Ruslan Yarotsky, a religion studies major and
a former Evangelical pastor who is now an Orthodox missionary from Hrodna and
the Director of a Support Fund for Orthodox Christians in Africa, took a flight
to East Africa together with his friend Dmitry Fadeyev and spent two weeks in
an Orthodox community in Kenya. The two friends helped St Barnabas Shelter in
Njabini where Father John, an Orthodox priest and school principal, takes care
of ca. 170 orphans. The majority of those children's parents have died. Many of
the kids are seriously ill.
We visited a meeting where Ruslan told about
the Orthodox mission in Kenya and the struggles of Orthodox Christians in
Africa, as well as about his own spiritual journey from a pastor to an Orthodox
missionary and the simple things that make us happy.
- I'm an
infinitely happy person because the Lord found me, -Ruslan says. - Now I know
why I get up in the morning, and I can hope that I will find myself in a good
place after I don't wake up one morning. I'm a parishioner of the Church in
honour of St Luke at Hrodna Regional Hospital. Our parish is vibrant and
lively. It's like a big family. We know each other by name, come together to
study the Gospel and mix with interesting people. There is even a booklovers'
club. What else can one possibly need? Nonetheless, I have always wanted to do
an overseas mission.
Fyodor
Dostoyevsky said that a Russian must have something to die for. We are
subconsciously looking for something to die for. I have long wanted to go to
Africa. I was haunted by the idea that I had to help African children and the
Orthodox community there. He who seeks will find. I came across a webpage run
by Greek missionaries, who later introduced us to Father John, a year ago.
Following our request, he invited us to St Barnabas Orphanage located in
Njabini settlement.
There was
just one problem: where do we find so much money? A brother from our parish
advised us to "test God's will" by asking a priest to bless our
journey. Naturally, I did not want to go anywhere to ask for the blessing
because I had already made up my mind. I did not have money, though, and I
didn't know where to get it, so I went to Lavrishevo Monastery to my wonderful
spiritual father and counsellor Father Eusebius, the abbot of this monastery.
As we
were walking with the abbot in the snowy Lavrishevo, I stammered about my idea.
He looked straight in my eyes and replied that we had had to launch overseas
missions a decade ago. As soon as I received the blessing, things began to
unfold at the speed of light. Interestingly enough, it was one of my friends,
who is a Catholic, who donated the first $1000 "for the development of
Orthodox mission in Africa". Little by little, our parish collected a
substantial amount of money in a month and a half, about $5000, although our
parishioners are not that well-off. It happened thanks to God's mercy.
How did your family react?
You know,
each one of us will die, so why should we care where it happens? I am certain
that I won't live a second more or a second less than I am destined to. So it's
pointless to worry whether I die in Africa or here in Hrodna. We don't get to
choose where and when we are born and die.
I was
raised in an Evangelical family. Every young Evangelical kid dreams of becoming
a missionary. My family supported my decision. My wife had dreamed of going on
a mission to Yakutia when she was young. So I'm making her dream come true in a
way. My children wanted to go to Africa with me but it's too dangerous.
We had to
undergo vaccinations against yellow fever and malaria. It is physically
stressful to be there: Njabini is located at the altitude of 8200 ft. It is
hard to breathe and your heart is pounding differently.
No one
was waiting for us in Nairobi Airport. So we're standing there in the foreign
country with several heavy suitcases (the total load of 330 lbs consisted of
stationery, toys, and sweets). We bought
a SIM card, which cost us $20. Kenya is a very expensive country, strange
though it may sound. The locals' line of thinking is that if you are white, you
have to pay extra. A figurine that is impossible to bring back home because it
is too fragile will cost you $200.
Soon
Father John found us: he had parked his car in a wrong place. In spite of the
huge sticker on his car, "Saint Barnabas Shelter. We help children,"
he had to pay a $40 fine. It's a lot even for us, and for them it's… That was
how our first encounter with Kenya began.
Kenya's
main scourge is poverty, hunger, lack of access to drinking water and basic
healthcare, and, as a result, there is a huge number of ill people. Due to high
mortality rates many Kenyan kids are orphans. It is to these kids that Orthodox
priests in Kenya cater. Yes, Kenya is different. There is a touristy Kenya with
the ocean shore and safaris. You will drive through a Maasai village, give
sweets to the local kids, and feel that you've done something meaningful. This
isn't the real Kenya.
For the
most part, the country is in a terrible condition. It is ridden by water
shortages, unemployment, and terrorism.
Mogadisho,
Somalia, is the most dangerous place in the world. Islamists keep raiding Kenya
all the time. They kidnap whites for ransom. There is one of the largest
refugee camps in Kenya — ca. 250 000 persons. Many of them are Christians
because belonging to the Christian faith is punishable by death in Somalia. Not
long ago two Protestants and a Catholic were beheaded…
There are
slums everywhere on the outskirts of the capital city: rubbish, poor hygiene,
crowds of people aimlessly wandering here and there, and apparent lack of
security — you start feeling insecure as soon as you leave the territory of the
airport.
