Kleine Gemeinde zu Spanish Lookout, Belize

The Kleine Gemeinde came to Belize in 1958. They left the Quellen Colony, Chihauhua, Mexico looking for land. In Belize's Cayo District, located on the north side of the Belize River, they settled 18,500 acres in the jungle that became the Spanish Lookout Colony.

Today (2009), Spanish Lookout is Belize's most modern Mennonite Community. The Mennonites in Spanish Lookout are major producers of dairy, poultry, vegetables and cattle.Create new articles that tell stories about the Anabaptists of Kleine Gemeinde and insert links to those stories here. Click here to learn more about stories. Furniture manufacturing, house construction, and automotive industry are also important parts of the Spanish Lookout economy.

While Kleine Gemeinde settled the Spanish Lookout Colony, today (2009) the colony is made up of both Kleine Geiemende and Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church (EMMC) communities.

Similar in background to the Old Colony Mennonites, the Kleine Gemeinde (“small church”) also left Mexico and settled in Belize in 1958. There they founded a colony (a block of hundreds of adjacent acres of land) known as Spanish Lookout. (Of Dutch-Russian background, the Kleine Gemeinde had settled in Canada in the 1870s and then immigrated to Mexico in 1948.) Members speak Low German and wear traditional clothing but use modern technology and have an evangelical religious view that has attracted some Old Colony Mennonite converts. The group has five congregations (about 800 members) in two colonies: Blue Creek (formerly a colony of the Old Colony Mennonites) and Spanish Lookout. This group has related congregations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Click on the following link to learn more about the Mennonite experience in Belize.

History

Origins

The Mennonites in Belize come from Russian Mennonite groups who initially emigrated from Russia and moved to Canada in early 1900s fleeing the Russian Revolution. These groups then migrated to Mexico. In 1958 when the Mexican government demanded religious integration into schools and the social security system three Mennonite groups; Altkolonier (Old Colony), Kleine Gemeinde (Small Community), and Sommerfelder (Sommerfeld) Mennonites; began immigrating to Belize because they felt that in Belize they could remain separated from society.

Annotated Bibliography

• Dueck, D. F. and Loewen, John B. . "Spanish Lookout Colony, Belize." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contentsS6803.html (accessed 1 November 2008).

This is an online source that gives a short but comprehensive overview of the Spanish Lookout colony. It briefly describes the colony's history and then gives a few insights into the colony’s government and tax system.

• “From Hardship to Success.” Belize Tourism Board: Belizean Journeys. 2008. www.belizeanjourneys.com/features/spanish_lookout/newsletter.html (accessed 24 September 2008).

The article on this website “From hardship to success, celebrating the Mennonite’s 50th anniversary in Belize” (2008), describes the fiftieth anniversary festivities. The page also includes an online photo album with a hundred pictures that show the festivities in Spanish Lookout. For the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, despite its history of isolation from the rest of Belize, the community opened its doors for the public and government.

• Jantzen, Carl R. “The Mennonites of Spanish Lookout.” Washington Times (June 1989): 664-673.

This is a news story about Mennonite Colony in Spanish Lookout. It describes the colony, its history and contemporary life as of 1989. The article is intended to inform the audience, in a simple manner about the group and their mission. The article covers themes like, Kleine Gemeinde migration to Spanish Lookout, adaptation to Belize, family-household, adolescent years, marriage. The article a helpful description of Mennonite life in Spanish Lookout.

• G.S. Koop. (1991). Pioneer Year in Belize. Country Graphics & Printing

• Nicholson, Samuel. "Mennonites in Belize: Mennonite contribution to the Belizean economy, 1957-present." Goshen College Term Paper (2007). Mennonite Historical Library (MHL).

This is a term paper, written by a Goshen College student. The paper explores the Spanish Lookout Mennonite colony and its contributions to Belize. The writer sites many personal interviews that were conducted in Belize. This author mainly looks at the agricultural and small industry (i.e. furniture) contributions from Spanish Lookout. Nicholson, argues that the people of Spanish Lookout have lived in a symbiotic relationship with Belizeans.

• Penner, Heinrich R., Reimer, John D. and Reimer, Leonard M. Spanish Lookout since 1958; Progress in Action. Spanish Lookout, Cayo, Belize, 2008.

Spanish Lookout since 1958 is a book compiled by the people of Spanish Lookout. The three men noted in the bibliography are the book organizers, but the book has authors ranging from the first immigrant to persons who came to Spanish Lookout as recently as 2007. This book contains a wide variety of information from personal journals and poems to detailed accounts of colony organization and government. There are also scanned copies of immigration and land acquisition records. The organizers of this book also noted several other important sources on the Spanish Lookout colony. This sources offers a rich first-person insight into the history of Spanish Lookout.

• Sawatzky, H. L. They Sought a Country: Mennonite Colonization in Mexico. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971.

While this source deals primarily with the Mennonite experience in Mexico it also offers historical reasons for Mennonites leaving Mexico and settling in Belize. It explores the trials and triumphs of the first generations of migrants to Belize (British Honduras). This source provides a useful broad description of the Mennonite experience in Belize.

• "The School Board, Spanish Lookout." Our Country of Belize. Spanish Lookout: The School Board, 1981.

This is a copy of the first textbook used for the primary schools in Spanish Lookout and offers insight into the educational system in the Mennonite Colony in Spanish Lookout.

• Snider, Howard. "Agriculture in the Kleine Gemeinde Community of Spanish Lookout, Belize." Mennonite Life. (March 1980): 19.

This article gives a brief description of the agricultural economy of the Spanish Lookout Colony in 1980.

• Spanish Lookout http://www.spanishlookout.bz (accessed 24 September 2008.

This is the home page and website for the Spanish Lookout community. This website includes information about everything from job listings to the communities local churches. Also included is a section called history that relates personal accounts from the Russian Revolution to the story of George Price, the Belizean leader who helped Mennonites move from Mexico to Belize.

• "Spanish Lookout: A Modern Mennonite Community." MyBelizeAdventure.com. http://www.mybelizeadventure.com/destinations/cayo/spanishlook/ (accessed 29 July 2009).

This website supplies travel information about Belize. The article about Spanish Lookout, Belize describes, generally, the Mennonite community, including its location in Belize and its economic activity.