cries of a Seagull

surprised by joy!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:17:30 +0800

‘We’re still here, and we’re still in business.’ That’s the message of church-based businesses in the Gobi Desert, from which I have just returned.

The purpose of my visit there was to find out how the businesses were faring in the face of the severe winter crisis here. Although this crisis is likely to run and run - and one or two banks are badly exposed to it - the message was surprisingly upbeat.

‘Here we stand...’
I didn’t get round all the businesses (too big an undertaking at this time of year). But those that I did talk to were holding their own, and one or two had even managed to expand in the midst of the disaster. A couple of businesses had taken on staff. A cafe business in one district bought the bakery next door - a sort of horizontal-vertical integration! A business making traditional craft items and clothes had managed to secure a contract with one of the tourist camps, an indication of the quality of the products it is making.

Local Micro-Enterprise Trainers
While there, we approved loans to finance expansion for two further businesses, one in hairdressing and another in shoe repairs. And we also made arrangements for three of the business owners to become local micro-enterprise trainers. We plan to get them going with the next micro-enterprise training planned for the summer.

It was an inspiration to see, in the midst of great adversity, the determination of local entrepreneurs to create economic value amongst some of the poorest communities in the world. The crisis looks set to continue for a while yet. But church-based businesses are keeping hope alive in some of the most unpromising places you can imagine...

Watch out for some business profiles that will be appearing over on the Seedtime website soon...

*** !!! SEEDTIME IN THE NEWS !!! ***

While in South Gobi, I heard that Seedtime and its donation to the emergency fund had been mentioned on local TV news! The provincial governor wished his thanks to be passed on to all... So, here goes: THANK YOU!! Or as he would have said it, TAND BAYARLALAA!!

a hidden disaster (update)

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 16:36:39 +0800

At Seedtime’s emergency board meeting today, we agreed an immediate disbursement of $1000 to churches as follows:

• $500 to Salvation of Jesus Church in South Gobi
• $500 to Eternal Love Church in Ulaanbaatar

Both amounts will then be donated to local governors’ emergency funds for immediate disaster relief.

On current reckoning, this disaster has some time to run. There is nearly a metre of snow on the ground in some places, and the unusually cold weather is expected to continue through March. The current figure of 1.5 million animals dead is therefore certain to rise. An estimated 180,000 herding families are in critical need of help, but I’ve not seen figures for human casualties yet. The economic fallout from the severe weather is likely to continue some time after the immediate crisis.

Please continue to pray for the people of Mongolia as they wrestle with this crisis, for the land reforms so desperately needed, and for our struggling churches on the front line.

• More information in English: the UB Post
• Incisive English-language comment from Mongolian economist D. Jargal here.

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micro-enterprise seminars
On a separate note, Seedtime’s current series of micro-enterprise seminars here in Ulaanbaatar is going well. Five of our nine ‘students’ are planning to start a Christian cafe business in the city. Another is planning to combine some micro-business work with church planting just over the border in Russia. More news soon! In the midst of trouble, God is good!

a hidden disaster...

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:15:48 +0800

The Haiti earthquake reminded us once more of the devastating impact of natural disasters on the world’s poor. Here, well beyond the world’s headlines, a multiple natural disaster is bearing down on the people of Mongolia.

Around 1.5 million-head of herded animals have frozen to death in one of the harshest winters Mongolia has seen for decades. Piles of dead animals can be seen by the roads in many places. The disaster began last summer, and we reported on the vulnerability of our businesses in South Gobi to this possibility in September. That possibility has come to pass.

A severe drought in South Gobi and elsewhere meant that there was not enough vegetation for the animals to eat, meaning that they did not have the fat reserves to survive the harsh winter that has followed. Provincial children who were grounded in dormitories because of the A/H1N1 swine flu outbreak are now in critical need, due to lack of adequate heating and food, according to the UB Post.

Unusually heavy snows in many places have left families cut off from essential supplies. There is the real likelihood of accelerated population drift to Ulaanbaatar, where the infrastructure is already to unable to support the current population of 1.1 million. This is a compound and significant natural disaster, no doubt. But it has been made worse by a combination of political graft and mismanagement of natural resources, a deeply corrosive process that if left unchecked could have unknown consequences.

Our churches and businesses are right there in the thick of it, seeking to be salt and light in the most desperate situations. I have a trip to South Gobi scheduled for March, when the weather improves, to see what is happening on the ground out there. Within Seedtime we are considering how we can respond with the churches and others, with the resources God has given us.

But maybe this is first and foremost a situation to send us to our knees, and lift up our hands to the Father of Lights, that His Light will shine in this present darkness...

• More information in English: the UB Post
• Incisive English-language comment from Mongolian economist D. Jargal here.

privilege...

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:53:21 +0800

It’s -34C outside, but there are many reasons why I feel privileged to live here.

Click here for a gallery of some of those reasons from the website of Holiday Mongolia. The MD of this company will be attending Seedtime’s first business seminars as a student! And I’m teaching her?

‘think big and act small’

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:55:06 +0800

Those words formed part of my charge to the Seedtime board at its inaugural meeting the other week.

‘Think big and act small*.’ Think big in terms of the massive potential of Mongolian churches in this part of Asia and beyond. But don’t think in terms of a big organisation, because as a network of churches, our strength comes from these, not from a well-staffed and resourced ‘mission headquarters.’ It is the churches that will make us what God is calling us to be. And let’s make sure that we are there to help them step into what God is calling them into, because the local church is the mission headquarters. Think big, and act small.’

