Filadelfia

Filadelfia is the caipital o Boquerón Depairtment in the Gran Chaco o wastren Paraguay. It is the centre o the Fernheim Colony It is aboot a 5 hour drive frae the caipital o Asunción. Filadelfia wis foondit in 1930 bi Roushie Mennonites who fled frae the Soviet Union. Filadelfia lay near the front o the Chaco War, but wis little affectit. It became dividit in the Seicont Warld War, wi some o the originally German colonists supportin the Nazis an later being expelled.

The day the toun is hame tae a museum, a library, a radio station an a hospital. The colony's villages lie aroond Filadelfia, as dae several native reserves, hame tae muckle o the aurie's native population, frae the Chulupí, Lengua, Toba-Pilaga, Sanapaná an Ayoreo groups. A modern supermarket is locatit in the centre o the toun, which is the last place tae get groceries afore headin farther oot intae the Chaco. Maist o the toun's potable water supply is drawn frae undergrund cisterns, being replenisht bi intermittent rainfall; the undergrund water is too salty tae drink. A sma commemorative pairk kent as Parque Trebol lies aboot 5 km (3 mi) tae the east o toun. It nou serves as a place for visitors tae camp for the nicht.

The newly asphaltit hieway frae Asunción continues past Filadelfia for anither 70 km (40 mi) an runs oot at the military checkpoint Mariscal Estigarribia. Frae this point onwards, the road tae the border toun fort General Eugenio A. Garay wi Bolivie is amaist impassable.

A distinguisht Roushie Mennonite writer an historian livin in Filadelfia is Peter P. Klassen.

References

• World Gazeteer: Paraguay

Freemit airtins

• Filadelfia (Fernheim Colony, Boquerón Department, Paraguay) at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
• The 'Green Hell' Becomes Home: Mennonites in Paraguay as Described in the Writings of Peter P. Klassen A review essay bi Gerhard Reimer, Mennonite Quarterly Review 76, no. 4 (October 2002): 460-480.