Beguiling BELARUS - my impressions of the country and her people

    

    When I am in Belarus, I feel like I am in a far away land, even though it is only about a 12 hour drive from Berlin. Maybe it is just the thought that the country is run by a dictator, of whom we are told, has amassed a personal fortune at the expense of the people he governs. We have heard that spies are everywhere and apartments are bugged. However, even though unemployment and poverty are high, the people seem to be generally satisfied with life.

    The President has an 11 year old son, alleged to be birthed by his personal doctor and who goes with him wherever he goes. It seems he is already grooming his spoiled son to take control of the country when he comes of age. From reports, it sounds like he already has complete control of his dad. His son carries his own golden pistol and has been given medals that soldiers took years to achieve.

    Once we were driving in the downtown area and traffic came to a stop. Our host said, “It is probably because of the president.” Sure enough, on the other side of the now cleared highway, came black car after black car with flags – then a big Hummer-type car – some fancy cars and then more black cars following – to disguise which car the President was actually in. We were told this is a common occurrence in Belarus.

    It is rare to see old buildings in Belarus like you see in Europe. Most of the country was completely destroyed in WW2. What you see are communist looking high-rise buildings and Russian art and huge statues of Stalin or war hero's. 

     We were a bit surprised to also see McDonalds and KFC. We had thought the communist leanings were still prevalent but we saw that capitalism is also flourishing to some degree. We heard that it is almost impossible to become rich in Belarus due to the weak market and constant inflation.

    I have been in Belarus twice on “Victory Day” held every May 9^th. The city celebrate's their victory over Hitler by covering the downtown streets with flags and banners. Their war arsenal: tanks, jeeps and guns are brought out and paraded down the street along with women in traditional costume and young military men and women proudly displaying their military uniforms and badges. The President gives a speech and everyone looks happy and gay.

Victory Day Parade - 2014

    Starting in 2014, the Christians were allowed for the first time in twelve years, to operate a stage in the park with Christian musicians. They still had to be careful to not be too “preachy” but it was quite the break-through that they were even given permission. It may have been because May 2014 was when the world ice-hockey competitions were held in Minsk and the President wanted to show the world that there is religious freedom in Belarus. However, the Christians were allowed, once again, in 2015 to use the stage for Christian music.

Thilo singing on stage in the park

    The countryside in Belarus is very green and we saw a lot of beautiful lakes. In my opinion, the most charming thing about Belarus is the Dachas, which are small summer-cabins that many Belarusians own and travel to on weekends and in summer. When I first saw them, I thought their cute colors and fences were unique to the village I was in, but I learned that the Dacha's in every village in Belarus look very much the same. Many villages have no running water and the dacha owners draw their water from a well that several families use. 

    The Dacha's are often painted in bright blues, greens and pinks and have the cutest picket fences that are also painted. The women work hard in the gardens while the men seem to occupy their time with building projects or chopping wood for Banja (sauna).

    There is a saying in Belarus that everyone is a millionaire. That's because inflation is so high. A million Belarusian rubbles is comparable to around 70. dollars. One day in a park, we came upon a fountain where instead of coins being tossed in, there were paper bills floating in the water. It is a funny experience to go to the grocery store and take out a wad of bills that seem as thick as your arm and watch the cashier count them. Everyone is patient.

Money floating in fountain

This is about 2 euros!

    We were privileged to be the guests in a home that was recently finished enough for guests. It was announced that we were the very first guests to stay in their house! It was a beautiful, huge house. Even by American standards, it was big and we rarely saw an average-sized home in the outlying neighborhoods which surround the city of Minsk.

We learned that due to the bad economy, you cannot get loans to build houses, therefore, you pay as you go, so the average home takes over twelve years to build. You have to wait until you have cash on hand. It takes a long time and is a lot of hard work, however, once the house is built, it is yours, free and clear.

Typical Sight:  House in progress

    The houses are very similar to American houses except that they are built from concrete blocks instead of wood. The home we stayed in had beautiful tiled and wood flooring; spacious bathrooms, and modern kitchen.

However, your average Belarusian lives in the city in an apartment. We heard that it is very hard to obtain an apartment so most kids live with their parents until they get married or stay with their family forever and eventually inherit the apartment.

    Our host family was extremely musical and artistically talented. The eldest son is a drummer and sound-engineer who has produced albums. The second son is an accomplished pianist, conductor, composer and worship leader. One day I was resting on my bed and suddenly heard the most beautiful strains of Bach flowing from the piano in their dining room. I had to stop what I was doing to listen. The flowing, pounding music brought chills. It only lasted about 20 minutes and I was hoping to hear more. Later, I learned that this was a common occurrence of that son. He would arrive home and immediately sit down at the piano and play wildly for 10 or 15 minutes, even if he arrived home at 11pm. No one ever said a word. I loved it.

    The youngest child is an artist and you could see her art everywhere. She painted a huge melon on the wall in the basement kitchen (which was a kitchen for guests or party use) but the most impressive art was on the wall in her bedroom where she had painstakingly done swirls and designs with a black pen. You would have to see it, to recognise how brilliant it is. She is also most accomplished in faces and we were blown away by the poignancy and creativity of her art.

