Ministries

Leper Colony

Growing up in a home where the Bible was often read, I always thought of leprosy as a Biblical disease that no longer existed. I think one time I heard a missionary from Africa speak about someone with the disease. But I was surprised a few years ago to learn of a twenty-first century leper colony in central Asia.

We visited there on our first trip to this part of the world a few years ago. Most of the people there looked a lot healthier than I thought they would. I remembered a scene in the movie “Ben Hur” where people were without noses or without fingers until the time of the crucifixion when suddenly rain poured down from heaven and they were healed. So when I saw “lepers” who looked mostly normal, I didn’t know what to think. Some of the older ones are affected in their fingers, and some probably in their feet. But for the most part, these are hard-working gardeners and farmers with faces like any other in central Asia.

This leper colony was set up by the Soviets back in the 1950s when they moved people here from their home villages to isolate them from others who did not have the disease. Many of the early residents have lived here all of their adult lives and have raised their children and now grandchildren in the colony. Many of those children and grandchildren have known no other home, even though they have no history of the disease. The most lasting mark the leprosy has left on them is their status as social pariahs. Their children are tolerated but not welcome in the schools of the nearby village. No one from the village comes to visit or comes to buy or sell in the leper colony.

As long as the Soviet Union stood, there was a little bit of money in the state budget to help the lepers stay alive and get medicine. But since 1991, they have virtually been on their own. They raise most of what they eat, including fruits, nuts, vegetables, some grain and some small herds of sheep and goats. And they bless the Christian brothers and sisters who come to them and pray for them, who reach out and touch them and regularly bring food from the city to help them keep body and soul together.

The brothers helped them get a pump a few years ago so that they no longer had to hike down to the river to draw water for their crops. But a few weeks after it was installed someone came by and stole the copper wire that fed power to the pump. The brothers brought more wire and installed it again.

When we visited there this time, I missed a few faces from the previous visit. Some have passed away. And there were some who are in the process of passing away. My status as a long-bearded guy means that everyone wants me to pray for them...I love that part of this role. So after we had met those who were able to come to the center of the colony and greet us, some of them led us from house to house where there are some who cannot get out so well.

JUMPING CASTLE

Charlie and I also went way out to the east side of the city to a manufacturing firm that makes toys, playground equipment and jumping castles, among other things. We are shopping for a jumping castle to take into central Asia to be used by our brothers and sisters there in their village work. They wanted a portable playground; a jumping castle provides that. It sets up in about ten minutes and can be packed back into a vehicle in no more than 15. And as long as you take a generator along for the fan, you can use it in the most remote locations. We chose the model and size that we think will work well for us and negotiated a price that is pretty good.

Boys Orphange

The boys orphanage and school are located in a smallish town a few hours away from the capitol. It’s a state-run orphanage and was once the largest orphanage in this country. It now houses about 75 boys ranging up to about 17 years old and provides a basic education along with a bed and meals.

The boys are sent to the orphanage because it is deemed necessary that they get an education. Orphaned girls are usually taken care of by extended family and not provided with an education.

Even though it is a state facility, the brothers and sisters are partnering with the director to renovate the rooms one by one, as funds and materials become available. That means plaster repair, new paint, new flooring and new light fixtures. They have already replaced most of the broken down desks in the classroom with new ones. And they plan to replace all the old beds. In return they have an open door to spend time with these needy young men and allow an aura of hope and life to permeate those relationships. This kind of project also allows the brothers to hire some needy workmen and disciple them while working elbow to elbow with them. This is in line with the President’s desire that orphans be diligently cared for, so it also builds rapport with officials.

The conditions are quite austere. We saw simple pipe-frame beds with lumpy old mattresses lined up side by side in several rooms with only enough bare wooden floor between them to allow a person to walk. We saw no pictures on the walls and no personal effects anywhere in the rooms.

When we met the boys in a classroom, they each had new book-bags provided by the believers. It seems everything these boys possessed was kept in those bags and carried to class with them. Their classroom accommodates about 40 boys at a time and when we saw it, boys of all ages were sharing the same classroom and one teacher.

A donation of $100 will provide a new bed and mattress. A donation of $600 will renovate one of the dorm rooms. Gifts of lesser or greater amounts can, of course, be given. To designate your gift toward this orphanage, indicate Project 07001, Central Asian Orphanage.

Women's Prison Ministry

Marriages Made in Heaven

Our brothers and sisters have had a terrific ministry for the past two years at the women's prison where another amnesty has been granted. Some of the sisters who were prisoners have been staying at the training center here for a couple of months now. They are receiving Bible training and practical help as they try to adjust to living outside the prison walls once again. For some of them, it has been a number of years since they were free and the transition is neither automatic nor easy.

Some of them are trying to get back in touch with family members or find children who have been cared for in orphanages while they were behind bars. One woman who is ethnically Turkmen and who came to faith in prison has found her 15-year-old son but she is still looking for his two younger brothers. The prison officials acknowledge that the paperwork for the two younger boys has been lost. She is living in anxiety over their where-abouts and their welfare.

Most of these women came to faith in prison and are still relatively young in the faith. Some, who had taken leadership roles in the community of faith behind bars, are active now in the ministry to their “sisters” who have not yet been released.

Some of those who were not released in the amnesty have really struggled with depression at seeing so many of the others able to move on with their lives. Those who minister to them have been stretched by their extreme emotional needs recently. Pray for wisdom to mitigate the tensions between these women and the prison staff.

The brothers and sisters do everything they can to help the prison administration improve the physical as well as the spiritual environment. The needs are great as the facility has not had an adequate budget since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Virtually no physical improvements in the facility have taken place since then except where the Christians have materially participated. There have been major improvements in shower facilities, meeting rooms, administrative offices, medical facilities and there are numerous projects underway or in the planning stage right now.

Sometimes the Christians participate only by providing materials and the prisoners do the labor. Sometimes the prison administration can bring in skilled labor to do the technical parts and then have the prisoners do the more general labor. And sometimes the Christians bring in specific people to do some of the labor.

They are good reminders of what the ministry leader here has told the warden on more than one occasion as to why the Christians love the prisoners: “We are all criminals in need of God’s forgiveness.”

I think the willingness of the believers here to partner with the prison administration in relieving human suffering is, likewise, a marriage made in heaven.