When we
got to the shelter, we saw a pathetic sight: an acre of fenced land and several
bunkhouses made of terrible wooden planks. Animals in any of our villages live
more comfortably than those children. This place is home for 170 orphans aged 3
– 17 or 18. Their parents died of AIDS, tuberculosis or hepatitis, or have been
killed during civil strifes. The daily routine for Father John is to find
resources to feed and clothe these children, teach them the basics of the
Orthodox faith, and provide education for them. Upon graduation from the
shelter, the children get a certificate and can apply to colleges. You are
doomed if you are un-educated in Kenya. As a rule, the counsellors work for
food.
When
there is money, the children eat three meals a day. When there isn't, they eat
just once a day. What do they eat? Some kind of flour, possibly corn flour,
diluted in boiled water to make a glue-like mass. They add sugar to make it
less disgusting. If there's enough flour, they cook simple pancakes instead. As
long as this mass is hot, it's edible. The children eat it well. They invited
us to taste it but we couldn't. Even for Christ's sake.
The
Lavrishevo Monastery donated two boxes of sweets to the shelter. Some of the
kids saw them for the first time. The distribution of the sweets looked like a
huge event: the children stood in lines, and the volunteers gave them sweets
solemnly…
Dear
friends, we are so rich, and I mean it! Human beings are naturally marked by
their inability to be satisfied, they never stop pushing for more and more.
Many people have this false impression that Africans don't have anything but
they walk around happily, smiling at the sun. That's wrong. Africa is very
depressing and miserable. Piles of rubbish and people wandering aimlessly.
Abject poverty. Unemployment. No business opportunities. It is only where there
are churches that children smile because they are loved, cared for, and helped.
Nowadays,
life is harder in Belarus: the economic crisis hit everyone, but it pales in
comparison with Kenya. One hundred and seventy children without parents; no one
will shed a tear if they die… You walk down the village street, and there are
someone's legs sticking out of a pile of rubbish, and you can't tell if that
person is alive or dead and you cannot get closer: there is leprosy in some
regions, and there may well be poisonous snakes in the rubbish. Human life
doesn't cost anything at all.
One of
the most pressing problems that Kenya faces is lack of access to pure drinking
water. The shelter cannot afford a $30,000 borehole. Another acute problem for
the children who live in the shelter is shoes, which are expensive. Without
shoes, some nasty bugs will get under the children's skin, and their legs will
swell. However, if you have to choose between shoes and food, you choose food.
The older children pass their clothes and shoes to the younger kids.
Tyres are
the usual toys for Kenyan children. They make sandals from old tyres. The
children have almost no toys. When we got there, they were playing football with
a "ball" made of an old newspaper…
My heart
aches for them. I would like to help them but I can't. What can be done with a
couple thousand dollars? It's like a drop in an ocean. The bare minimum spent
on one child in the shelter is one dollar a day. For ten dollars, a child can
survive in the shelter for ten days. That's how we calculated our expenses when
we were getting ready for the trip. You can feed one child for $1 but often you
don't have even that one dollar. We organised three meals a day for the money
we had brought with us. We would buy cheap food, e.g., rice, lentils, grains,
and sugar, in special wholesale shops. No one even talks about other foods,
like meat or fish… The Great Lent is an ascetic feat for us; for them, it
begins on the day they are born. And it never ends for the majority of the
population.
The
Orthodox Church in Kenya grows rapidly, in large part thanks to the numerous
shelters and schools. The children who stay there hear the Gospel, learn the
God's Law, and participate in church services since their early years. They
grow to become Orthodox Christians. Then they marry and raise their own
children in the Orthodox tradition. Father John himself had skipped a service
in his semi-pagan Protestant congregation one day. When he accidentally met an
Orthodox priest who simply gave him some food, he was so fond of that man that
he started helping him in the church. As a result, he graduated from a school
and a seminary. Kenyan Christians are very simple-hearted. Prayer is their way to
survive. We have to force ourselves into praying with prayer ropes and saying
Jesus Prayer but in Africa, it's impossible not to pray.
Apart
from Njamini, we brought humanitarian aid to cities where the situation is even
worse. We wanted to support the priests and missionaries, our brothers in the
faith who carry out their ministry under these extremely harsh conditions. I
have many priests as friends. They also have their troubles and there are few
of them who ride posh cars but it cannot be compared with what life is like in
Kenya. We were driving to a priest to bring him some foodstuffs and came across
a building made of steel sheets, like an old garage. This building turned out
to be his house. There was a chair, a table, a bed, a prayerbook, a Bible, and
a prayer rope, and that was all he had. He cooks some kind of stew on open fire
near his cabin. His wife and children live 300 miles away. He serves as a
missionary in that place for a fortnight every month, then gets back to his
family somehow, and serves the other fortnight there. He does not complain. He
loves God and lives happily. If I take a pack of rice and give it to a priest here
in Belarus, I don't think he'll be extremely excited. For them, even tiny
amounts of water and food mean a lot. They encounter pain and suffering but at
the same time they rely on Jesus. They are true patriots of Kenya who love
their country and don't want to leave. They simply want to live normal lives.
