Great Trek 2009 - Khiva 9

This Great Trek, tracing the original route has taken place now, (May 24- June 4, 2009) with Tour Leader John Sharp.

In 1880-81 five wagon trains of Mennonites left European Russia and headed east to Central Asia along the famous Silk Road. Seeking freedom from conscription and new economic opportunities, this group went east instead of west to North America as 18,000 did a decade earlier. In the last two years, new details of the Great Trek have emerged in the remarkable Silk Road cities of Khiva, Samarkand and Bukhara. John Sharp, history professor at Hesston College who has a passion for the Anabaptist story, and has studied primary and secondary sources on the Great Trek, was the leader on this trip.

In his blog notes on their trip, John Sharp mentions there that the museum did not open after all as planned, but the tour got to see many other interesting things, and hear stories from the local people.

Walter Ratliff's book, Pilgrims on the Silk Road, and video, Through the Desert Goes our Journey, both are doing very well in sales and in awards and they are receiving the wider distribution and audience they deserve. Some people from the Rosthern area were on the second excursion to Khiva and area which was held in 2010. We hope in the near future to hear more from them about their adventures. To learn more about these developments and to get copies of these works please connect with the web site: http://walterratliff.com/.