Loma Plata is a city in the district (''
distrito
Rudy Distrito (born May 17, 1958 in Bacolod), is a retired Filipino professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association. His moniker is The Destroyer because of his rugged and intense brand of play.
Amateur career
For three ...
)'' of
Department of Boquerón,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. It is located 407km from
Asunción
Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay.
The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...
by a paved detour of 22km from the
Ruta Transchaco. It is the main town of the
Menno Colony
Menno Colony is a Mennonite settlement located in the central part of the Chaco region, in northwest Paraguay, occupying an area of 7500 km² (2900 mi²). It was founded in 1926 by Plautdietsch-speaking descendants of Russian Mennonites ...
, one of the
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
colonies of the Paraguayan Chaco.
Climate
The temperature in summer reaches up to 44°C and can reach 0°C in winter. The average temperature is 26°C. The rainy season is December through March.
History
After Russia introduced the general
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
in 1874, about a third of the
migrated to the US and Canada, as Mennonite churches have a tradition of
non-violence
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
. The members of the Colonia Menno (of which Loma Plata is the current largest town and administrative centre), settled first in Canada until a universal, compulsory, secular education was implemented in 1917 that required the use of the English language. Conservative Mennonites saw this as a threat to the religious basis of their community. In 1927, 1,743 pioneers came from Canada to Paraguay and turned the arid
Chaco into fertile farmland. It was the first Mennonite colony in the region. Some years later, more Mennonite immigrants arrived in the Chaco area from Germany and Russia and founded the
Fernheim (1930) and
Neuland
Neuland is a German typeface that was designed in 1923 by Rudolf Koch for the Klingspor Type Foundry.
Koch designed it by directly carving the type into metal. The original typeface thus had a great deal of variance between the sizes, something ...
(1947) colonies.
The Mennonites' arrival was not properly prepared for by the Casado complex; the land had not been surveyed, no railroad had been constructed in the settlement location, and settlement was delayed by 16 months during which the Mennonites stayed in
Puerto Casado
Puerto Casado (formerly known as La Victoria) is one of the 4 districts in Alto Paraguay Department, Paraguay. It includes the town of La Victoria, Paraguay, La Victoria or Puerto La Victoria, which has a population of around 7,800.
History and ...
.
With no railway, the settlers travelled with oxen carts through underdeveloped roads. The gradual move to the settlement area started in April 1928. Initially some families lived in wilderness camps, while many still lived in Puerto Casado. Many became sick due to the lack of medical care, whereof 121 died, 75 of them being children under 14 years. Some 60 families returned to Canada. Eventually they formed 14 villages. Over time, infrastructure was built alongside houses such as schools and churches. Today, the Menno Colony has about 9,000 descendants of the approximately 1,200 settlers, and a multicultural demographic including Mennonites, indigenous Paraguayans, Latin Paraguayans, and other smaller groups.
In 1937, Loma Plata emerged as the colony center and a colony office was built (currently the Post office). Loma Plata is a Spanish name. Some settlers rejected it and petitioned for a German name. Loma Plata was unofficially renamed "Sommerfeld" but reverted to its publicly recognized name of Loma Plata within a dozen years.
Today, Loma Plata is the main town of the colony and home to an agricultural co-operative, La Cooperativa Chortitzer Ltda., which focuses on dairy and meat production.
Church
The first and biggest church building was built in Osterwick outside Loma Plata. Today there are several German speaking Mennonite churches as well as Spanish speaking churches. Some German speaking Churches are Emmanuelgemeinde, Elimgemeinde, Mennonitengemeinde, Bethelgemeinde, Hoffnung für Alle and Manoagemeinde. Agua Viva is a Mennonite Spanish speaking church. There are also Spanish/Portuguese speaking
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement churches.
Economy
Residents of Loma Plata are engaged in
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
, livestock and industry. They are organized in La Cooperativa Chortitzer Ltda. There are large dairies in the region, with about 5,000 persons living in Loma Plata. There are two large supermarkets and several smaller supermarkets and corner shops as well as hardware stores in Loma Plata. There is also a bookshop with German, English and Spanish books. There are many small clothes shops all over Loma Plata.
Health
Loma Plata contains one of the 4 hospitals in the department of Boquerón. It was constructed in 1948. The work and costs were largely covered voluntarily and with donations. The first building had a size of 17x50 feet with a consultation room, a laboratory, a pharmacy and three rooms for patients.
Today, the hospital in Loma Plata is a modern health facility and is part of the services provided by the Asociacion Civil Chortitzer Komitee. It does not provide services exclusively to Mennonite colony members. Outward specialists come to the colony on scheduled times throughout the year in order to provide services including child birth.
There is a health clinic at the hospital as well as a private health clinic in Loma Plata. Loma Plata has a nursing school where students can obtain a degree as a licensed nurse in cooperation with Universidad Evangelica de Paraguay.
There are also several private medical clinics in the town, some with doctors that work privately as well as in the hospital. There are dental clinics in as well. The pharmacies are all private, except the pharmacy at the hospital, which belongs to the Asociacion Civil Chortitzer Komitee.
Tourism
The tourist office is situated in a traditional building on the main street, north of the cooperative's supermarket. The tourist office screens a film on the founding of the colony daily.
Loma Plata has a museum with an outdoor exhibit of early farming equipment, a typical pioneer house, and a photographic exhibit on the colony's history. Guided tours are given in German, Plattdeutsch, Spanish and English.
The dairy production company "Trebol" also offers guided tours of their facilities.
Tours are available to the meat works, Frigochorti. The slaughtering process can be viewed through glass windows as it happens.
The Rodeo Club Isla Po'i, which belongs to the breeders' association in Colonia Menno, annually exhibits on June 12. The exhibit includes developments in agriculture and farming equipment, amongst other sponsors.
Transportation
Loma Plata is accessible via a paved road 22 km long, branching off the
Transchaco highway. Nasa and Golondrina provide bus services multiple times a day between Loma Plata and Asuncion. Loma Plata also has a private airport.
References
* Geography Illustrated
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
, Distributed Arami SRL, 2007.
* Geography of Paraguay, First Edition 1999, Publisher Hispanic Paraguay SRL.
External links
Loma Plata (Menno Colony, Boquerón Department, Paraguay)at
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) is an online encyclopedia of topics relating to Mennonites and Anabaptism. The mission of the project is to provide free, reliable, English-language information on Anabaptist-related top ...
National Secretary of Tourism
{{Authority control
Populated places in the Boquerón Department
Mennonitism in Paraguay
Populated places established in 1926
Russian Mennonite diaspora in South America