Like we all do, don't we?
Europeans
used to help them more but they reduced funding of African charitable projects
due to the refugee crisis. Their welfare organisations and charities started
focusing on their own countries.
It must
be noted that it becomes cleaner and tidier wherever Orthodox parishes are
planted. People really change their mentality for the better. The Lord cleanses
their hearts and they begin to make everything clean, too. This is how small
pockets of cleanliness and order pop up. There are more and more Orthodox
parishes in Kenya every day. There is approximately one million Orthodox
Christians in Kenya nowadays. They build hospitals and schools and by doing so,
they unite people and preach the Gospel. There are regions where indigenous
polytheistic beliefs are still strong. They require not only social support but
also preaching about Christ. Their seminary prepares educated and skilled
priests. There are no monasteries in Kenya right now. There is just one monk in
the country.
I would
also like to tell you about Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya, who is a spiritual
child of Elder Sofrony (Sakharov). He hails from Cyprus. He studied in several
universities in Europe, including the Orthodox Theological Institute of St.
Sergius in Paris, France. He is very
unpretentious, I have never seen bishops like him. Our bishops are wonderful
but I don't know them, I only see them on TV. He has spent his entire life to
develop and strengthen the Church. It was due to his efforts that there are 300
parishes, many schools and shelters, a seminary and a technical college in
Kenya now.
Kenyans
honour Metropolitan Makarios like their father or grandfather. The situation of
survival that people have to face in Africa creates an atmosphere of
simplicity. There are no barriers between bishops and common folk. They have to
stay together to survive. His Eminence Makarios visits churches daily. He is
always on the go. When he learned about our visit, he decided to come to see
us. He celebrated a solemn Liturgy. He served partly in Church Slavonic during
the Liturgy, so that we could understand what was going on. The service ended
with lively dances - that's how Orthodox Kenyans praise the Lord.
It was a
completely new experience for us. When we first came to Njamini and there were
170 children dancing around us and having fun, we were astonished…
Unfortunately, sincere joy fades in our hearts with time. By the way, the Book
of Psalms reads, "Praise God with the timbrel and dance, (cf. Ps. 150: 4).
The dance means roundelays. That's what it means. Our mentality stops us from
having fun so openly. They are very open-hearted. As soon as the service was
over, everyone went outdoors, and the children started dancing around the
metropolitan. They live by dancing - and God.
Currently,
the situation in central Kenya is becoming even more complicated. Due to their
civil strife, food prices have skyrocketed, and it means that children will be
starving again. Businesses from Belarus are ready to help but it's meaningless
to send humanitarian aid: the corruption rates are so high that the locals
won't see the aid, it will be stolen on its way. The Belarusian ambassador
openly admits that it's a waste of money. That's why we collect donations,
store them on a VISA credit card, go to Africa, rent cars, buy everything in
the cheapest shops, and distribute the staples among missionary parishes. We
bring back receipts and post photos to be as transparent as possible.
St
Barnabas Shelter is actively raising funds to buy the plot of land they rent
right now. We hope that, God willing, they will succeed. When they do, they
will be able to build something more substantial, with the help of volunteers.
For instance, during our last trip we built a coop for chicken, which will
supplement the meagre ration of the children.
Our next
trip to Kenya is in February. So if you can tell anyone about it, please do.
Please write to us, we will be happy to receive all kinds of help.
My friend
who is an editor of a newspaper had an argument with me, "Why Africa?
There are many poor folks here, too." He is a very pious man and a
remarkable Orthodox Christian. He spent three days trying to convince me that
"it was your pride telling you to go to Africa." And then he came to
me and admitted honestly, "It has dawned on me that I oppose your idea so
much because I don't do anything like that myself." He gave me a $100 note
saying, "I don't want to fight with God, I'd rather be your ally."
If some
of our priests were to push forward the establishment of the Hrodna Missionary
Fellowship, it could allow us to take a different approach. As of now, it's a
bunch of amateurs. Our spiritual fathers bless us, and we're grateful to them.
So if you spread the word among your friends, or if there are people who are
willing to help, we will really appreciate it because one dollar is the cost of
one day of a child's life. It isn't mere words. If any one of you will make up
your mind to go there, you will see it with your own eyes.
Interview by Sister Maria
(Kotova)
January 4, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION