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Within days of Hurricane Mitch passing through Honduras, Mennonites in the colonies of Belize responded. They too had been prepared for the worst, but received only heavy rains as the hurricane veered away from Belize and careened into Honduras and Nicaragua.
Spanish Outlook in Belize rented a building and warehouse in El Progreso, Honduras. From here crews, housing and food were coordinated. Funding came from the colonies in Belize or from outside church agencies. Crews consisted of people from the colonies and from North America. A food-for-work project was organized in Guadalupe, near El Progreso.
Meanwhile, the Belizean Defence Forces, temporarily stationed in Puerto Cortes, Honduras, distributed food to people remaining in communities along the rivers and rescued many people stranded on rooftops or in trees because of the flooding.
Mennonites from Belize travelled up the rivers from the ocean to help feed people in villages cut off by roads and bridges destroyed by flooding. In time, the Mennonites and the BDF combined efforts, with the Mennonites providing the food for distribution and the BDF providing boats and crews to deliver it. Mennonites often travelled in BDF boats and slept in their barracks in Puerto Cortes.
Working with the BDF seemed to many Mennonites in the colonies as the sensible thing to do. Frank Plett, a businessman in Spanish Outlook, explained that over time a relationship between the BDF and the Mennonites developed. "These people (the defence forces) have a heart, too," said Plett, adding that he had been moved at times by the compassion shown by the soldiers as they helped the survivors of Hurricane Mitch.
By early December, the BDF had withdrawn, and the colonies in Belize had provided more than 100 tons of food for Mennonite Central Committee, not counting what the colonies had shared through their own network in Belize or donated to other relief agencies.--MCC Canada
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