Mennonite Monday

We traveled to the Mennonite community of “Little Belize” yesterday, which proved to be a very enlightening trip. The Mennonites, who are an extremely self-sufficient and conservative people, live with such a different world-view from ours that it was great to experience their point of view for a day. Prior to arriving, we were not sure exactly what activities we would be allowed to do with the children and we were cautious with using cameras throughout the day. We were proud that we truly respected their boundaries, and by the end of the day I think they understood that we were there to learn from them and help them in any way that we could.

Both our group and their community could be seen tip-toeing around each other upon first arrival, but, as you can see from the photos below, our departure at the end of the day was full of relief from being able to break through the cultural barriers.

Below are the pictures outlining our travels over the rivers and through the woods and the progression of our visit at Little Belize.

A group shot before crossing our first river ferry

The hand-cranked river ferry.

We finally got to try some sugar cane!

Our foreign presence was approached with caution...

...and so were our foreign toys (bubbles).

But by the end of our stay, everyone was able to smile.

Many even had a lot of fun!