Page 10 - C.A.L.L. #21 - Spring 2003

Dear Sol,

Thank you very much for the letter and for sending C.A.L.L. I wish we had a newsletter to send you but we are not yet at that point.
Presently we do not even have a desk and just write on books. Our two areas of work now, on top of daily chores are cutting trees to allow
more light to reach our fruit trees and gardens and putting up temporary shelters. We have moved our temporary kitchen from the
garden center to an escarpment 150m away. We were too much in the mud over there. Here, under the over-hanging rock (limestone)
we are dry except during heavy rains when the soil above the escarpment becomes saturated. As we move earth under the escarpment we
find 1200 yr old pottery shards and flint knappings. It is comforting to know that others have maybe lived here before.

I’ve suggested that we promote an undefined community, hold meetings, bring people together, give some community history lessons, and
try to form a group that maybe will not seek land until the group is settled on objectives, its membership, its economy, it’s norms, it’s rules
etc.

We finally have some land in Belize and our banana plants are towering above us. There is some hope that 10 or 20 others, with very
similar objectives and lifestyles will join us here and be happy here and the problem of our larger initial labour investment will be solvable.
Do you have any advice? Can we follow the example of any other communes? Should we ask that we be paid by newcomers for our
labour once they become full members as a sort of balancing investment? And what about our norms and rules? We don’t want domestic
animals here, we’d like it if we all ate together, we’d like everyone to have equal access to all of the work, we’d like to operate by consensus
decision-making. Is it fair that we should make so many rules before others arrive? Do others need to see these rules before arriving to
know if an exploration of living here is worth the effort?

When I think of Israel I wonder what you can eat in such a dry place. The fact that the kibbutzim grew out of such a poor agricultural
area is very inspirational. We have nothing to complain about in comparison here. We have no frost, no lack of water, no military threat,
abundant forest resources, incredible variety in food plants capable of growing here under normal conditions. Plus, Belize is becoming a

popular tourist destination for the wealthy nations to the north due to the fact that the language here is English. Do you think any kibbutz
idealists would want to spend some months here educating us on how kibbutzim worked, helping us with our work and receiving the same
food and housing benefits as us? (We have no income yet, only expenses of about US $1/day/person). Our living conditions are
primitive, our land, mostly in a raw jungle-mountain state. It is always lush and green here. The hillsides are heavy with vegetation and
the creeks run with clear water. (Belize’s population is only 230,000). It is possible that some of our tropical primitive homesteading
knowledge may be of use to an Israeli? I don’t know. Perhaps someone in Israel is dreaming of a green, green place and can afford a
plane ticket.

I feel very privileged to be having this correspondence with you. Thank you for taking the time to write to us even though we are not a real
commune yet.

Sincerely,
Derek

We AT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNES DESK have been approached by an organisation of
PhilipPinos, called UPIMA, which intends to start up a kibbutz in the Philippines!
There are no less than 7 million working overseas! (Since almost all of them are abroad
without families, this represents a Diaspora equivalent in size to that of the Jewish
people!)
Here in Israel they have started an international movement, initially to protect their
rights as workers but mainly to further Western democracy and progress in their
homeland.
It sounds very ambitious, but who knows?....

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