Mennonites in Belize

The following is a short narrative by a former female student of Twin Creek School   It saddens me to see the places where childhood memories were made changing or being changed, but we can't keep things the same forever, can we? The little one-room Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite schoolhouse where I spent 3 years of my childhood will be removed next week. I'm not sure if it will be relocated or sold. It closed down last year due to not enough students.   Twin Creek School was originally located close to Aguacate Lake crossroads, close to Leonard M Reimer, current owner of Midwest Steel Hardware. Back then it was called Edenthal School #20 I believe. However when I started attending it they had just relocated it further north, on a hilltop, where it received its name of Twin Creek. It is the northernmost schoolhouse in Spanish Lookout and the highest in elevation. It overlooks a wide, lush green valley.   I remember heading to school on a trailer made out of the bed of an...

  Now lets turn the table around and take a look at a few of the views held by SOME of the Plautdietsch Mennonites of Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek towards the other cultures around them.   Watch out for black people: if there is any  phrase that really makes me mad, it is to hear a Plautdietsch Mennonite say, "Watch out for that black guy." I will not deny the fact that some cultures seem more prone to crime than others. Also, I am not a phsychologist to explain why it is that the Creole culture has been the most impacted by this trait. However, there are many Plautdietsch Mennonites who do not hold prejudices and simply take people at face value no matter what color or culture they're from. I have relatives, co-workers, and very good friends who have coal black skin yet they are honest, hardworking individuals with high moral standards.   Spanish boys and men are big flirts: this might sound funny, but it is a very real fear held by some Plautdietsch parents wit...

  My Belizean readers and followers know all too well that tragic accidents have taken place on the roads of Spanish Lookout. Usually when this happens, the media outlets such as Love FM, Breaking Belize News, etc. are filled with reader comments such as "Spanish Lookout has no traffic laws", "12-year-old boys driving quads on the main road", "it is the worst place to drive because there are hardly any markings or signs", "there are no police checkpoints!" Here I simply want to explain a bit more of how some things are.   (Here's a link to an accident that happened last year at this time. I wrote the article a few days later:  https://belizemennonites.blogspot.com/2018/06/attending-mennonite-funeral.html )   To begin with, even though Spanish Lookout is an autonomous colony, it is still in Belize. It is true that traffic regulations are more relaxed but if you're a conscientious Belizean,  the same traffic law that applies to you ...

                    Spanish Lookout & Blue Creek   We'll take a brief look at a few of the misguided views about the Plautdietsch Mennonites of these 2 communities but first get this straight: both of these communities have TWO groups of Mennonites living in them, the conservative-minded, traditional Kleine Gemeinde and the non-traditional Mennonites from EMMC (Blue Creek and Spanish Lookout) and other charismatic churches (Spanish Lookout) in other words resembling the "pentecostal" type.   Taxes:  while they were exempted from social and military services and given the right to be self-governing, they were not waived other forms of taxation. Sales tax, income tax, etc. are paid by them to the gov, on top of which the member residents of the community still have to pay road tax and various other taxes to their own gov since they are still an autonomous community. So in a sense they are actually paying double tax...

    We attended a graduation service and end-of-school program at a Holdeman Mennonite school in Billywhite. This school was established in 1995 and has been privately run by the Holdeman congregation of this village. Both the school and church sit on the same yard.   The program was held in the church building. First the younger ones brought their part, then the older ones. There were songs, poems, and historical reports. Three students graduated from 8th grade. The school only supports the required 8 years of education.   After the program there were games and races, then a potluck dinner was served.   It was incredibly warm and humid.

  As mentioned before, Fountain of Life is one of those non-traditional churches in Spanish Lookout. On Friday night, June 7th, they held a repetition of a show performed 1 week earlier. The drama was called Agape and is based on Bible events from the beginning of Israel until the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It points out key events about the love story of God toward humans throughout Bible history.   Young men and women from different churches participated in the show, which was complete with costumes, makeup, curtains and realistic houses made out of plywood. It was an awesome presentation, the characters did an amazing job, they even threw in a bit of comedy. My applause to those performers. During the moment when the "soldiers" were nailing Jesus to the cross, a little boy was overcome with emotion. I myself was so engrossed that I did a poor job of taking pictures, sorry.   The entrance fee was $5 per adult, and snacks and drinks were sold at the door al...

  Normally I do not post my spiritual views on this blog. However, recently I overheard the familiar statement about Spanish Lookout: "God has blessed them abundantly because of their hard work and their Biblical standards".     1.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God is obligated to materially and financially bless all those who follow Him. If this was true, then all the Mennonites of Belize would be financially wealthy. The Beachy, Old Order, Holdeman, Conservative, etc. Not only the Mennonites but also the Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witness, Nazarenes, Methodists and so on because in one way or another they are all following God and practicing Biblical standards. 2.  In the Old Testament, the people of God had a real country with geographical definitions and political boundaries. It also had a physical governing body and civil laws. Under the Old Covenant, God indeed promised material blessings to some. Increase of cattle, extra farm land, prosperous ...

  Indeed, the largest and main settlement of Old Colony Mennonites in the country of Belize is on the verge of a radical change according to an older man I visited. Shipyard in Orange Walk, established 60 years ago and having grown rapidly since then, has undergone a series of changes which have over the years transformed the village from an agricultural closed community to an industrial and commercial one. George Wall's Hardware and Fuel Station   As I took a quick drive around a section of the community, I noticed that many of the newer homes built are made out of poured concrete, with indoor toilets and showers. The bathroom is either an extension of the house or built separately but still under the same roof. No longer the traditional path with the sagging outhouse at the end. You can still find wood houses here and there, but the most common material is galvanized sheet metal and the newer method, poured concrete.  I also noticed the amount of motor v...

  I took a little patient to the dentist in Shipyard. Mr. Herman Friesen and his brother are running the dentistry business, called Shipyard Medical Center, located in Camp 10, a short distance from the EMMC church. If doing refills, his fee is $25 per teeth for children and $50 for adults. He did not charge any consultation fee.   I had heard about this dental clinic years earlier and was curious about it so I did a bit of investigating. Did you know that people from as far away as Alberta in west Canada and Nova Scotia in the east have flown thousands of miles to come to Shipyard for dental care? According to some of my Canadian friends, taking care of teeth in Canada is ridiculously expensive. They say it's cheaper to buy a roundtrip ticket to Belize, pay $200 to have their wisdom teeth pulled, and tour the country a bit than to spend thousands of dollars at a Canadian dentist.   I don't remember how long this dentistry has been running but their father, Dav...