Life in Central Asia
{insights from workers in the region}
“We are the fortunate ones ... While we shiver in a 47-degree living room, other friends tell us that it is 39-degrees in their houses. ”
CENTRAL ASIA Winter 2008
Surviving a wicked winter
And so the cold season began in the heart of Central Asia, the coldest it has been in the western region for over 30 years. The temperature has been below freezing for almost a month, the nights have been consistently below 0 Farenheit, and we have had several snowfalls that aren’t melting. The piles of snow in the streets are getting bigger and bigger as men shovel the snow off their roofs. To give you an idea of how cold it is here,
- there are icicles IN our kitchen
- our food cools off going from the stove to the table
- we can see our breath in the living room
- a friend opened a can of mushrooms from her cupboard, and they were frozen
- a chicken defrosting on our counter stayed frozen all day, and then thawed in the fridge where it’s warmer
- friends came home from a trip to find the water in their toilet turned to ice
- our kids are wearing 2 pairs of socks under their slippers, 4 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, a hat and a coat, INSIDE THE HOUSE
We are the fortunate ones. We have a working spigot in our yard (our house guard uses a blowtorch on it to keep it from freezing), and we can pump water to the tank on our roof to get water into our house. Friends of ours haven’t had any water for several weeks. While we shiver in a 47-degree living room, other friends tell us that it is 39-degrees in their houses.
Still, our discomfort is nothing compared to what nationals are going through. Bread and rice, the staples of this country, have doubled in price as trade routes are virtually impassable. The only vegetables available now are potatoes, as everything else is frozen. Our city is running out of gas, kerosene, charcoal and wood, so it is getting impossible to heat homes even if one has enough money to pay the quickly-rising prices for fuel. My friend went to the local hospital last week at 3 AM, had a baby girl, and returned an hour later to her one-room mud house that had essentially turned to ice. She and her 4 (now 5) children heat with a cursi—a low table covered with a thick blanket, under which charcoal burns all day. It’s warm when you’re sitting with your feet under the table, but the rest of the house remains freezing.
In the midst of this “weather epidemic”, we had the opportunity to work with several other small organizations to distribute boxes of food, blankets and fuel. We have seen national friends contribute monetarily to the relief effort. Shopkeepers have donated children’s coats to help their fellow countrymen.
At our local fellowship this week we all prayed together that His Glory would be shown during this time, that hearts would turn to Him during this crisis, that any small thing that we can do to help relieve the suffering all around us would somehow bring more people into His Family. May we continue to look to Him for our strength and encouragement, trusting in His promise that He will send His Word and melt the snow, stirring up his breezes and making the waters of spring flow to give life to this frozen land.
Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion . . .
He sends His Command to the earth; His Word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down His hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand His icy blast?
He sends His Word and melts them; He stirs up His breezes, and the waters flow.
Psalm 147:12,15-18