February 12, 2007
Dear Friends and Family!
Warm greetings to you in the name of our Lord!
Last Friday, I flew in from Minsk, arriving at about the same
time and in the same weather (snowfall) as six years ago when
our family arrived to begin our service here. We all remembered.
We are thankful for the journey.
This month has been full of moments I have wanted to share with
you. Our colleagues from the PC(USA), Jon Chapman and Gary Payton,
have been here. We had good meetings with church leadership, but
our colleagues also took the time to go the extra mile and see
the broad context in which we serve. In my travels with them,
and through time with Russian partners, I have had many glimpses
of the challenges and joys.
Soup kitchen
Bob Bronkema, pastor of the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, invited
me to join them as he showed Jon and Gary the MPC soup kitchen.
I had never been, and I was very impressed. I chatted with one
of their clients, an elderly man with a bright smile and gentle
spirit. A Christian, he wanted to chat with other members of the
family of Christ. He shared his challenges. He lives with his
daughter and her two children. He has a small pension. His daughter
works long hours in a school cafeteria and makes only a little
more. Between them, they might have $250 a month. In a city like
Moscow, I don’t know how they get by. He helps with the
children, picking them up at school, trying to ease her burdens.
With a little Russian humor, he told me they were still smiling.
There is a saying here that one laughs when one is at the end
of his rope. By faith, this family hangs on. Fellowship and a
warm lunch at the soup kitchen certainly help.
HIV and AIDS
At the beginning of the month, I attended a round table discussion
on HIV and AIDS issues during the Christmas Readings of the Orthodox
Church, an annual event. It brought together members of government
organizations, NGOs, and church groups involved in the fight against
AIDS. A representative of the Baptist Union was there. It was
an excellent program. Many of the people I visited last September
with Bob Ellis were there. Still, I came away with sadness. It
was a blow to find out that a young man we met in Bryansk last
fall died last month. Oleg was a young husband and father of a
baby girl. He and his wife, Olga, also infected with HIV, struggled
to find work and were barely able to afford the formula and vitamins
needed to boost the baby’s immune system. In caring for
his wife and child, Oleg forgot to care for himself. The self-support
group in Bryansk is now meeting in Olga’s home, trying to
ease the burden on her. She has no one to help her. Her mother
lives in the Far East and has cancer, so she can do nothing. This
is the nature of HIV/AIDS ministry. Good people trying to cope
with a tragic mistake, a mistake they cannot rectify, too often
die young.
Smolensk and Minsk
On a more uplifting note, Jon Chapman and I spent the last week
traveling to Smolensk and Minsk. In Smolensk, we visited a number
of orphanages/boarding schools, including one for visually impaired
children. Only a third of the children are actual orphans. In
Russia, special needs children are brought to such facilities
for education, because local schools do not have the training
or equipment that disabled children need. Often people fail to
see potential in such children, as many without disabilities struggle
to find work. This director, however, is determined to give her
children the skills they will need to live independently and be
productive.
Natasha is now at a boarding school for the visually impaired.
Having missed too much school, she had to start in the third
grade at the age of 14.
As we sat at tea, she shared about the extraordinary relationship
she has with Smolensk Baptist Church. The church’s orphanage
ministry team visits regularly, teaching lessons and putting on
special programs. They have also helped repeatedly with material
needs, like textbooks and eyeglasses. Recently, Ivan Popkov, the
director of social ministries for the Smolensk church, came across
a child in a village in the region, where another church has organized
a club for disabled children. Natasha has very limited sight.
The local schools did not know what to do with her, so she sat
at home. Ivan was able to connect the family with this boarding
school, and she is now studying again. She is 14 years old, but
has had to begin at the third grade level, because of all the
time she missed. Still, Natasha radiates joy in being able to
study again. There are many children like Natasha, sitting at
home, waiting. Their families don’t know what to do. May
they be found and brought to this place where their gifts will
be recognized, encouraged and developed.
Belarus
Life skills workshop in Lagoisk, Belarus.
In the town of Lagoisk, in Belarus, Jon and I found a new partnership
between the local church and the local department for social services,
where a program for special needs children has begun. They have
established an educational center, life-skills training, physical
rehabilitation, and psychological consultation. It is exciting
to see another community responding to largely forgotten children.
It is not without challenges. Transporting the children to the
center is a constant struggle. More equipment is needed. Still,
something valuable has begun.
Jon and I visited one of the newest partner churches in the town
of Novy Dvor, Belarus, where they are working to develop social
ministry, including a soup kitchen. It is still in infancy, but
they have begun. They look forward to expanding the program, delivering
hot meals to shut-ins.
Igor Romanovsky in Lyubcha, Belarus.
We also visited Igor Romanovski at the rehabilitation center
for ex-prisoners in Lyubcha, Belarus. Up to this point, the center
has been for men, but they are getting ready to welcome eight
women. The International Health Ministries Office of the PC(USA)
recently helped them purchase two more cows. The dairy is important
in both rehabilitation and self-support for the center. It is
always good to be with Igor, because he radiates faith, love,
and joy.
Our colleagues have departed. Now we await the arrival of a group
from Pittsburgh Seminary at the end of the month.
Please pray for Olga and her baby, Polina, as they struggle on
in difficult circumstances without the loving support of Oleg.
With love in Christ,
Ellen
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 186
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