This year the recipient of St Nicolas' Harvest giving is Vera, a director of Scripture Union in Russia and Tajikistan. Here, Jane Sutton profiles her work. Vera's father, the Baptist pastor in Volkhov, bought a house in Murmanskie Vorota, Russia, to use as a church at a time (about 1980) when the Soviet authorities would not allow a church building in the town. So Vera worshipped in this house as a child. The family and some of the church members worked on the house and built the shell of a second house on the same plot of land to use for church activities and to accommodate a warden. However, with perestroika, the church was allowed to meet for worship and the second house was not finished. Vera's father left the house to one of her brothers and she bought it from him in 2006 for Scripture Union (SU) to use for retreats, training courses and camps. A lot of work has been done to renovate the main house and to complete the second house, which this summer was used for the first time as dormitory accommodation for the SU youth camp. Both are traditional village houses made of logs with attic rooms built under the roof. The houses are set on a large plot where Vera's father had established a vegetable garden. Vera had thought of turning the whole garden to lawn, but she soon learned that to gain the respect of the neighbours the land needs to be worked! It's important for SU to come into the village and share the life of ordinary people - not as nouveaux riches (or New Russians as they say)! Now Vera is establishing flower beds around the house with the rest of the plot divided between vegetable garden and lawn - the latter providing an open space for games and outdoor activities, while the vegetable plot helps to feed the campers! She would specifically like some Dahlia tubers (£6 each) together with seed of early maturing sweet corn, hardy gherkin-size cucumbers for growing outside, peas and small pumpkins (£1.30-£1.95 per packet). Just as SU in the British Isles supports the development of its work in the countries of the Former Soviet Republics (FSR), so the stronger and more experienced SU teams in FSR are encouraged to support the younger teams by sharing their experience. One such "twinning" arrangement is between St Petersburg and Tajikistan. St Petersburg's experience of canvas camping and of managing a small building project is very relevant to the team in Tajikistan. One of the volunteers from St Petersburg helped with camps in summer 2008 and Vera made a follow-up visit in autumn 2008 to give some training and to advise on development of the campsite. Dima and Mahbuba Bazarov, the Tajikistan staff team, have also visited St Petersburg and seen SU activities there and established a prayer link. SU work in St Petersburg is well established - work began in the early 1990s and Vera was involved from the start, initially as a volunteer, then as staff and since 2001 as team leader and director. In Tajikistan the work is younger - the Bazarovs have been working since 2004, though others had begun the work before them. Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim country, mountainous, and borders Afghanistan and China. The churches are small, with Tajik Christians mostly a minority within them. While working with the churches in Bible and children's ministries, SU's focus is on reaching out to children, young people and families of Muslim background. The campsite in Tajikistan was bought in 2007. It is a small field on the edge of a development of summer cottages (Russian "dacha") about 17 km from the capital Dushanbe. The plan is to make the site suitable for camping first of all and gradually to build permanent facilities. The site is quite open and beside a river. With hot summers in Tajikistan it is important to provide shade and SU wants to plant trees round the site (500 poplars and limes at 65p each) that will provide both shade and some privacy. It also wants to plant an orchard of 50 apples, pears, apricots and walnut trees at £3.50 each , which will also contribute shade as well as produce. 20 trucks of topsoil at £25 a load is needed. This summer two youth work parties camped at the site, cleared away a lot of rubbish and levelled some of the ground. A tractor was brought in for a day, but a lot of the work was done by hand, and they built a fence around the site. A second-hand shipping container provides on-site storage. They plan to dig a well this winter and will then be ready to begin planting trees. Members of St Nicolas will be able to choose where they want their money to go as envelopes with the possibilities are given out before our Harvest Festival. With thanks to Michael Rowe of Scripture Union for additional information. |
