BELARUS May 2005

Witnessing work continues here, as well as attention to the many brethren and sisters in this country, which on many indicators is the poorest in Europe, and one of the few ex-USSR republics to still have a Communist era authoritarian dictator in charge.

Recently a visit was made in order to distribute clothing kindly sent over by American Christadelphians to those in the most need. Pensions are just a few dollars / month, and those existing by subsistence farming find life a terrible daily burden just to survive. Living on food stored through the long Winter from last year's harvest, often eating a potato and a few preserved carrots or beetroot / day, this time of year is very hard for the subsistence farmers- because their stored food from last year is coming to an end, and although the snow has now cleared, it's too early to harvest anything. Not having much cash, anything that needs buying, like clothes, is really hard to come by. With the snow melt plus heavy rains, many of the homesteads are very hard to get to. We drove round in a 4WD vehicle, a total of around 1500 km, but even then there were some places where we had to abandon the vehicle and carry the clothes along the muddy tracks, which are only passable by tractor.

Photo:
Muddy track to sis Nina's homestead

Those needing medical attention are in a very bad situation indeed. We have had contact for some time with two brothers, VALERIJ and SASHA. At the time of the Chernobyl disaster, they were 5 and 10 years old. After that they became progressively sick. They now have lost much use of their legs and fingers, and sit at home all day. They are cared for by their devoted mother- they're now 25 and 30 years old. Their father is dead, and they live in a homestead really 'in the middle of nowhere'. Their lives were and still are very tragic- there are only a few houses in their 'village' and although they now have rather poor wheelchairs, they have no chance much to get out around the village. There is no asphalt, only mud paths, which this time of year are impossibly muddy. So they sit at home all day and really have nothing to do, and no money to get any medical diagnosis. Their mother has to wash and dress them, which she does devotedly. Not surprisingly, they turned to God, and have read and re-read their copy of Bible Basics. They both love reading. It was a great pleasure to baptize these two earnest men. They truly have no real perspective in life apart from the Kingdom. Please pray for them as they devote themselves to more study of the word each day. Telephone lines have now reached their village and it would be wonderful if we could get them a computer and onto the internet. They're both intelligent and we could probably arrange a keyboard suitable for handicapped people. They don't really know what the internet is, but we're sure they'd soon 'cotton on' and would at last have contact with the outside world.

Photo:
Bro Sasha [the hopeless look on his face disappeared after the baptism!]

Photo:
Bre Sasha and Valerij with their dear and devoted mother. In the foreground is a box containing clothing which we were able to leave with them. You can also see Sasha's wheelchair.

PHILIPPINES May 2005

greetings!
thanks a lot for your continuous prayers. yesterday, there were five believers who followed the Lord in water baptisms. as of this time, we are earnestly praying for a meeting place. as the work is growing, I really fell that there is an urgent need for us to have a formal meeting place.
we are continuously praying for you, and to the brethren who gave us literatures please extend our regards to cindy, and to the brethren.
brother alfredo

PAKISTAN May 2005

Following is some news from Br Steve Cook, CCM co-ordinator for Pakistan.

Polluted water is becoming a major health hazard in many Pakistani cities, especially in Sindh. Thousands of lives may be at risk from water-borne diseases in the Pakistani province of Sindh, experts say.

We have just installed a water filter in the building used as the APCC* office and Bible training centre in Karachi, thanks to a donation made through the Baringa Missionary Support Fund specifically for this purpose.

Photo:
New water filter installed

One of the causes of pollution is the draining of toxic water directly into the Indus river, the major source of water for millions of people. More than 40 people died of acute gastrointestinal disorders in May last year and hundreds were hospitalised, shortly after the toxic water from Manchhar lake was released into the river.

An expert working at the IUCN - one of Karachi's premium environmental agencies - said: "They should be installing water filters at all the cities drawing water directly from the river," he said. "No town or city in Sindh has adequate filtering facilities and that is the real problem."

Kidney disease is also very high in Pakistan, mainly because of polluted water, and one of our young brothers died late last year as he needed a kidney transplant, leaving a wife and three children.

A photo of the water filter which we have installed in the building used as the APCC* facility in Karachi is attached. Our Karachi facility is used by the Karachi ecclesia for meetings, as a Bible training centre for students from all over the country and as the Christadelphian office in Pakistan. It is visited by hundreds of people throughout the year and is constantly in use. The new water filter will enable us to offer them clean water as well as "living water".

There are now more than 300 Christadelphians in Pakistan - all of them being baptised since June 2002.

With love in our Lord,
Steve

* All Pakistan Christadelphian Church (reg).

With love from your brothers and sisters of CCM