The Orphanage in Narva, Estonia - April 16

We arrived at the Narva Orphanage within about 10 minutes from being picked up at the bus station. Daniel, our driver and escort who knew the director of this orphanage, introduced us to the director and we talked about the orphanage and the challenges they have.

These orphanages are a little different that the ones in Russia. The first thing I noticed is that all the orphanages are arranged in a family setting. So, one wing or portion of a floor is set up more like an apartment with a room as a family dining room and kitchen, a living room, and each child has a room of their own. Depending on the orphanage and their capacity, they may share a room, but I didn’t see that happen too often. About 50% of the 31 kids in this orphanage are teens. About 80% of them have parents, but have been turned over to the orphanage due to alcoholism or drug addicted parents.

Narva, Estonia is about 80% Russian and the rest Estonian. 96% of the city speaks Russian, but more of the city government is employed by Estonians. The officials want them to speak Estonian as there is political tension between Russia and Estonia. The orphans in the facility are all Russian and there is additional stigma attached to these kids as they are living in Estonia where the preference is given to Estonian speakers. They are trying to integrate by trying to get funding for Estonian language teachers, but the motivation for speaking Estonian among Russians is low.

The current economic crisis and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s have made living in Narva difficult. Main industries have dried up and funding for orphanages is minimal. The orphanage only gets about $110-$120 per child per year for their needs beyond food and shelter. Nevertheless, they are all friendly, and open to us coming and sharing the Gospel freely.

Trip to Estonia, April 16-17

On Thursday, April 16, I had made plans to make an exploratory trip to Estonia to investigate the possibility of SAC doing mission trips to this country. It’s been on my heart for about a year that SAC needs to expand to other areas and other areas within the former Soviet Union. A few months ago I looked into going to the Ukraine. However, the doors to possible contacts never seemed to materialize. In contrast, the doors seemed to be wide open for possibilities in Estonia. This trip seemed to come together easily and we were able to visit 7 different possible ministry sites in several cities, easily arranged transportation, translation, and people to connect with. We were also offered a place to stay at a church in Johvi, Estonia (pronounced “Ickvey”).

Milan, a long time friend and translator for SAC, and I took a bus from St. Petersburg to Estonia. It was a couple of hours before we began the process of crossing the border. Our passports and visas were checked on the Russian side before we passed to the Estonian side where our documents were checked again. The whole process for our bus took about an hour or more. The border crossing is right at a river where there are two opposing medieval castles on each side of the river. I would have loved to tour those castles, but it indicated to me that this has been a border for a long time.

Once we were across the border, it was a short drive to the town of Narva, Estonia. At the bus station, we were met by Salvation Army Captain Daniel Henderson. Daniel was happy to pick us up despite his busy schedule. We were fast friends and he took us to the first orphanage who was expecting us.

The Crimson Sail Shelter, April 15

On Wednesday, Anya and I went to shelter that she and Nancy Durrett visited when Nancy was here in March. Anya had made connections with this place and it was right around the corner from one of the Road of Life Transition Homes. It’s a small shelter called “The Crimson Sail”. They are a part of the ministry started in 1971 called “Mission Possible” begun out of Denton, Texas!

Quickly we found the place and began our visit. Vadim is the director and he and his wife are the house parents for this shelter that looks more like a family home than anything else. They have a capacity for 8 kids, but at that time had just 5 school-aged children. We visited a while and then we all sat at the table for a snack and some tea while Vadim and I continued to talk about the ministry. Since our time was short, I could see that the kids quickly finished their snack and were listening to the English being spoken at the table. I used that opportunity to engage the kids in some quick crafts.

In my satchel I had planned a few crafts depending on how the time went. I introduced them to a little eye opener and little trick with a ribbon and a couple of paper clips. Then we did some scratch art crosses and I gave them some Gospel Bead bracelets and explained the meaning of each bead as I shared the Gospel. The kids seemed to really enjoy the visit and they were happy to see Anya return. I will return to this shelter hopefully one more time before I go back to the USA. This was a great shelter with a sweet group of kids and staff that I look forward to doing ministry with in the future!

