It was with trepidation that I accepted my mission from MMA/CMF to go to Belarus last summer. Andrew Greenfield, Annie Leggett and I joined a conference near Minsk, organised by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.
The Chernobyl fallout, equivalent to nine Hiroshimas, ruined eastern Belarus. Whole villages were razed, communities dispossessed, hundreds of thousands mobilised for the clean-up operation. The highest reward for suicidal acts ' of sacrifice was a 'hero's bus pass'. Geiger counters are still used to test food bought at market.
The students we met have far less materially than students here. ' Textbooks are prized items to be shared amongst a large group. Most live on less than £7 per month, and work on a farm is essential to survive. And qualification does not bring the prosperity and freedom we expect in this country. Even doctors working on punishing rotas would find a car or foreign holiday unaffordable. Yet despite material disadvantage, the students we met were highly educated. Students who had never met a native English speaker corrected my grammar on more than one occasion!
The conference was a great success. One hundred and thirty people came, arriving on two buses. The blinds were tightly pulled down to avoid prosecution! A whole generation has been withheld from church, in a state policy intended to stamp out faith. But the 'God-shaped hole' in the human heart is universal across cultures. Even in a country devastated by Chemobyl and stifled economically and politically by communism, the most pressing need is spiritual. The students were hungry to hear news about God's rescue plan for man through Jesus. And it was embarrassing to receive gratitude for passing on a message I take for granted.
I was left to reflect on how much I have received at no cost. Yet my reluctance to share some of my abundance contrasts sharply with Jesus' example: 'For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich' Corinthians 8: 9). Will you accept the mission?
Alex Bunn is an SHO in general medicine and part time student staffworker, funded by MMA
The Chernobyl fallout, equivalent to nine Hiroshimas, ruined eastern Belarus. Whole villages were razed, communities dispossessed, hundreds of thousands mobilised for the clean-up operation. The highest reward for suicidal acts ' of sacrifice was a 'hero's bus pass'. Geiger counters are still used to test food bought at market.
The students we met have far less materially than students here. ' Textbooks are prized items to be shared amongst a large group. Most live on less than £7 per month, and work on a farm is essential to survive. And qualification does not bring the prosperity and freedom we expect in this country. Even doctors working on punishing rotas would find a car or foreign holiday unaffordable. Yet despite material disadvantage, the students we met were highly educated. Students who had never met a native English speaker corrected my grammar on more than one occasion!
The conference was a great success. One hundred and thirty people came, arriving on two buses. The blinds were tightly pulled down to avoid prosecution! A whole generation has been withheld from church, in a state policy intended to stamp out faith. But the 'God-shaped hole' in the human heart is universal across cultures. Even in a country devastated by Chemobyl and stifled economically and politically by communism, the most pressing need is spiritual. The students were hungry to hear news about God's rescue plan for man through Jesus. And it was embarrassing to receive gratitude for passing on a message I take for granted.
I was left to reflect on how much I have received at no cost. Yet my reluctance to share some of my abundance contrasts sharply with Jesus' example: 'For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich' Corinthians 8: 9). Will you accept the mission?
Alex Bunn is an SHO in general medicine and part time student staffworker, funded by MMA
