Agricultural Exchanges
Interlake perspectives and memories
Author: Otto Christensen, Gimli, MB
Born with a charming personality and a desire to explore the world, Hans H. Kristensen got to live a life of adventure and commitment. He discovered his own strength as an organizer, and he empowered others to work for the common good in an area unknown to many. He was the founder of International Agricultural Exchange Association, a program that had a profound impact on thousands of individuals. He can rightfully be called a bridge-builder between cultures, across oceans and generations. The Manitoba Interlake region hosted numerous “ag-trainees” during 1965–95, resulting in strong bonds and long-lasting relationships. Sometimes trainees married into the host community. Often a host family traveled abroad to visit the trainee families, personal relationships that fostered world visions of fraternity and equality.
Actually, I have lived with the benefits of this program for many years unaware of the program’s roots. Only recently have I started to dig deeper. This article is an attempt to share the story.
Audrey and Melvyn Eyolfson were my Manitoba neighbours in Arborg/Geysir for many years. We did many neighbourly things, but little did I know that they played an important role in the exchange program. Melvyn was the chair of the Manitoba Host Family Association, Audrey the supervisor for the trainees, sorting out issues of placement and miscommunication.
Recently, we met in the Eyolfson’s cozy sunroom to talk about the program. It was a dear recall of some of the experiences they had over the years. For one thing, Melvyn and Audrey met each other through the program in 1980 and were married the year after. How their romance unfolded is another story; suffice it to say it definitely created a common interest in supporting the program. They have spent countless hours volunteering and networking. As a married couple, they hosted no fewer than 21 trainees on their farm. Trainees came most often from Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and England, but also from New Zealand and Australia “down under” as the program started to offer a year-long experience: six months on the southern hemisphere and another six months up north. After the trainee left for the home country, they inevitably became part of the extended family with whom they had spent so much time. Melvyn and Audrey’s “trainee family” is large. Many of them are still their Facebook friends and in some cases the Eyolfsons have visited them in the trainee’s home country.
To give you an idea of the extent of the program, in Manitoba alone, there were well over 100 trainees and host families in any given year. Multiply this by 35 years and you realize the enormity of the impact this has had on lives and the communities.
Audrey was a trainee in the Teulon area. At the time, there were different “wages” for male and female trainees. Audrey recalls how her host family soon recognized the worth of her contribution and told her that they would gladly get on board with equal pay for equal work. At the time, in the ’70s–’80s, this was an advanced approach to gender equality. For Audrey this was a treasured validation of her work on the farm.
I asked Melvyn if he ever met Hans H. Kristensen, the founder of the exchange program. Melvyn chuckled and smiled, and he recalled a conference in Brandon where Hans H. had walked on his hands – his trademark feat – to make a point for the audience. Hans was known for his communication style. He was fluent in body language and often “spoke” it to make a point.
The program was administered out of Calgary, but included all the western provinces. Each province held a welcome seminar at the beginning of the term. In Manitoba, this was often held in the Gimli area – e.g. on the Air Base or at one of the “Fresh Air Camps.” This also became the site where the host family and trainee would meet face to face – reunion in some way, as the relationship had developed by sending “biographies” back and forth. The trainee then became a member of the household for the six-month term.
Audrey recalls how this in most cases turned out very well. Often the trainee would be given access to a vehicle and be afforded generous leisure time for exploring the area and meeting with other trainees. There were also times where this did not work and Audrey had to mediate – maybe help the trainee find a more suitable host family.
The program also offered the trainees travel experiences in North America. These were bus trips such as a Wild West, Trek Yukon and Alaska, and Trek USA. They were placed at times where field work on the farm was at a low and participants from all provinces could meet and be teamed up with experienced guides. These trips were very popular – as Hans H. was an excellent travel coordinator.
What I have come to know about Hans H. is mostly based on correspondence with his brother Gunnar and his fellow organizer Erik Hansen. Information is also gleaned from a book written by Arne Falk Rønne, Australien, Invandrernes Land. It is not an attempt at a biography. Rather it is shared as a way to understand how the International Agricultural Exchange Association came to be.
