Mennonites in Belize

     "They made a mistake," he stated as he solemnly shook his head.   I leaned against his faded buggy and politely asked him about the Old Colony Mennonites who had left Shipyard for Peru. This elderly gentleman knew English more than Spanish which was a surprise to me. In fact he was fluent until he explained that he was born in Canada and migrated to Belize in his childhood. Now his accent made sense to me.   "They could have simply bought more land and expanded here, but no, they wanted to escape the worldliness around here." He insisted that no matter where you went, ungodliness was all around. Just look at Shipyard. More cars than buggies on the roads it seemed like. Smartphones everywhere. Due to the decaying world, it wouldn't be long until the new settlements in Peru would be just as "worldly" as Shipyard.    I asked him if they ever returned. He said now and then a few would arrive for a short visit but so far it appeared they were settled i...

     She has intense blue eyes and a confident walk with masculine strength in her arms, she does. If Shipyard weren't so far away I would return every week, yes sir, I certainly would.   It was a cloudy day with heavy gusts of wind which brought the rich odor of several hundred pigs across the road directly into our nostrils and all the way into our toes it seemed. My relative commented that the smell of pigs is the smell of money. True, raising pigs is quite a profitable business in Belize but unfortunately we were here for a massage not to soak in the wealthy odor of the hogs down the road. Like it or not, we were forced to smell those thousands of dollars wallowing in mud for another 30 minutes while we waited for Mrs. Klassen to arrive. Shipyard has no zoning laws.   I don't know what I expected but it certainly wasn't the slender short lady with bright blue eyes. Initially I doubted she would have the strength and expertise needed to deal with my injured s...

      Mr. Isaac Fehr is a certified doctor on the outskirts of Shipyard, an Old Colony Mennonite community in Orange Walk. We travelled to his office along with some relatives to see if our organs were functioning the normal way or if any wires were crossed or brains still awake. Turned out our relative needed a good dose of his tonic and other vital supplements to restore certain parts of the brain .   I discovered he's also a surgeon and chiropracter who studied in Mexico. His method of discovering what is wrong with you is by placing your hand on a scanner then reading a computer screen to see where the problem is. Based on his popularity the method appears to be quite effective in diagnosing illnesses. Shortly before we left he announced that he was expecting a busload of Mennonites from another colony.   Mr. Isaac Fehr can be contacted on the following number: 672-3817. DeStemm Radio station near Shipyard Mennonite News View Blog        ...

     Is having a maid a luxury or a necessity?   We learned a lot of lessons from hiring a Plautdietsch Mennonite maid. Not only did she introduce new Plautdietsch dishes, she has given us a small yet profound glimpse of life among those who are from the Old Colony communities and pointed out practical ways of dealing with certain situations.   At first I wasn't too impressed with her cooking. Now I have accepted my fate and moved on. Have you ever eaten soup from green papayas? Or buttered soup from young tender pumpkins? Or prepared flour tortillas with sugar? The last one created an uproar among certain members of our little family and for a moment I contemplated her salary. No Mestizo girl in her right mind would add sugar to tortillas. But a bit of sugar in the tortillas made by a Plautdietsch girl could be overlooked in exchange for her hard work. We soon saw the funny side of it though and honestly I appreciate and enjoy her cooking.  She also pointe...

     Springfield colony, a community of Hoover Mennonites in the northeast Cayo District, is springing up and out. According to a farmer of that village, they have recently purchased a small tract of land to the north, near Beaver Dam bridge by St. Matthews village. The colony now numbers around 40 families which led them to consider immigrating to Suriname but when that failed they decided to search for land in Mexico however due to certain reasons they decided to remain in Belize.   For the record, these Hoover Mennonites (commonly mistaken for "Amish") are different than the "Russian" Mennonites such as the Kleine Gemeinde and Old Colony in that they are much more conscious of their responsibility towards the land and do not clear out large tracts of land at one time. Firstly because having too much farm land available leads to pride, greed, and materialism second because they do not believe in using any motorized equipment which means that plowing and other fiel...

     I first tasted it 18 years ago.    Last month I tried again. Honestly. I vowed to conquer my fear of cheese or any dairy product for that matter. I believed 2025 would be the year I would become fully Plautdietsch ("Russian") Mennonite since I am married to one and resolved, so help me, that I not only could but would eat werenaki  or perogies, folded pockets of boiled flour dough with cottage cheese filling and a white schmauntfat accompanied by a tasty piece of formavarscht.   I served myself a helping of it. The cheese... ok, let's just say mission accomplished for now. I'm good for another 18 years. Somebody reccomended I try the fried werenaki . Thanks, Sis. I will.   There's other Plautdietsch dishes I look forward to. One of my favorites is salted fryjacks with watermelon...uh, I mean rebus mat rollkuchen, homemade buns spread with butter and a bowl of noodle soup. Occasionally, I eat somma borsch. Mennonite News View Blog   ...

     The cool wind created ripples on the placid waters which created a distorted yet uniquely beautiful and breathtaking reflection of the setting sun. Quality time being my love language, I simply sat with folded hands and observed both the lake and the pedestrians while wondering why it is so difficult for many individuals in my generation to sit for more than 5 minutes without pulling out their phones. (Perhaps for me it's because several years ago we completely left Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and 1 or 2 others and vowed, so help us, that we would never return to them. We have never regretted that decision or had any doubts about it.) I had mine along for a clock and communication, not for wasting valuable time on it.   Valuable time such as noticing that the sun had shifted farther north since last week. A Guatemalan cattle truck was parked across the pasture and I overheard faint snatches of the conversation. I caught a whiff of a pig barn then the s...