Mennonites showcase their achievements
If you had eggs for breakfast, rice, beans and chicken at midday or ate cheese with johnny cake for tea, chances are you did business with a Mennonite. These fair skinned Belizeans contribute to the nation’s economy far more than their numbers alone would indicate… and in honour of Princess Anne’s visit they gathered Wednesday in Blue Creek to do a little bit of showing off. News 5’s Jose Sanchez took the opportunity to get to know them a little better.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
They have travelled the world searching for a country that would allow them to live according to their own beliefs. And after establishing colonies in Canada and Mexico, many of them found a perfect place to live…Belize. And with seven thousand inhabitants in the settlements of Shipyard, Spanish Lookout, Blue Creek and smaller communities, Belize now boasts the largest percentage of Mennonites in the world.
Abraham Dueck, Spanish Lookout
“Our group left in 1948 going to Mexico, we stayed there ten years and in ’58 we moved here to Belize. It was kind of strange because we were not used the bush out here. Mexico is all open land, but coming to Belize being all bush and it was a completely different lifestyle for our people. We had to clear the land by whatever means we could. The first part of land was cleared by local people. They came with axe and machete and they chopped the land for us.”
And that was probably the first and last time that they depended on others, because self-sufficiency has been the key to their agricultural success. In the year 2000, Mennonites reared twenty-seven thousand head of cattle, eight thousand hogs, over six and a half million broilers, thirty-one thousand tons of corn, and over five thousand tons of beans and peas, for both local and export markets. And while agriculture is their primary source of income, many are beginning to expand into other industries.
David Dyck, Blue Creek
“For example Spanish Lookout, they have a lot of business people. They import stuff, tyres and parts and all kind of stuff and sell it, and they do a lot of farming. In Blue Creek we do a lot of farming too but different crops like rice, which they don’t do much. Basically it’s rice and cattle and poultry.”
Albert Reimer, Spanish Lookout
“We do a lot of construction work around the country, road construction, pond construction for shrimp ponds and stuff like that. Used to be a lot of bush clearing, but that has faded out. There’s also some people building houses and stuff like that, and there’s fabrication. There’s quite a bit of furniture being built, there’s trailers being built, just any kind of metal fabrication and mechanic work. There’s a lot of people that depend on mechanic work for their livelihood.”
One group of Mennonites that is well known in Belize City is from Shipyard. They wear traditional farm clothing, ride on horse driven buggies and are mostly carpenters by trade. Many of the tables, chairs and cabinets inside our homes are built by Shipyard Mennonites.
Jacob Dyck, Blue Creek
“Right at the moment when you discuss the work it’s very hard, very hard for us…And the beef and chicken and still we have hard times for those, but right now it’s more better. The last few years the profit on the chicken is better than it was before, but for the eggs it’s more hard.”
And while hard work is their hallmark, not even the Mennonites are immune to setbacks.
David Dyck
“Last year with the hurricane we had, we lost a lot. I had four hundred acres of rice in my fields, I lost everything. We lost a lot of our grass that we planted, but the flood was so long for three or four weeks and by the time the flood went down the grass was rotten and we had to plant over again. I had to sell a bunch of cattle because I didn’t have enough feed for them. Sometimes it’s rough and sometimes it’s nice.”
What’s also nice is the Mennonite-made milk and ice cream. And while most of us don’t to let them know how much we enjoy it, Prime Minister Said Musa made a point of showing his appreciation.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Your community is now fully integrated in the economy of Belize, contributing greatly to the growth and development of our country. I think anywhere you go in Belize today and you ask about the Mennonite community, the first thing that comes to mind is your sense of industry, hard work and your great productivity. Belize has benefited greatly from this and we just want you to know how grateful we are and happy we are that you are here with us.”
Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.
As part of the arrangement under which they originally migrated to Belize, the Mennonites are allowed to establish their own educational system and are exempt from any military draft.
