Mennonites in Belize

The view from our new location The sacrifices we parents undertake for our children often astound me. In my previous article I wrote about our children attending school at New Hope, a Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite mission school on the western edge of Spanish Lookout. Now that our children had been accepted the next big question was transportation. We debated between driving a total of 35 miles daily or sending them to school via bus. Not being a wealthy family, in the end we realized the most economical choice was to move closer to the school. Which we did and are now grateful for the proximity which enables us to be more readily available in case of an emergency and allows our children to be home at a much earlier hour, not to mention that my workplace is now also much closer.   Honestly we did not want to move. We have property in our home community, family and friends; yet after a long and hard look we both arrived at the same conclusion. Although 35 miles might not seem l...

New Hope Mission School, a conservative Mennonite-owned facility in Spanish Lookout They held hands as they walked towards the school building, their faces glowing with anticipation while the cool morning breeze ruffled their crisp new shirts. That big day, much talked about, discussed and imagined, was finally here. I felt a bit emotional as I waved goodby half an hour later.   We parents had endeavored to homeschool them for one term due to the Holdeman Mennonite school abruptly closing down in mid 2023 after being in operation since 1995. To say we felt stranded wasn’t accurate. Instead we began to be increasingly desperate as door after door appeared to be closing on us. One school was too modern; another was too rigid; yet another had no specific religious affiliation; government schools were not an option. Thus we settled on homeschooling until another little one arrived in the family, creating a challenge in our schedule. Early this year we commenced our search again ...