Category: Russia

Posts relating to Russia.

Journalism and exploitation

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Here is another thoughtful post from Liz Hulley:

A recent New York Times article described the problem of male rape in Congo. The piece was accompanied by photographs of four of the victims, framed by striking blue backgrounds. The caption read, “… All are Congolese men who were recently raped and agreed to be photographed.”*

I had to wonder…why was it significant that they had their photographs taken? And what was the incentive? Is this “good journalism”? Would the story have held as much weight without it?

At a conference on orphan ministry that I attended in the spring, they told the story of some orphans who had been visited by a team of Americans. The Americans quickly won their trust and interviewed the children. The children were eager to share their stories and agreed to be videotaped.

These tapes were later aired on TV, and the kids eventually saw themselves on TV. Their personal lives became a sensation, something used to produce a reaction. It was traumatizing for them.

This leads me to the question…when does an attempt at advocacy become exploitation? The U.S. journalists recently freed in N. Korea had been investigating the sex trade. Their research was surely a worthy cause. Yet I wonder how they would have chosen to publish the results. Continue reading →

What the Russians Say About Us

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Here are excerpts from  a very interesting article; you can read the entire piece here, at The New York Times:

What do Americans not understand about Russia? On the eve of President Obama’s arrival in Moscow, The New York Times asked readers of its Russian-language blog at community.livejournal.com/nytimesinmoscow.

Here are excerpts from their responses, as translated by The Times’s Moscow bureau, each introduced by the user’s Web nickname. Some readers gave details about themselves, which were not independently confirmed.

SKABLYAN: The Russian character is founded on contradictions.

Inwardly, we understand that in the contemporary world we have not much to be proud of. Therefore, we seek moments of greatness in our history and protect them reverently. The very same can be said of the Soviet Union.

The facts show that during the U.S.S.R., the standard of living of the average citizen was, to put it lightly, low.

However, paradoxically, the same U.S.S.R. was one of the poles of international politics, and therefore we can’t throw out that heritage and call that era a black spot in our nation’s history. Denis, 27, Moscow.

TIKI2TAVI: In Russia, familial and friendly connections are stronger, mistrust of authority is stronger and we value work less.

In practice, this means that we take loans from our friends and relatives more often than from the bank, we go to them instead of the psychoanalyst, we deal with a drunk neighbor without calling the police, and many go on livejournal.com while at work. Continue reading →

You know you’ve been in Russia too long when . . .

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I saw this a few places and wanted to post it myself. Not everything applies to me, but those of you who have spent much time in Russia will understand —

You know you have been in Russia too long when . . .

· You are impressed with the new model Lada or Volga car.
· You don’t think things are that bad right now.
· You say he/she is ‘on the meeting’ (instead of ‘at the’ or ‘in a’ meeting).
· You answer the phone by saying ‘allo, allo, allo’ before giving the caller a chance to respond.
· When crossing the street, you sprint.
· In winter, you choose your route by determining which icicles are least likely to impale you in the head.
· You hear the radio say it is zero degrees outside and you think it is a nice day for a change. Continue reading →

Queuing

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Another good post by Liz Hulley:

I was very amused that my automatic Russian-English dictionary correctly translated the title of this post when my mouse hovered over it. The dictionary is rather incomplete and sometime supplies the wrong contextual definition, or it recognizes only the lexical form and won’t translate if word appears in a different form. It had no problem with “queuing,” so I suppose the concept must be an important one in the Russian language.

While traveling in foreign countries, I can sometimes be quite good at blending in. But while I can skillfully hide certain American mannerisms, I’m not so willing to take on the customs of the new culture. There are certain Russian customs that I simply ignore and hope that no one will notice.

One of them is the “waiting in line” conversation. If anyone asks me, I try to be accommodating, but I refuse to initiate a discussion about who’s last in line. It’s just too strange. Here’s a typical dialogue:

“Who’s last in line here?”
“I am.”
“Then I’m after you.”

This is a perfectly normal conversation occurring in Russia. The question I have as a foreigner is, why on earth do they have to discuss it? Continue reading →

Meet Pasha

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Pasha made a video,

In the forest.

It was posted on the internet.

Many people saw the video on the internet.

Many people had questions.

What is he doing? Why is he there?

Only Pasha knows for sure —

From Russia to Montenegro

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Yesterday Olga and I arrived in Montenegro after driving from Russia. We covered 2500km in three days, and drove through the heart of Eastern Europe: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro. It was a great trip, and now we’re getting ready to meet a team from the US that will help the church here. I’ll post more about that trip soon.

Here’s a slideshow of our drive —

A Postcard from Russia — Dedication of Mira

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Four yeas ago I  officiated the wedding of Maxim and Anya Zakharov. Two years later they asked me to oversee their dedication of their first born girl, Pelegea. This week they asked me to do the same for their second daughter, Miroslava (who is a real cutie, above). It’s a blessing to have been here long enough to share in their lives as they grow and change.

Olga has been teaching English classes. She started teaching just a few folks, and it’s grown into quite a group. Now she has several people from Street Cry attending classes a couple of times a week.

We had our first ‘event’ at Elama. Crimson Sails, a Christian shelter in St. Pete, took their kids for a cookout yesterday. This was my first visit to Elama this spring, and things were better than I expected since no one had checked on the place all winter. Someone had broken into two of the buildings and used them for sleeping and eating (I think it must have been ice fisherman during the winter). But overall everything is in pretty good shape.

In a week we’ll head off to Montenegro to be with a team from the University of Georgia for two weeks. Then we’ll visit friends and ministry partners in Hungary and Belarus.

Here’s a word from Olga: This year has been very good. We have seen a lot of life happening around us. God has blessed us with new relationships. I’ve enjoyed getting closer to people from our church and getting involved in church activities. Besides teaching English, I have been teaching single girls about married life, and it has been very rewarding and amazing. We do thank God for the life He’s given us.

What is MIR?

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We believe that the Lord sets us together as members of His body, as living stones.  As we honor the relationships that He establishes, then the work naturally flows.  We made a video to help people see and understand better what MIR is and work to which we’ve been called.

Many thanks go to Thomas Umstattd for making this video.  He came to Russia and lived with us for a month, helping in many ways.

God’s Love in Action

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Olga and I have three young ladies from our church staying with us, Zhenya, Anna and Natasha.  I’ll post some pictures of our ‘new family’ soon.  Natasha works at Crimson Sails, a Christian children’s shelter.  Here’s one story of the way the Lord uses His people to save the lost. This is from Street Cry’s update —

Dasha (in the photo at left) was sent to this Christian shelter by her district police station officer.

Her alcoholic mom’s alcoholic boyfriend attacked Dasha with a knife.  She managed to escape almost without injuries with her grandmother’s assistance. With no time to even get dressed properly, and without a coat or boots, this young child ran through the snow and frost to the police for help.

As the police inspected Dasha’s home, they found a destroyed apartment, with almost everything sold in order to buy alcohol.  There was no food and not only Dasha did not have a desk to do her school homework but she did not even have a bed where she could sleep.  The court case began by denying Dasha’s mom parental rights.  While the case proceeded, Dasha was placed in the Christian shelter.

Very soon, she received Jesus and began attending Sunday school at our church.

Continue reading →