Mennonite Families Flee Inflation in Belize
More than 50 years ago their ancestors travelled south from Canada to Mexico then on to Belize, all because of religious freedom. Now certain families are fleeing Belize in the opposite direction: north. Their reason this time: inflation which in their eyes amounts to a form of persecution and oppression. Certainly 99% percent of us Belizeans heartily agree with them on that.
At least 8 families from the small colony of Green Hills in south central Belize have left for southern Mexico where they aim to establish a new colony and discover better economic opportunities. They are tired of the constantly rising cost of goods and the high price of fertile farmland and have become disillusioned with the government.
These Mennonites are an ultra conservative , rigidly traditional sub-sect or branch of the Old Colony "Russian" Mennonites of northern Belize. In dress code they resemble the Noah Hoover of Springfield and Upper Barton Creek, with men sporting bushy beards, solid color shirts and black shoes. Women use plain blue or green dresses with black headcoverings. Yet they differ from the Hoover group in doctrine and technology, completely shunning all technology such as calculators, battery-powered flashlights, digital watches and using sunglasses. They are like the Old Colony in that they teach an old form of High German in their schools to prevent the youngsters from discovering the world via English literature as compared to the Hoover who teach English and speak the language as though they were born in and raised in the US. Their names and church members are Plautdietsch whereas the Hoover sect is composed of a mixture of Maya, Spanish and Creole due to their tolerance of other cultures which joined their church decades ago.
To my knowledge there are currently around 5 or 6 of these colonies scattered in the southern half of Belize. Lower Barton Creek and its "suburb" of New Holland, located about 7 miles south of Spanish Lookout. Green Hills and Neuland near St. Margareth on the Hummingbird Highway, Red Bank and Pine Hill in the farther south. In Red Bank there is also a colony of Hoover Mennonites.
The Noah Hoover sect (with colonies in Springfield, Birdwalk, Roseville and Red Bank) had been interested in immigrating to Suriname in South America along with a group of Old Colony from northern Belize in search of more economic freedom. But the mission failed for various reasons. I asked Mr Samuel Cal, a farmer from Birdwalk, why the Hoover are not as interested in immigrating as the "Russian" Plautdietsch Mennonites who are always on the move. He shrugged and responded that perhaps they had grown too accustomed to the atmosphere around them. If they ever migrated it would be the entire Hoover group not just a few families here and there.
A. Mendoza
