in the Mennonite communities not far north from the town. VIZUALIZING FAMINE CONDITIONS 243 This earlier action had prejudiced the official against our committee and made the work more difficult. THE NEPLUYEV VILLAGES That same fight we said farewell to the friends in Nikopol and traveled north to Nepluyev, a group of Mennonite villages, and arrived at the home of a Rev. Penner, a little before mid-night. We were cordially received. To our suggestion that we have a meeting with their local committee that very night, he responded with a hearty affirmative. All got into the truck and drove to the next village, where several other members of the committee lived. One interesting fact that we discovered at ou