February 22, 2005
Dear Friends,
It has been a long time since I have written. Things have been
progressing quickly in St. Petersburg. God has created some significant
opportunities but they present challenges, too, that we need your
assistance in addressing.
By way of background, Lyuda and I organized the Kargel and Baedeker
School in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1991 with one teacher and
six children. Now the school employs 25 teachers, educates about
95 children, and is continuing to grow. In 1996, the school was
recognized as an official charity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Our school’s mission is to address a spiritual hunger that
arose during 75 years of communism and has not subsided during
the last 15 years of religious freedom. The breakdown of many
of society’s safety nets has meant that, more and more,
children’s health, education, and spiritual needs are not
met.
Our school has two tracks: a Russian Christian school (RCS),
which serves the children of St. Petersburg, and an English Language
International Christian School (ICS), which serves a large population
of missionary children.
The RCS has begun to specialize in helping children who have
special problems. These are not full learning disabilities—we
are not equipped to do that yet. Rather, they are problems that
interfere with learning. For example, Vanya’s parents separated
before he was born. His mother, a professional woman, gave her
son to her grandmother to raise, and more or less forgot about
him. His grandmother was not thrilled to have to raise her grandson,
and found it easier to leave him all day before a television,
and later a computer. As she lived in the country, Vanya did not
see too many other children. When he was about 6, his mother realized
that he was going to have to go to school. Actually, it was her
current boyfriend that realized it. However, without any social
skills, except the ability to put on an awesome tantrum when he
did not get his way, there was no school that would accept him.
When he came to us, he had already been rejected by several schools.
We knew something was wrong when he tripped in a game of soccer
and became hysterical. Then we found he could not sit still for
more than a few minutes, unless it was before a computer. Hysterics
and tantrums were his ordinary mode of expressing disagreement,
and he seemed oblivious to the requests of the teacher. The class
was small, and the teacher was able to give him a lot of attention.
By the Christmas holidays, Vanya would come when he was called.
He had begun to read and write, and he could play with the other
children without crying. Vanya was a little exceptional in that
he had had so little interaction with others. But we see a lot
of children in similar circumstances.
When the school was started there were about 30 relatively new
Christian schools. Now only three remain. There are several reasons
for this, but the lack of financial support is a main one.
Until 2003, the school was largely self-supporting, with donations
accounting for only 5 to 10 percent of the school’s budget.
But, beginning in the summer of 2003, there was a concerted effort
to evict us from our building. The struggle to stay in the building
exhausted most of our reserves, and for the first time we ended
the year in debt.
Fortunately, we received great support from Presbyterians in
North America and one high-placed official in Russia. The governor
of St. Petersburg took an interest in us and has located a new
building for us. This is an answer to prayer. It also poses a
new challenge because the building is in disrepair and requires
much work, including: new toilets, a kitchen, expansion of our
drinking water filtration system, hot water, a fire alarm and
safety system, and repairs to the classrooms and school yard.
This is where we are now. Over the last two years, things have
moved so fast that I felt each attempt to write was already out
of date by the time I finished. However, we have our lease and
are moving into the new building. The first step is renovation
and, fortunately, we will be able to start classes while renovation
is underway.
Now, Kargel and Baedeker is seeking donors. We are well along
in the renovations, but we badly need help to finish. If you and
your church would like to help, here are some of the immediate
projects you can contribute to:
- Fix up a classroom - $1,000.00
- Renovate a toilet - $7,000.00
- Buy lights for a floor - $2,000.00
- Put in the fire alarm system - $16,000.00
- Provide drinkable water - $2,500.00
- Add a drinking fountain - $600.00
As we progress with our work, I hope to keep you up to date with
our letters. I am trying something new. The Mission Connections
office (of the Worldwide Ministries Division of the General Assembly
Council) will mail three letters for me each year (paying for
postage and stationary) if I send them the letters and a list
of names and addresses. If you don’t want to be on that
list, let me or Mission Connections know. Their contact information
is on the bottom of the front page. You can use the email address
for the school, KandBSchool@hotmail.com,
to notify me.
Please keep us in your prayers.
In Christ,
Garth and Lyuda Moller
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
187 |
