Kleine Gemeinde zu Blue Creek, Belize

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The Blue Creek community is spotted in a flat landscape with a few low hills. There are approximately 750 people living there as of 2009, and this number has remained relatively constant since the foundation of the colony in 1958, and makes Blue Creek the fourth or fifth largest Mennonite colony in Belize and is considered one of the most progressive Mennonite colonies in Belize, alongside Spanish Lookout, because of their use of agricultural machinery, tractors and harvesters with rubber tires, use of automobiles, computers, air conditioning, television, radio, refrigerators, computer games and mobile phones. Blue Creek enjoys a strong economic position and has significant economic exchange with Belizean society.

The inhabitants are diverse and can be categorized into groups according to church (EMMC [Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference] or Kleine Gemeinde), origin (Canadian Mennonites or Belizean Mennonites), language (Low German or English) and wealth (rich or poor). The Kleine Gemeinde adherents in Blue Creek use Low German as their main language whereas EMMC Mennonites speak English. The Kleine Gemeinde also dress in traditional clothing such as dresses with flower designs for women and overalls and blouses for men.

Edental is the district of the Blue Creek colony that houses most of the Kleine Gemeinde families.

Foundation of Colony & the Formation of the Kleine Gemeinde church in Blue Creek

The Blue Creek community was established in 1958. While the colony was originally affiliated with the Altkolonier church, or Old Colony Mennonites, the colony's affiliation has changed as a result of an early split. This split occurred shortly after the immigration of these Mennonites from Mexico, and revolved around issues of technology, namely the use of the rubber tire. The permissiveness of technology is a legacy inherited from when the Mennonites lived in Mexico, where these issues threatened the solidarity of the group towards the end of their stay in Mexico. In order to keep in touch with the Altkolonier position on technology, church leaders in the early Blue Creek colony invoked ostracism and excommunication against members who were partial to non-traditionally accepted forms of technology, such as the rubber tire, that was adopted when members of the colony realized the hilly, difficult terrain wasn't conducive to the use of steel tires or horses.

However, due to the practicality associated with the use of rubber tires, a significant portion of the Blue colony ended up being excommunicated, and a large rift was formed between members of the community. Those of the community that refused to adapt to the difficult environment with the adoption of the rubber tire moved to Bolivia, while the more progressive members chose to stay. Today, Blue Creek is one of the most modern Mennonite colonies in Belize and has a thriving agricultural business.

The EMMC, in response to some of the distress the early colony was expressing over the decision to use rubber tires, sent help to help develop organization and relieve some of the tensions in the community in 1964 with the arrival of Jake and Verna Martens, who helped initiate an EMMC church, the Linda Vista EMMC School and the Blue Creek Medical Centre.

By the 1970s, most of the Old Colony families had moved away, and this is when the Kleine Gemeinde church from Spanish Lookout came to help those that weren't sure how to live in the tension between the Old Colony and EMMC. Thus, the Kleine Gemeinde church in Blue Colony was founded. It is also important to note that at this same time, Blue Creek began to progress economically.

Relation to Outside World and Colony Dynamics

The Blue Creek Mennonites stay in constant contact with the world outside their community for business and private matters. The main place of interaction between Blue Creek Mennonites and local people is at shops and markets in town. This is the main place of interaction because this is where the Blue Creek Mennonites go to sell their products or buy products not offered within their community. The relative economic success Blue Creek has developed and maintained, in relation to the other Mennonite colonies, makes it one of the colonies with the most interaction with Belizean society.

Because of business interactions with the larger society, an Anabaptist theological commitment of isolation from the world is more loosely followed than other Mennonite colonies in Belize, as these business and economic exchanges and interactions make isolation tough. However, Blue Creek is still isolated, and the degree to which they interact with the larger society is often limited to the economic and business spheres, as the Kleine Gemeinde church has its own school system, clinic and shops. The Blue Creek colony in general has its own bank system as well and their own set of rules and regulations that keep them segregated from the larger society.

To outsiders of the Blue Creek community, distinctions are made only by religion and life style, which is to say that, to outsiders, the distinction between the EMMC church and the Kleine Gemeinde church is hard to make. However, within the community, these distinctions are clear. While the separate churches do interact, as is expected if both live within the same community, there do exist distinctions aside from clothing and language spoken. This distinction is evident in the entrepeneural activities of the two churches. For example, Carribean Chicken originates from a Kleine Gemeinde background and employs mostly Kleine Gemeinde members, whereas Circle R., a rice mill company, comes from an EMMC background and employs mostly EMMC members.