Reggaeton and Enrique Iglesias
For those who want to stay, electricity is a blessing - and one that is not necessarily prohib- ited by their faith.
Besides the convenience of electric lights and fans, it helps them irrigate their fields - no small task in the desert.
But those who want to leave say the outside world has already encroached far enough on their religion and culture.
Sabinal is four hours from the nearest city, Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States - it is located down a series of dirt roads that wind through mountains, hills and pastures.
But outside influence has crept in, mainly through the farmhands the Mennonites hire from a nearby hamlet. On Sundays, Mennonite teens with a rebellious streak can be found in the fields covertly listening to reggaeton and Enrique Iglesias - music picked up from the workers - through battery-powered speakers.
It is nearly impossible to totally isolate them from the world beyond - especially since the Mennonites are hugely successful farmers. They make 1.5 tonnes of cheese a day, which has become popular in the surrounding area and draws a stream of customers to Sabinal.
‘It’s the only cheese around without chemicals. Customers don’t want chemicals. This cheese is pure milk,” says Redecop. His store is one of a handful of businesses in town, alongside a doctor’s office, a pharmacy, a feed shop and a hardware store.
Besides making cheese, the Mennonites also farm cotton, sorghum and vegetables, having tamed the desert with a vast system of wells.
When they moved here in 1992, they bought their land for US$172 per hectare. Those who are leaving plan to sell it for US$7,000 per hectare.
Can’t blame the tyres
Sabinal’s sprawling fields are dotted by houses adorned with colourful flowers. Chickens and cows roam the yards, along with playing children who shout excitedly in Low German when they see a stranger arrive, then run and hide.
In a place where families have up to 17 children, most of Sabinal’s residents are children.
They go to school six months a year - six years total for girls, seven for boys - studying subjects such as reading, writing, math, Mennonite history and the Bible.
Their parents are apprehensive about the changes that technology could bring to a community that still prefers to fit its horse-drawn tractors and carriages with metal wheels.
“People say electricity is bad. They say there are bad things on television. But I don’t think everything on television is bad,” says Jacobo, an unmarried 19 year old whose family plans to stay.
“They also say if people get rubber tyres, they just use them to drive to town and buy liquor. But that’s their own fault. You can’t blame the tyres.”