    The parents are also amazing musicians, leaders, visionaries, pastors and hard-workers. They travel to the United States more often that we do! They have relatives living in Minnesota. Almost everyone we met had relatives somewhere in the United States. Most of the Belarusian's I met were proud to be Belarusian's and wanted to stay in their own country to make it a better place. No one seemed concerned about Russia's influence or loosing personal freedoms although every Christian is aware that not too long ago their Christian grandparents were imprisoned for their faith. Our host's father was an alcoholic who was sent to prison and there he met Jesus, through a fellow prisoner - a pastor imprisoned for his faith. Our host's father, came out of that prison a changed man and lived the remainder of his life sober and helping to advance the kingdom of Jesus.

    Here are some cultural things that I found interesting. You do not flush toilet paper down the toilet! That was a very hard one for us to deal with and remember. Over and over, we would say, “Oh, I forgot!” There are small garbage cans next to each toilet and these are emptied almost every day . I looked on-line to find the reasons for not flushing toilet paper down the toilet and found varied reasons. Some said that the toilet paper in some countries does not dissolve well. Some said the pipes are laid funny and therefore clog up easily. Some said, that it is simply culture and habit and that they no longer need to do so, but still do. I wondered if this was true for the home we were staying in as it was brand new built and you would think that modern plumbing could handle toilet paper. However, the toilet in the basement did clog up several times. I talked to one Belarusian about this and she said that in some homes, you can flush the toilet paper down the toilet and that you have to look and see if there is a garbage-can next to the toilet and if there is, always use it!

    I enjoyed the cultural habit of serving soup before every meal. It was always a hot soup and usually with a chicken broth, potatoes, carrots and a grain. It was always tasty. Belarusian's are known for serving many items at the dinner table. Their hot meal is in the afternoon, just like Europeans. For them, it is a culture shock to see only meat, potatoes and a vegetable on a table as opposed to meat, potatoes, two different salads, a hot vegetable, as well as small plates of cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese. 

    They make delicious cakes, one of which is layered with honey. I loved the fresh salads and they do beet salads very well. My favorite Belarusian food is Shashlik (or Kabab) which is grilled, lamb, pork or beef on skewers. Shashlik was a common street food on the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia in the 1920's. It is traditionally marinated overnight in a vinegar mixture and cooked the next day over a fire grill. Mmmm, it is so delicious!

Shashlik on grill

They also drink lots of juice made from fresh berries and water. The most famous Belarusian food is Draniki, (potato pancakes). They are delicious and are served with sour cream which was some of the best sour cream I've ever had. Their milk is particularly good as well.

Home-made juice

    One cultural difference that I could not get used to was the male dominance. The women tend to be more feminine than women from Western countries and wear lots of make-up, high heels and short skirts while the men are MEN! When a man enters a room with men and women, he will only shake the men's hands and either completely ignore the women or give them a slight not. At first, I took it personal. As I was usually the oldest person in the room, I thought, “Well, I guess I'm just not cool enough for them,” and then I started observing that it happened to all the women. The men had no problem shaking my hand, if I held it out first. I don't believe the women in Belarus feel that they are being demeaned, it is just their way. I did feel demeaned. There was just something in the air and often I felt as if I was not “listened” to. We were at a party and the men spoke to the men and the women were silent. Of course, that might have been unique to our particular situation but overall, you can “feel” that it is a male-dominated society.

    Most of our time was spent in the countries capital, Minsk but our last weekend we were privileged to travel to a small village about 2 hours from the border town of Brest. There we stayed in a 2-bedroom, 1 bath house with a wonderful, loving Christian family. They raised 6 children in that small flat. The toilet was just a small room only big enough to stand in. Next to the toilet was another small room barely big enough for a bathtub/shower, sink and washing machine.

    We were welcomed into their home like royalty. They fed us the most amazing, wonderful food and as we ate, they hovered over us, making sure we had all we needed. I had tears in my eyes because through these simple people, I felt the love of our heavenly Father.

    We had to have an interpreter to speak as the family spoke no english. They had a friend, an English teacher, who offered her services. The mother of the house told us that her husband, “Is a saint! People just don't know.” She told us that they arrived in their village 20 years ago and they were the ONLY Christians in the whole village. The people had never met a Christian. Her husband, who is an accomplished musician on the violin and accordion, started performing on the street and evangelising. Soon, some became Christians and they started a church in their home. Today that church is some 200 people with about 50 teens in their youth group. Through help from the United States, they have built a wonderful building to hold services with an outdoor pool for baptisms. The Lord also blessed the church so they could buy property in the country, (not far from their homes – maybe a 20 minute drive). With the property came an abandoned school house that sits on about 20 acres and is near a lake with a sandy shore. Every summer, they hold kids camps on the property. They are slowly, slowly refurbishing the old school building and plan to turn it into a drug/alcohol rehabilitation center.

Alcoholism is a huge problem in Belarus. We asked a young Christian guy if he ever drinks alcohol and his answer was, “Of course not. Alcoholism is a huge problem and it is in our blood. If we drink, we may easily become alcoholics.” When we ministered prayer in the church of that village, person after person was asking prayer for either their husband or son who was lost on alcohol. It was very heart-breaking.

    I feel so blessed that I got to meet those loving Belarusians who care and are giving their lives for their fellow-men to show them a better way and willing to give all to bring others to Jesus.

    The hearts of the people will call us back to Belarus far more than the wonderful food, fun Dachas and beautiful countryside. The people are loving, warm-hearted and so creative. I don't know when I've been around a group of more creative people. They welcomed us into their homes and hearts and we will never forget them.