In early December, the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation board travelled to several Mennonite communities in Belize: Blue Creek, Shipyard, Little Belize, Neuland, Spanish Lookout, and Lower Barton Creek.¹ The purpose of the trip was to connect with local Mennonites and give members of the board insight into Mennonite life in these communities, which have historical connections to the 1870s Mennonite migration from imperial Russia to Manitoba.

Belize is a small country, with an area of less than 23,000 square kilometres. From the northern border with Mexico to the southern border with Guatemala is only 290 kilometres. From the Caribbean Sea in the east to the western border, again with Guatemala, it is only 110 kilometres at its widest point. In this comparatively small area live nearly 450,000 people. Of these, over 11,000 are Low German–speaking Mennonites. However, the descriptor “Low German” should be used with caution, because in a few colonies or communities, especially Blue Creek and Spanish Lookout, people speak more English than Low German. High German is in danger of extinction in these two colonies, as only a few of the younger generations still speak the language.

We began our visit with a two-day stay in Blue Creek, where the board spent a day having its semi-annual meeting. This community, founded in 1958 by Mennonites from Mexico, is in the very northwest of the country. The lands of Blue Creek border directly with Mexico. In the small village of La Union, you can walk through an almost empty riverbed to Mexico in the dry season. In the rainy season, you have to cross this border river by boat or by swimming. The community has a population of approximately eight hundred. Something unique about this community is the way in which the villages have been laid out. Many people have built their homes on top of a hill. You need quite a bit of horsepower to drive up there. In terms of church life, the vast majority belong to either the Kleine Gemeinde or the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church. However, there are also more and more people who do not belong to any congregation. Economically, they are largely dependent on agriculture. Most people farm and raise livestock. Many people in Blue Creek work in chicken farming. There is a chicken hatchery and a slaughterhouse where thousands of chickens are slaughtered every day – some days over twenty thousand. In the centre of Blue Creek are shops, a hotel, restaurants, a retirement home, churches, and schools.

From there, we spent a day visiting Little Belize and Neuland. Little Belize, founded in 1978, is an offspring of Shipyard colony. It is located about 25 kilometres northeast of the town of Orange Walk, and about 45 kilometres northeast of Shipyard. If the road to Little Belize was not so poorly maintained, you could probably drive there from Orange Walk in less than half an hour. At the time of our visit, the sowing of soybeans had been completed. The winter sowing will generally be done in November. The fields looked promising, as there had been plenty of rainfall, and farmers were optimistic that there could be a good harvest.

Neuland is also an offspring of Shipyard, founded in 2011, making it one of the youngest colonies in the country. This colony is located fewer than 10 kilometres from the Caribbean Sea. Twelve years ago one could see only dense forest; now there are several villages, with a total population of one thousand people. When I travelled to Neuland for the first time in 2015, some of the villages had not yet been built and there was still a lot of forest. Today, the area has been transformed, with the forests replaced by the fields and farms of the settlers.

In both colonies, we were given a friendly welcome. We were curious to learn more about life in the colonies and their history, and the Mennonites of the colonies were curious to hear more about the work of the Plett Foundation. This often resulted in very lively and animated conversations. In Neuland, we visited a lending library that the foundation helped to establish by providing books and financing.

On December 10, we got up early in the morning and attended a church service in Shipyard colony. Afterwards, we spread out to have lunch with several families. This gave us the opportunity to have more personal conversations. Many thanks to all those families who opened their homes to us.

Shipyard was one of the first three colonies founded in Belize in 1958. These settlers also came from Mexico, mostly from Durango. The colony is located slightly southwest of Orange Walk, in the north of Belize. Until a few years ago, all the Mennonites of Shipyard would have belonged to the Old Colony church. Today there is a small group that has split off from it. Although the majority of people still make their living from agriculture, businesses and factories have sprung up in recent decades. Another striking feature is the number of sawmills that can be seen in this colony. The logs that are processed have to be transported from farther and farther away, as there are fewer forests nearby. The wood is not only sawn here, but also largely processed. There are several furniture manufacturers and builders in the area. From this colony there have been numerous emigrations, resulting in the formation of offspring colonies: Nueva Esperanza in Bolivia, Little Belize and Neuland in Belize, and Shipyard in Peru. Recently there has been great interest in founding an offspring colony in Suriname. Land has been inspected by delegates from Mexico, Bolivia, and Belize, and purchased. At the time of our visit, Suriname had approved a pilot project that would allow the settlement of fifty Mennonite families, but in February the government decided to rethink this project, which was opposed by conservation groups and Indigenous communities.