Hans H. Kristensen grew up in a farm family that moved often as employment shifted from farm to farm. When he reached his teenage years, the family had acquired their own farm in Dalby, near Kolding, Denmark. Having changed elementary schools often, Hans wanted to do something practical rather than continue his schooling. He dropped out and found work on a farm for a few years. He was wondering about his place in life, though. Did he really want to be a farmer? How was it to be a farmer in another country? Perhaps he could find himself some answers by attending the Grundtvig-inspired folk high schools – known for a wholesome curriculum, often with a focus on health and fitness.
It turned out this was what he needed for an inspiration. Drawn to experiential learning, he figured it would be fun to work on a farm in some other country; and why not in Canada? He contracted with a farmer near Lloydminster in Saskatchewan and filled out his immigration papers. Twenty-one years old; the year 1955. Away he went.
What he came to on the Canadian prairies was a grain farm of one thousand acres, very different from anything he had ever done. The agreement was that he would live on the farm and work from spring to fall. At the end of the season, he would collect his bonus and move back to Denmark. It turned out he never got the bonus he had been promised. So much for the adventure. Well, what then? For the little money he had, he went to Edmonton to look for a job. Luckily, his fitness certificate from Denmark qualified him for a job as a personal trainer at the YMCA. In this job, he came in contact with many people and he got many leads on alternative jobs. He tried a few: truck driving, facility manager, house-sitting, etc. All the while he became a regular at the Scandinavian Club in Edmonton. Here he found a supporting and caring community, and he also met and fell in love with Karen, a nurse from Haderslev, Denmark. Just like Hans, she had left to try something different. Hans and Karen were married in 1959, and Hans’s brother, Gunnar, actually came to attend the wedding. Unlike Hans’ solo adventure, Gunnar had embarked on a two-year trip to the United States. It was organized by the Denmark-America Foundation (now Travel to Farm). This program placed students on farms with a host family and supported them during their stay, paid a small allowance, and gave them a chance to travel the continent while abroad. A few years later this would provide a template for what Hans set out to do on a large scale.
Meanwhile in Edmonton, Hans started selling real estate in 1961. In this capacity he met Max Ward who was all fired up about starting a travel business – getting passengers back and forth between Canada and Europe. This was at the time when jet engines and air travel were in their infancy. Bigger planes – longer distances. Hans and Karen were interested in the idea, hoping perhaps to land themselves a trip back to Denmark. The deal was that they would gather a group of Danish Canadian immigrants from in and around Edmonton interested in a visit to the old countries – if and when Max Ward managed to launch the charter business. So, in 1962, Karen and Hans with children found themselves on board Wardair’s DC 6 (a four-engine propeller aircraft) for a visit to Kolding and Haderslev, Denmark.
Back in Edmonton after the visit, Max Ward’s charter business took off and Hans became an employee with WardAir. In 1964, Hans was offered a position as an agent for Wardair in Europe and he and the family moved back to Denmark. Hans’s many contacts on both sides of the Atlantic formed the beginning of what became the Scandinavian-Canadian Friendship Association (Scandinavisk-Canadisk Venskabs Forening). For a small membership fee, it was possible to purchase discount transatlantic airfares. Over the years thousands of people have benefitted from this. It offered a welcome opportunity for many families and relatives to deepen their relationship.
Hans’s agricultural background now combined with the surge in the travel industry. It led him to explore how it would be possible for young agriculture students to work abroad in a safe and organized setting. He and his brother Gunnar had already worked out a rough idea of how this could work. All he needed was an organization to buy into it. Danish farmers had a network of schools and resources, but when Hans approached the leadership they only wished him good luck. They were not interested. And still, there was a branch of young farmers. When Hans got to know Erik Hansen, the newly appointed administrator, the two of them agreed to proceed with the project. Hans took off to Canada in search of host families and Erik became the first contact for the many interested applicants. By the spring of 1965, the plane was chartered and the 170 young ag-students were ready to travel. Only the temporary immigration papers were missing.