*Acting small is counter-cultural here. In the Soviet heritage of Mongolia’s wider culture, only big is beautiful.

announcing Seedtime...

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:06:11 +0800

New year, new horizons... After much prayer, consultation and the official registration process, Seedtime - a local Mongolian charity set up to take forward the work here - has finally arrived.

Seedtime - churches for Mongolia and beyond - has as one of its priorities, micro-enterprise development as a means of lifting people out of poverty, enabling churches to become more able to stand on their own two feet, and furthermore to seed more communities of hope in Mongolia and beyond.

That is no small vision for a country in great physical and spiritual need, yet strategically placed in the heart of Asia, with Russia to the north, and China to the south. Some of the most unreached people-groups on earth are to be found hereabouts.

And it is for such a purpose as this that Seedtime is here. I am very grateful to God and to the people who have helped to bring it about, including a very able and visionary board (all Mongolians, of course).

Well, that’s enough from me. Why not head over to Seedtime’s website to catch a glimpse of what is going on. And if you or your church would like to help in any way, we will be more than happy to hear from you!

***Please note: Always use the ‘.mn’ suffix when typing our web address. If you use the usual ‘.com’ suffix, you’ll be taken to another, unrelated website. However, if you bookmark us, you’ll never lose touch.***

‘some said it thundered...’

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:17:36 +0800

In the early hours of this morning, Ulaanbaatar was shaken by a small earthquake, measuring around 3.5 on the Richter scale. Blissfully unaware, yours truly slept right through it. I only heard about the quake at church!

But it made me think of the witness of Scripture to physical events which point to spiritual realities or desirables.  God spoke in signs that forced the liberation of his people from Egypt. The prophets are full of it; John the Baptist witnessed it at Jesus’ baptism; Jesus himself spoke of it; the Book of Revelation majors on it, to name but a few references across the Biblical canvas.

And the prophet Isaiah was sufficiently confident of his Lord’s ability to act in the physical environment that he prayed for it:

‘Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you...!’ (Isaiah 64)

May every mountain tremble, everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God in this land and in the church; that his Kingdom may come, and many more witness to the power of His Matchless Name!

a bakery in every district...

Tue, 5 Jan 2010 21:24:41 +0800

This vision is one of the spin-offs of the micro-enterprise training that members of St Mary’s Old Harlow, UK, carried out for churches in South Gobi Province, Mongolia, in May 2008. Click here for the progress report following my trip to South Gobi in September.

Pictured above are Natsagdorj (left, senior pastor of South Gobi’s churches), his wife Dawa, and my colleague Naraa at a meeting in my home in Ulaanbaatar a few weeks ago to discuss micro-enterprise development plans for 2010.

Currently, we’re also seeking to augment the venture capital fund out there for the existing businesses.

One burning desire that the churches have is to provide a bakery in all 14 districts of South Gobi, as well as for micro-enterprise training to be offered to non-Christians as well as Christians. That’s quite a vision, but with God and many strong hands, it can become a reality. Do pray, and if you’d like to find out more, please contact me.

ubuntu

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 22:26:33 +0800

If you have to buy a PC in a country like Mongolia, then it’s a fair bet that a lot of the preloaded software, including the Windows operating system, is counterfeit. I recently bought a laptop for my new charity here (about which more soon). But not being able to justify the expense of another Mac to the new board, I bought a PC instead.

Sure enough, the operating system (Windows XP), and the pre-loaded MS Office software, turned out to be counterfeit. Of course, there were options to license the software (for a significant fee). But most Mongols, having forked out for a computer at a price that is comparable to Western prices (I kid you not), cannot go any further. So, they’re stuck with the counterfeit, with all that entails for the integrity and security of their purchase.

It made me wonder. People here face a double whammy of having to pay Western prices for computers which are increasingly a necessity here, and having to settle for software that compromises the integrity of their systems. It’s not just individuals who are affected. Internet cafes here are often seriously compromised, usually by ignorance on the part of their owners and users, but also by the sheer expense of installing genuine proprietary software.

So what did I do with the charity PC? Knowing you have options is a powerful thing. So I downloaded and installed the rave-reviewed Ubuntu Linux operating system, complete with its (Firefox) browser and standards-compliant OpenOffice software - all genuine, and all for free!

It seems to me that there is a real gap in the developing world for the Linux and other open-source communities to jump right into. People should not have to take counterfeit versions of commercial software, simply because these seem to be the only game in town. Is there a social justice issue here? In my view, yes, and the commercial software vendors have not got their heads around it.

Equally, I think the Linux world could do more, much more. Here, I might be parading my ignorance. But is there really a need for so many different Linux distributions? There are literally dozens! Surely fewer offerings could release more community resources to operate ‘downstream,’ propagating software systems that have the potential to pull millions into the digital age, lifting people from poverty, and all this without recourse to fake software.

What do you think? Do you have ICT-savvy friends? What do they think?

Feel free to comment / discuss below, or email me.

give a ‘gift of hope’ in 2010

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 19:47:59 +0800

For a Birthday or other Special Occasion, why not give a gift that will really make a difference? From Bibles for church planters, to fertiliser for small-scale farmers, churches in the Radstock network have a range of ‘gift’ options through which you can make a difference to an individual, a family, a church or community - whether they’re in Kosovo, Zambia, India, or of course, Mongolia!

Click here to browse our online catalogue over on the Radstock website, and spread a little hope in 2010!