The next stop for the Plett Foundation board was Spanish Lookout. Among the colonies of Belize, Spanish Lookout has experienced the most drastic economic growth. This colony was founded in 1958 by Mennonites from the colony of Los Jagueyes, Chihuahua, Mexico. Under difficult conditions, they were able to build a thriving and economically successful community. Initially, most of the community probably belonged to the Kleine Gemeinde. Today there is an array of church groups here, and it is said that only around 60 to 65 percent of the 3,000 people still belong to the Kleine Gemeinde. As in Blue Creek, there are paved roads all the way to the community. But several asphalt roads also run through it. Since Spanish Lookout has numerous factories and larger businesses, many workers are needed from outside the colony. It is estimated that between 2,500 and 3,000 non-Mennonites come to work in Spanish Lookout every day from San Ignacio or from the outlying settlements around the community. They live in a similar way to those in Spanish Lookout: everyone has a house with a yard, there are schools, small shops, etc. As the government does little to educate this population of workers, the Kleine Gemeinde has financed missionary schools for decades. Hundreds of non-Mennonite children are educated in these schools and prepared for the world of work in Spanish Lookout. These schools are Christian, and aim to teach students about the Bible and instill Christian values. Most of the teachers come from Spanish Lookout.

We visited the Cayo Deaf Institute (CDI), where deaf children from all over the country are housed and taught. At this school, many children learn sign language for the first time. The school and all the facilities at CDI are largely maintained by donations from Spanish Lookout and volunteers from far and wide. When we visited, fifteen deaf children resided at the school. There were also three children who were not deaf but had deaf parents. The aim is to teach these children sign language so that they can communicate better with their parents. Some of the employees’ children also take part in the lessons.

On our last day, we visited the community of Lower Barton Creek, accompanied by Isaak Friesen from Spanish Lookout. Most of the people in Lower Barton Creek originally came from Spanish Lookout. The community was founded in the 1960s when a few dozen families left Spanish Lookout, about 20 kilometres away, because it had become too progressive for them. Many practices have taken a big step back here. All work is done by hand or with horses. Motorized or battery-powered machines, equipment, or vehicles are not allowed. The men wear beards; the clothes are homemade and simple. The farms are small, generally only a few hectares in size. The Mennonites of Barton Creek live off the land. They grow vegetables, breed pigs and cattle, and sell these at the local market. They drive out to the market every week because they don’t want the traders or buyers to come into their community. In many ways, the Mennonites of Lower Barton Creek are similar to the Old Order Amish.

Our visit to this small settlement took place under rainy conditions. This was a problem because the roads in this colony are only intended for horse-drawn vehicles. They are narrow, muddy, and slippery when wet, which made it difficult to see much of the community. We met up with several people from the colony under a roof where they often slaughter cattle and pigs during the week. The conversations were lively, but very respectful. Walter Friesen and others from Barton Creek were willing to answer questions from the curious Canadians.

Every time you travel to a Mennonite colony, you learn something new. On this trip, one of the things I learned was that most colonies in Belize no longer call themselves “colonies.” They use the English word “community” to describe themselves. In German, one would use the word Gemeinde or Gemeinschaft. In this case, however, it has nothing to do with the ecclesiastical Gemeinde, as it is known in our Mennonite circles. It is more about a living community, a group of people who live together on a certain area or piece of land.

In conversations in the colonies, we heard many times how difficult it was in the beginning. People had to fight against vermin, poor driving conditions and impassable roads, the often-stifling heat, sometimes too little and sometimes too much rain, the almost impenetrable forest, dangerous wild animals, and much more. There was hardly any economic progress to be seen in the first decades. This has changed. Progress can be seen in all “communities” in Belize. Prosperity can also be clearly seen in some colonies. Harry Letkeman, one of the three administrators of Spanish Lookout, said that the first twenty years were a struggle for life. “It was about clearing the forest and building an economy. In the following twenty years, [we] tried to improve the infrastructure, such as roads and buildings. Today, many in the community live in prosperity,” Letkeman said.

Generally speaking, Belize is a poor country. The country’s economic, political, and military development have lagged in comparison to other places. Within this context, Mennonites have made a tremendous contribution to food production, growing beans, corn, rice, and soy, breeding cattle, and promoting chicken and milk production. Today, a Belize without Mennonites is unimaginable.

Belize has a good mix of Mennonites in a relatively small area. There are conservative communities, but also progressive ones. There are those who cling firmly to their traditions and those who are open to new ideas in almost all areas of life. As I’ve joked before, you get the best Mennonite salad in Belize.

Kennert Giesbrecht has been a Plett Foundation board member for twenty years and recently retired from editing the newspaper Die Mennonitische Post.

1. This article contains reporting published as “Delbert F. Plett Stiftung: Besuch der Kolonien in Belize,” Die Mennonitische Post, Jan. 5, 2024, 1–2, and “‘Mennoniten-Gemeinschaften’ in Belize,” Die Mennonitische Post, Jan. 19, 2024, 1–2, 4. ↩︎