Do Nothing women

The Do Nothing women are the faction of Molotschna women who do not join the planned departure. Their position takes shape during a crisis in which the colony’s women have only two days to decide how to respond to the imprisoned attackers and the threatened consequences of refusing to forgive them. The group is not presented as a formal organization with named leaders or a stated program; its significance lies in the collective choice to remain outside the departure plan and in the practical ties that choice preserves within the colony.

Position in the crisis

At the outset, most of the colony’s men have gone to the city with Peters to post bail for the imprisoned attackers, hoping the men can return while awaiting trial. Peters has told the women that if they do not forgive the attackers, they will have to leave the colony for an outside world they know nothing about. Against this pressure, the Do Nothing women’s choice marks a distinction among the women themselves: not all will take the same path when the demand to forgive and the prospect of departure converge.

The choice to stay is set against the other women’s plan to leave after dark. They intend to pass the Chortiza Colony and Hiakjeke Colony unseen, making departure a coordinated and concealed undertaking. The contrast is therefore not simply between action and inaction: one group prepares for uncertain movement beyond Molotschna, while the Do Nothing women remain associated with the colony and its existing arrangements.

Kinship and information

During the planning, Mejal points out that the Do Nothing women’s menfolk are still in the city with Peters. Because those men have not returned, the women will not be able to inform them of the departure plan. Their absence becomes an immediate protection for the women preparing to leave: the plan can continue without being relayed to the men through this channel. The passage presents this as a circumstance of timing, not as evidence that the Do Nothing women have joined or actively endorsed the escape plan.

The group’s decision also shapes family choices. Cornelius will not accompany the women who leave; his mother is in the Do Nothing camp, and he has no choice but to remain with her. His situation makes visible the limits placed on individual choice by family attachment and dependence. The division between those leaving and those staying consequently reaches beyond the women who make the decision, determining where a son remains as well.

Care and the colony’s daily life

The women’s meeting takes place amid the ordinary work that keeps the colony functioning. As the day ends, the cows still need milking, supper must be prepared, and the dogs need feeding, although the person who would ordinarily care for them is away. Agata reassures the women that the tasks can be handled by those on the ground while the meeting continues. The scene makes domestic and animal care part of the decision’s material setting: deliberation has to proceed alongside work that cannot simply be suspended.

Agata also says that care will be entrusted to the Do Nothing women and to the fathers, who are expected back soon. The statement places the group within the colony’s practical arrangements even as the departing women organize a separate future. The passage does not specify every responsibility included in this care, but it establishes that remaining women are part of the plan for meeting needs after the others leave.

A divided collective

The Do Nothing women are defined primarily through contrast with those who leave, yet the evidence does not reduce their position to a single motive or describe internal debate among them. Their choice has concrete consequences: their menfolk’s absence temporarily limits the spread of the departure plan, care is assigned to them alongside the returning fathers, and Cornelius remains with his mother. Meanwhile, the departing women prepare to travel at night with a map and supplies. These parallel arrangements show a community dividing its people and responsibilities under pressure, rather than resolving the crisis through a decision shared by everyone.