Pastor Andre’s Drug Rehab Center

On our visit to the Lomonosov Baby Home, Pastor Andre of the Lomonosov Baptist Church was there to greet us and had lunch prepared for us when we arrived. While there, we discussed his plans for the summer which include a family camp, a children’s camp, and a camp for the Drug Rehab Center residents. We also discussed plans for our team that will come in October. We will continue to work at the Baby Home, the Children’s Hospital, and the Drug Rehab Center. In addition, Pastor Andre told me that the director of the Orphanage in Petrohof that we visited briefly last fall are waiting for our arrival. So we are looking forward to a great trip this coming October.

Pastor Andre has continued to work on the renovations inside the church. We noticed that he had put new walls up in the staircase area and had finished the staircase. He was just finishing installing some new flooring when we arrived. The biggest news is that the wall heaters in the kitchen and the rest of the building are now working! They had fought with the city for over 3 years on getting the proper documents before the heaters could be connected. Now there is heat in the building!

I visited the ladies from the Drug Rehab Center that we had worked with for the first time this last fall. They were anxious for us to come again! They had been using the leftover craft materials to make gifts for friends and continue to create things from what we taught them last fall. Several of the residents had graduated from the program and a few that we knew from this last trip are still there. Two of the girls who were residents last year, will become the directors this next year beginning in June. I could tell that they were encouraged by our visit on Friday and even the new girls seemed to know about our planned visit in the fall.

Lomonosov Baby Home to Stay Open!

On Friday, April 10th, Vica and I went to the Lomonosov Baby Home. Currently there are no children at the Baby Home. They have a staff of 10 of the 100 people they had before. Most of these 10 are financial personal. The Baby Home is currently under renovation to comply with the fire code issues identified by the local fire department. There are a lot of worker doing construction, replacing ceilings, linoleum floors, and many other things. All things are due to be mostly complete by June 1.

Due to the media reports, TV interviews, and the outcry pleas of support, local businesses have volunteered materials, workers, and money to make the needed repairs for the home. Private and Commercial support was given and they are fully funded to make these renovations. The staff has been notified that they will return. This 90 day period to comply with the fire inspector will be their “vacation”. Antonia reported that in the meantime, these same staff members have “volunteered their time to help with the Baby Home remodeling. Some of their workers and their husbands helped pull down the old ceiling so a new one could be installed. Five volunteers also spend the night each night so looters do not take things from the building. The Baby Home plans to open with a celebration on June 1st.

Antonia said that none of the children that have been moved will return back to this orphanage. She said that until June 1, children are being held in local Children’s hospitals and cared for there until the Baby Home is complete. So, the hospitals and some orphanages are full and are awaiting the opening of the Baby Home.

Later this fall, the Lomonosov Baby Home will celebrate their 60 years as a Baby Home officially on October 29. The celebration will occur on Friday, October 30, 2009.

Front Page News on Baby Home

The following article was reported in the St. Petersburg Times, on March 27, 2009. It give a good background as to what the Lomonosov Baby Home has been going through these past few weeks. The post following this will give an update from our meeting on April 10, 2009.

Lomonosov Orphanage Appeals for Aid to Prevent Closure
St. Petersburg Times, on March 27, 2009

The staff of the Lomonosov orphanage in the St. Petersburg suburb of Lomonosov are calling for help to save it from closure.

“If we meet the demands of the fire inspectorate by June 1 of this year we’ll be able to save our children’s home,” said Antonia Petrova, head doctor of the orphanage.”

“In order to do that we need to raise about 2.5 million rubles ($75,000) or for someone to donate the necessary construction materials to us,” Petrova told The St. Petersburg Times on Thursday.

