5 Things I Learned from the Plautdietsch Mennonites

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At the top of the list is...

1. Be brutally honest in your speech. Even if it's your own blood brother or sister in the Lord or your pastor, when you gotta speak, say it bluntly, say it without tact, say it like it is. No softener needed. Yes it's gonna hurt, but after all, it's the only way and it ended up turning jungle into pasture, swamp into cornfield, hills into processing plants, and mud into paved roads.

2. Be frugal. Do you really need that Coke? Is that mobile device necessary? True, there are Mennonites who carry this frugality to an extreme point where they would rather lose a finger than a dollar and their children go with threadbare clothes when better could easily be afforded. This would appear more of a vice than a virtue in my opinion. But in general, being frugal coupled with Biblical principles is something practiced by many Mennonites.

3. Be committed to whatever you start, be practical about it. Sometime ago I observed a five year old Mennonite boy engrossed in boring holes through wood with a large drill press. His father was busy repairing a truck, the other workers simply ignored him. Later I saw this industrious little five year old setting up and running the metal band saw. At the end of the day when I returned, he proudly displayed a mechanical toy he had completed. Meanwhile his 11 year old brother had been extremely busy working with various odd pieces of machinery and welding them together. He too had also completed his project. Perhaps these are the minds and characters that should be running the country of Belize.

4. Superstition is b***s. (broken science) At no time is this more apparent than now, when all around us we find a culture that promotes Halloween (Oct 31st) and Day of the Dead (Nov 1st). Witches, goblins, skeletons and pumpkin heads are completely rejected by the majority of Mennonites. A few liberal teenagers might play tricks on their neighbors, but it is rare. Also regarding astrology such as the signs of the Zodiac, or not swimming in the river on Good Friday, or hearing a dog howl in the middle of the night, etc., such things are paid little regard by the Mennonites.

5. No such thing as impossible. I sometimes wonder if that word even exists in the Plautdietsch language. The battlecry which non-Mennonite vendors dread the most is: "I can make it myself". And they do it themselves, be it man or woman.



   Note: the above is not to exalt the Plautdietsch Mennonites above any other culture or ethnic group in Belize. I am married to one and have spent a big part of my life living, working, sweating, laughing and enjoying life in a Mennonite community. Therefore I am simply pointing out some things I have learned from them. There are things about their culture which I strongly dislike and have not kept it quiet. As you read my blog, you will come across those issues.





                                A. Mendoza

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