The story goes that Hans went to the ministry in person and asked for the permits. This had not been done before, and the ministry was not convinced that it would be a viable project. Hans then in his most characteristic fashion said, “Well I will personally guarantee its success; and I am not leaving before I get the permits – even if I have to sleep right here on the carpet.” After some senior bureaucrats were contacted, the person came back and reported, “Well, we can’t have you sleeping on the carpet, so here are the permits.” End of story. Hans was persuasive in other ways as well. He is known for saying: “If I can walk on my hands, you should agree to the proposal.” He would then empty his pockets and turn himself upside down – at times walk down a flight of stairs on his hands – showing off the skills he had maintained since he learned them in his youth at the folk high school.
The proposed project was named: International Agricultural Exchange Association. It launched as an extension of the newly established travel agency – Hans H. Kristensen Travel Ltd.
After the first successful year, the IAEA expanded to include youth from England, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and other nationalities. Also, the list of host countries expanded. Australia and New Zealand were added, and the new slogan was “Round the world in a year – from summer to summer.”
In the late 1980s, Hans H.’s Travel Company was bought out by a competitor and the exchange program had a name change. The program was now Agriventure/IAEA, and from 2010 it became the current Communicating for Agriculture Education Programs (CAEP). For Hans H. this meant a big change. He and the family moved to Bloomington, Minnesota, and Hans started a new travel company which he managed until 1998 when his health was starting to fail. He died in 2004 and his ashes were brought back and buried in Denmark in the Dalby Cemetery, by Kolding.
It is not possible to measure the impact of the IAEA program. Peder Jensen says, “Without the program I would not be where I am today.” Peder’s story is unique, yet similar to many others. He came to Canada in 1982 from Vr. Sottrup in Southern Jylland on a six-month stay. Before the end of the stay, Peder, with some Danish funds and the help of his host family (The Johnsons), had paid a deposit on a farm in Arborg, Manitoba. Peder returned to Denmark for a short stint but came back to take over the farm and to form a partnership with Debbie, the two of them having met the previous summer. Peder and Debbie were soon after married and have operated the farm successfully ever since.
Robin Sparkes, a trainee from England, met Wanda, a local young woman, as a result of the placement in the IAEA program. Robin’s host family – the Fosters (first Harold and Alda, then Ken and Trudy) – were extremely kind and generous, even offered the couple a piece of land on which they could “settle and live.” Some years later Robin and Wanda bought farmland and built their farm from the ground up.
From host families, the accolades also testify to the impact and success of the program. “One of our daughters fell in love with a Danish trainee who stayed on a neighbouring farm (the Narfason’s). Together they have had a wonderful life and we as hosts, parents, and grandparents have been blessed richly.” These are Ray and Alma Sigurdson’s words. They have traveled extensively to visit relatives and other trainee families. They have been a host family for 11 trainees. Ray and Alma have adopted an international perspective on life and they credit their attitude of hospitality and kindness largely to the IAEA program.
Sixty years after the founding of IAEA, the original “pioneers” – the first group of trainees – still keep in touch. This year they arranged a reunion at Stevns Klint, south of Copenhagen. Gunnar, Hans’s brother, now in his 90s, who in so many ways aided the launch of the program, was one of the participants. His words: “Three weeks ago I had the great pleasure of being invited to participate in the 60-year reunion of the pioneer group of 1965. It was tremendously enjoyable and exciting to meet ‘the boys’ who are now in their 80s. Appr. 35 participants. A fair number have passed away. Frede Damm made a fine speech about Hans and the big impact of his vision and dedication to the program. A wonderful day at Stevns.”
When the common good is the focus – and you move out of your comfort zone – the results can be life-changing for both oneself and for the people in one’s circle of life. Hans Hjort Kristensen was one of those people who lived to make a difference.
