Hello. I’m Marina Santee.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Welcome to Spotlight. Thisprogramme uses a special English method of broadcasting.Itiseasierforpeople to understand, no matterwhere in the worldtheylive.
Voice 1
ItwasOctober 2006. A manentered a smallschool. Itwas in Pennsylvania, in the UnitedStates. He tiedup ten schoolgirls. Then hepulledouta gun. And heshotthem. Thesegirlswerebetween the ages of six and thirteenyearsold. TheywereAmishgirls.
Voice 2
The Amishpeople are a particular group of Christians. Theybelievetheyshouldlive simple lives. Most of themdo not use electricity, watchtelevisionor drive cars. Many of them are farmers. Ortheymakegoodsthattheysell in theirownstores. Theirclothes are simple too. Theyusuallyweardarkcolours - black, blue and brown. The womenwearwhitehats. Theyalsowearwhiteapronsovertheirclothes. The menwearwidehatsmade of straw. Marriedmengrowtheir facial hair, butunmarriedmenhave no beards. The Amishbelievethattheyshouldseparatethemselvesfrom the world. They do notwant the ideas of the world to influencethem.
Voice 1
The Amish are verypeaceful. They do notfight in wars. And they do notbelieve in violenceof anykind. So whywouldanyoneshootanAmishperson? Itis a mystery.
Voice 2
The manresponsibleforshooting the girlswas Charles Carl Roberts. Hisjobwas to drive a milktruck. Mr. Roberts gotmilkfromAmishfarms. He livednear the Amishschool. Mr. Roberts was a troubledman. He had a difficultpast. And he wasangryaboutit. He had no angertowards the Amish. But he stillchose to hurt the innocentlittlegirls. After he shot the children, he used a gun to killhimself. The police and ambulance drivers arrived at the school. Theytried tohelp. Butitwastoo late. Ambulance drivers took the girls to hospital. Several of the girlsdied.
Voice 1
Thistragiceventshocked the world. But the Amishremainedcalm and peaceful. Theirreactioncreatedinternationalinterest in the Amishway of life. Peoplebegan to askquestions. Whowere the Amish? And whatweretheirvalues?
Voice 2
Ancestors of the AmishcamefromSwitzerland and Germany. In the seventeenhundreds, they moved to the UnitedStates. Theylefttheir home country to havereligiousfreedom. Buttheykepttheirtradition and culture. Today, mostAmishlive in threestates: Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. There are aroundone-hundred and fiftythousand [150,000] Amish in the UnitedStates and Canada.
Voice 1
Among theAmish, there are severaldifferentgroups. The oldergroupslimit the use of moderntechnology the most. Forexample, theywill use only gas lights. And theywillnotpermittelephones in theirhouses. The newergroupspermit more technologysuch asmodernfarming machines. And they can evenown cars. Allthesegroupsmayhavedifferent ideas abouttechnology. Butthey arelinkedbylanguage. At home, most of themspeakanoldform of German. Buttheylearn English at school to communicatewiththeirneighbours. Theyevencall non-Amishpeople ‘the English’ or ‘Englishers.’
MostAmishfamilieshavemanychildren. Theywanttheirsons to be farmers. Butfarmlandisbecomingdifficult to buy. Landiscostly. And manyotherpeople are moving to the areaswhere the Amishlive. So landishard to find. The Amishfarminglifestyleisbeingthreatened. So the Amish are finding new ways of surviving. Theyhaveopenedstoresthatsellhand-madefurniture. They are working in factories. And some are permittingvisitors to come to theirhouses. Theycookdeliciousfreshmealsfor the visitorsfor a reasonableprice.
Voice 2
Families are veryimportant to the Amish. Communities are importanttoo. The peopleworktogether. Forexamplewhenonefamilyneeds a farmbuilding, the othershelp to buildit. Whenonefamilysuffers, the otherfamiliessupportthatfamily. So the shootings of October 2006 affected the wholecommunity. The communityimmediatelycametogether tosupport the girls’ families. Butthisisnotalltheydid. Theyalsoofferedsupport to the killer’sfamily - the Roberts. Thisshockedmanypeoplearound the world.
Voice 1
Daniel EshisanAmishman. He hadfamilymembers in the school. But he wasnotangry at the Roberts family. In fact, he wanted to helpthem! He said,
Voice 3
“I hope theystayaroundhere. And I hope theywillhave a lot of friendsand support.”
Voice 2
The Amishhadfunerals in theirhomesfor the younggirls. Hundreds of Amishwent to each funeral. Theyrode to the funerals in theirhorse-pulledvehicles. The bodies of the girls lay in hand-madecoffins -woodenburial boxes. The coffinswere open. The deadgirlswerewearingwhitedresses and whitehats. The Amishdidnottalkaboutdeath. Insteadtheytalkedaboutlife in the nextworld. After the funerals the peoplewent to the cemetery. Theretheyburied thebodies.
Voice 1
The killer, Mr. Roberts alsohad a funeral. Aboutseventy-five [75] peopleattended.Thisincludedhiswife Marie, familymembers and friends. However,almosthalf of the people at the funeral wereAmish! Theydidnotknow Mr. Roberts. Buttheywanted to show respect to hiswife Marie. Theyknewthatshemust be verysad. And thatshemustnowraisethreechildrenalone.
Voice 2
Manypeoplesentmoney to help the Amishfamilies. Usually the Amish do notacceptmoneyorhelpfromothergroups. Buttheyhaveagreedto keepthismoney. Theywant to show thattheyacceptotherpeople’skindness. Theywill use the money to payfor the hospital costs of the girls. But the Amishdidnotforgetabout Marie Roberts. Theyaskedpeople to sendhermoney. Theywant to makesurethatshe has help.
Voice 2
Tom isanAmishstorekeeper. He explainshowtheywereable to forgive,
Voice 4
“We are notunemotional. Thereissadness. Butwehave to followourfaith.Jesustoldus to loveourenemies. He can turnyourenemyintoyourbestfriend. Thatisfaith.”
Voice 1
Throughforgivenessthe Amish are able to findpeace. Theyhavelivedpeacefullivesforhundreds of years. And theywillcontinuetheirway of life in the years to come.