Carelinks 2007 Winter Heating Appeal
Last year, Carelinks initiated a major project to try to meet the significant problem of suffering as a result of the very low temperatures in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. As reported in our updates, we believe we did significantly alleviate the suffering of many families, single mothers and especially elderly brothers and sisters. The problems arise in the following areas in the following ways:
- In URBAN AREAS prices of property and fuel have risen enormously especially in the Baltic states. Some have gotten very wealthy, whilst the majority have become poorer, especially the elderly and those living alone [of whom there are many, thanks to the legacy of the USSR, which taught that the state would care for people from cradle to grave, and the family was unimportant]. This means that over the Winter, many elderly folk must pay all of their monthly pension just to cover heating bills. And yet they have to buy medicines and food [even if we provide many of them with clothing]
- Many of the blocks our folk live in are from the Soviet period and the heating can't be regulated; the heating is ineficient and oil fired, from the days when oil was cheap within the USSR. If heating isn't paid, residents are turned out, or if they own their apartment, the apartment is taken from them.
- In RURAL areas there are many subsistence farmers, living on parcels of land taken from former collective farms. These land parcels are often far from roads and shops. As folk get older and weaker, it becomes harder to scratch a living. Young people move to the towns; those with none to support them have very little cash income and yet they need to repair their homes and buy heating material to survive.
Summing up, each year large numbers of people die from the cold and related problems. These are mostly elderly folk living alone- and we have many such baptized as our brothers and sisters.
Please do pray for our brothers and sisters. But let's reflect on the perhaps inevitable passage that comes to mind- James 2:15-17: "If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself".
We are appealing for a total of GBP £ 6,000 towards these causes. You can send donations as explained at http://www.carelinks.net/about/donate.htm. You can either send towards the general need, or you may prefer to review the cases below and decide to support particular cases. You can pay using credit card or by PayPal. How we've arranged the online shopping basket is that each 'Quantity' ['qty''] is 30 £ GBP. But we've explained in the notes the total sum we're appealing for. So, e.g. if you'd like to donate all £210 for the appeal for Abinsk ecclesia, then you'd order '7' donations of £ 30 each- 7 x £ 30 = 210 £. Whilst none of these folk are online we will try to ensure that you receive direct contact from the brothers and sisters you support. As and when donations are received for specific cases, those cases will be removed from the appeal list. In the case that someone wants to support e.g. sister X but someone else has already done so, then the second donor will be informed of that fact, and left to decide whether they wish to withdraw their donation, or donate to another case.
Brother Fyodyor (£30) Brother Fyodyor is very deaf and walks with difficulty. He is a WW2 veteran and lives in a small town with a very low pension. He loves God's word and attends Bible gatherings even when he can't hear well. His pension isn't enough to cover his monthly heating bills let alone any other expenses such as food and medicines. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 210 |
Brother Viktor (£30) Brother Viktor suffers from cancer, emphysemia and a heart condition. He tries to keep his apartment warm by piling up old clothes against the damp walls. He needs continued help in meeting heating and medical bills .APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 300 |
General- fixing windows (£30) Most heat is lost through windows and doors, and when people are spending their entire pension or wage on food, it becomes really hard for the elderly or some single women to be able to fix up their homes. Broken glass is fixed with nailed boards, e.g., which simply don’t keep the heat in. There are several we'd like to assist with this. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 600 |
General- improving toilet and washing facilities
(£30) Outside, hole-in-the-ground toilets are difficult for young families at the best of times, but at temperatures of down to -40 degrees in much of the ex-USSR and Eastern Europe, it really becomes a problem- not least because of the slippery nature of the ice which develops around them. To provide inside toilets is a major job but there are "dry" toilets which can be used, which we provided to some last Winter. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 500 |
General- renovation of wells (£30) The dramatic climate changes of recent years in Eastern Europe have meant that many wells have dropped in their level. Lower temperatures in Winter have also meant that wells are freezing. Re-boring is very expensive and difficult but local tradesmen can be brought in to fix some of them, provide longer chains and pour a salt additive into the well which stops the freezing. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 150 |
Sister Dzidra (£30) Our invalid sister Dzidra lives alone most of the time and is cared for by another sister, who you can see breaking bread with her in the photo. Her pension simply isn't enough to cover the cost of Winter heating. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 250 |
Sister Evgeniya (£30) Our elderly sister Evgeniya lives alone with her goats [which she has indoors with her over the Winter] in Russia. She collects water in buckets which she places at the edge of her tin roof [see photo]. But temperatures got so low and firewood so expensive in previous years that she didn't even have enough heat in the house to melt the snow on the roof. She again needs help with firewood and Winter repairs to her home. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 150 |
Sister Galina (£30) Sister Galina is a very faithful sister whose husband has died and so she is left alone to meet the Winter heating bills. In her area, the heating bills in the Winter are about the same as her monthly pension, leaving her with nothing to live off at all. We need to help her with the bills each month over the Winter. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 300 |
Sister Lilija (£30) Sister Lilija is a refugee from Kurdistan now living in Latvia. She lives in a women's shelter but she needs regular support as sometimes she sleeps in a cellar where she works. She works for a very low salary and is a regular attender at the ecclesia. Last Winter we assisted her and would like to do so again this year. |
Sister Ludmila [Russia] [1] (£30) Sister Ludmila was assisted last Winter by the heating appeal and she does need help again this year. She is a dwarf, has never been married, and is now elderly and living alone in a small house on the edge of a village, far from even the next house. She is frequently attacked by local Moslem neighbours who break her windows and steal the bucket and chain on her well. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 150 |
Sister Nina (£30) We reported earlier on Sister Nina's tragic loss of her farm buildings which were burnt to the ground, including the loss of all her animals. Since then we've helped her rebuild as reported on carelinks. However she needs support this Winter as last Winter with buying firewood and some meat as she only has potatoes and some preserved vegetables to eat over the Winter. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 150 |
Sister Rita (£30) Sister Rita [left in photo] works hard washing linen for a hotel but still it’s hard for her to meet Winter heating bills on her apartment. You can see her in the photo receiving spectacles donated by sisters in the UK. In her case we would assist towards her heating bills rather than pay them completely. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 150 |
Sister Sofia (£30) Sister Sofia lives faithfully in a tumbledown home. Four of her distant relatives have been baptized thanks to her preaching. However she is very weak physically, walking with difficulty with a stick, and although we've been able to fix up some things at her home, there are many other things that need doing to enable her to live reasonably over the Winter. The temperatures are down to -40 degrees C. APPEAL SUM: £ GBP 300 |
Sister Tanya (£30) Sister Tanya [in the photo, wrapped in blanket] is a very faithful sister who has led others to the way of life. She suffers with her health and has a very small pension- the heating bills in Winter are about the same as her pension, which leaves her in a really difficult position so far as food, clothing and medicines are concerned. She tries to make her own medicines as she can't afford to buy them in Winter. We would like to make some contribution to her Winter heating this year. APPEAL SUM : £ GBP 250 |
Sister Zina (£30) Sister Zina lives in a small town, alone in her 80s. She is very shaky on her feet but has to walk 1 km. each way to the shop and even further to get her pension. She needs help with paying the heating over the Winter. APPEAL SUM: £ 250 |