The Blue Creek Colony is located in northern Belize. It was founded in 1958 by 80 Old Colony Mennonite families from Mexico. Though there was much illness and infant mortality, the population rapidly increased to 200 families. Disunity, however, soon led to the founding of an Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference congregation as well as to the departure of an increasing number of families to Bolivia, Mexico, and Canada during the 1960s. Eventually the leaders of the Old Colony church also left, forcing members to decide whether they would leave with them or join other groups. In 1978 several families of the Kleine Gemeinde congregation in the Spanish Lookout Colony moved to Blue Creek, especially to be of help in the school and congregation. At that time 120 families were still living there; in 1987 only 80 families remained.

Economic circumstances remain difficult. Initially, the sale of lumber was the primary source of income, but corn, beans, peanuts, and vegetables soon helped the economy. Finding markets remains difficult. Some have turned to cattle-raising, others to raising broiler hens or doing custom work in clearing land and building roads. The Blue Creek credit union has been of considerable help in these economic ventures.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 89. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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