If we don’t manage that, we won’t be able to look after children here anymore, and we’ll have to lay off 100 staff from our orphanage,“ she said.

The work of the orphanage has been temporally stopped for a period of 90 days by a court ruling made on the basis of a report of the Petrodvrets District Fire Inspectorate.

The inspections found numerous safety violations in the wooden building, which was built in 1892. The majority of those violations can be resolved within the time period set by the court and the Fire Inspectorate has said that it is ready to assist in eradicating the violations in order to prevent the orphange’s closure.

Earlier the Leningrad Oblast Health Committee ruled that the orphanage be closed and that its children be distributed among other orphanages, the decision being made in the belief that the Fire Inspectorate was certain to close the institution down.

As a result, all 95 children under four years of age were moved to various other orphanages in the Leningrad Oblast. They include 22 HIV-positive children who were receiving special care at the Lomonosov Orphanage.

In interviews on Thursday, the orphanage staff and volunteers said that the removal of the children would have a negative impact, especially upon those who have been diagnosed HIV-positive. Lomonosov Orphanage is the only specialized establishment in Leningrad Oblast tailored to meet the needs of children suffering from such illnesses.

“If we remove the fire violations we won’t be able to return all of the children that we had to transfer to the other orphanages, but we’ll be able to get our HIV-positive children back, received new children and keep 100 staff at the orphanage,” Petrova said.

Petrova explained that in view of the current economic crisis it would be “a tragedy” to lose the orphanage’s staff and leave such qualified individuals without jobs.

In order to conform with the fire safety regulations, the orphanage needs to replace it’s linoleum flooring with a more fire resistant material and fit its kitchens with fire-proof windows and ceilings, among other works.

The staff at the orphanage are appealing for money, building materials and labor fromk those who are willing to help.

They hope that construction and repairs companies will respond to their appeal.

If you would like to provide assistance the orphanage’s phone number is (7-812)-422-3759.

Arrival at St. Petersburg Apartment

My flight was great and it was not crowded which makes flying overseas a lot more comfortable. I arrived in St. Petersburg on Tuesday evening with all my bags and no problems with customs. As a matter of fact, I was off the plane, through passport control, and had my bags in the lobby within about 15 minutes! That’s a new record!

In the last 45 minutes of the flight, a snack lunch was served that included a small chocolate bunny. I thought, should I dare ask… but I did. I asked the stewardess if I could have any extras or if anyone on the plane was not going to eat them, I could give these as gifts to the kids at the orphanage and day center in Sosnovo and use it as a lead-in to explain the real meaning of Easter. When I got off the plane, more were given by the Lufthansa stewardesses. I was thinking… “how am I going to explain this to customs if I’m stopped!“

My son Sergey and his brother-in-law Misha were there at the airport to take me to the apartment/office I usually stay at. Misha has a car and uses it as a taxi. When we arrived, Vica, the Program Manager for SAC was there to open the door and give me a key.

After getting my bags to the room, we all went to dinner at a little café around the corner. The pictures are of the building and street I live on. By 10:30pm I was in bed after being up for 30 hours! I was awake at 3:30am due to jetlag. So, finally at 4:30am I decide to get up and work on my computer and check e-mail.

When I checked e-mail, I learned from a letter that a friend of mine had passed away on the previous Sunday. Homer Reynolds was an attorney in Plano for the last 20 plus years and he helped me develop the legal documents to make SAC an official non-profit and tax-exempt organization. He did all of this free of charge as a way of helping out the SAC ministry. Homer wasn’t that much older than I was. I was shocked and sad to hear of his passing. I’ve know his wife, Sandra for many more years. Sandra went with Hunters’ Glen on our first mission trip to Russia in July of 1999. She saw the seedlings of what would later become SAC starting on that trip. Both Homer and Sandra have been dear friends and supporters of the SAC Ministry. It made my first day in Russia sad and difficult. Please remember to pray for Sandra and her loss of her husband Homer.