Martin Urdze, Lizpaja/Latvia

Latvia is a country approximately the size of Denmark. Latvia's population is only two and a half million. It is a mainly rural country, with a million inhabitants living in Riga and the rest throughout the country.

I live in Lepaia, a seaport on the Baltic sea. It is the third largest city with about 19,000 inhabitants. I am a pastor and have been in Lepaia for six years working at the Diaconia Centre. Two years ago the Diaconia Centre joined with the Congregation of the Cross to develop a diaconal parish. We have members meeting in groups to reflect on the needs of the people and establish our responsibilities with regard to these needs. Our congregation is small: we currently have 17 members. We have groups assisting with telephone and home help services. We also have other groups meeting for Bible and life discussions. There are about 10 to 14 of us who meet every Wednesday at 18h00, and I will say more about some of them later.

One idea from these group discussions was to follow the way of the cross this year on Good Friday, and we spent three months preparing. The idea was to follow in Jesus' steps by reflecting on the suffering of people in Lepaia today. We tried to connect the stations of the cross and listening to the Gospel with visits to different places in Lepaia where people are in need and suffering. At each station, we first heard a report on the place from someone who worked there or had some experience with the particular institution we were visiting. They told about their own feelings about the place and/or a story. We listened to the Gospel, meditated a while and prayed together; then we would go on to the next station. We tried to find people from our group to share their own sufferings or experiences with these stations. Where this did not work we would invite someone else to come into our group. We invited other denominations to participate, but the Catholic parish was the only active supporter and participant. However, individuals from different parishes joined us.

The walk started at 10:00 in the morning on Good Friday at our church. We first thought no one was coming, but eventually 30 people gathered and later the number grew to 50. Before we began I gave an introduction, explaining our idea for the walk. It was quite impressive on television, as the walk was filmed in such a way that one had the impression we numbered in the thousands.

This is Martin, a member of our group. Martin works in a factory which produces matches. He does not get paid regularly, because sometimes the people who order matches pay for their orders and sometimes not. It is Martin who had the courage to carry the cross, which many other people did not want to do. As we walked and Martin met some other people from his workplace, he would call to them and ask them to join him. No one wanted to join him. This walk needed courage because we were confessing our faith openly. It was not just evangelism. It was showing exactly how we felt, and I enjoyed it.

Here you can see some of the houses in Lepaia; many are in ruins, although people are still living in them. The centre of our town is being gradually rebuilt and becoming quite nice. One house after another is being renovated, which often means that those who used to live there can no longer afford the rent. While walking, we sometimes sang songs out of the song book, and at other times we were quiet and prayed or meditated.

This is the first station. It is the hospital where tuberculosis is treated. I do not know how many patients it has. It was one of the places where we tried to speak with the director, but he would not let us in because he was afraid we were some sort of sect. We stood outside on the street and Percy, a member of our group, told about his experience there. Percy was admitted to the hospital some years ago when they told him he had tuberculosis. The hospital is in very bad condition, and was so already at that time. The day after he was admitted, Percy was discharged because the diagnosis was wrong. He said that the day they gave him the bad news he nearly died; he was unemployed at the time. Even though he now has a job I do not know whether he gets paid for it. He had been unemployed for two or three years. In Latvia you get no further support after nine months of unemployment. You may receive some sporadic help from a social department, but for the most part you have to cope by yourself. Last winter we gave him a job looking after the heating in our Diaconia Centre and at least he was able to earn a minimum wage, 20 lats, which is very little (about 60 DM). Later some people from this hospital joined us. It was a pity they came late, but at least they received information about our walk. Patients in the hospital very often have to remain for six months to a year and are not allowed to leave the premises. TB is an illness connected with poverty and alcohol problems. Many convicts get infected, and the numbers are increasing. I have heard that today even in the West, TB is increasing.

Continuing our walk, we arrived at the Children's Asylum. Here the director spoke to us. She is a very active woman and it was through her initiative that people helped build this centre. There are about 20 street children, plus children who have been abused by their families and others. At the end of our programme at this station our Sunday School children gave a small performance and sang two songs. One of the children is Egus, I know him quite well. He is unhappy at home and we think his stepfather must have beaten him. Very often he is out on the street; even though the family is trying to live together, he often runs away for two or three weeks. He knows the hospital from the inside. When he first saw that he had to sing he would not do it, but eventually he sang.

In this part of Lepaia there are many institutions such as asylums, the council hospital and psychiatric hospitals. The next building is the council hospital and there the director told us about some aspects of her work. She spoke about euthanasia. She said that in her experience no one ever really wanted to die; everyone wanted to live, even if it had to be in misery.

We then reached the psychiatric hospital. Gunta spoke to us about it. She leads a group in our church which includes people who have mental or psychiatric problems. The group members try to help each other. Gunta herself was in this institution some time ago. She remembers that people have died there. Strangely enough, she said, it was in this hospital that, for the first time in her life, she felt accepted by the other patients and nurses. She has never received as much warmth and affection as she did there. Surely there are many problems in this hospital, and most of the time people are given drugs just to keep them quiet. The treatment is not the best. Afterwards, Rival said a prayer. He is a pastor, and for the past three years he has suffered from depression and cannot work. One reason for his depression is that he was thrown into church work too early and people expected too much from him. He did not have much help and could not cope with the workload alone. It was almost like being baptized and the next moment becoming a pastor. There was too much pressure on him.

The weather was not good; it was cold, snowing and raining. Nevertheless people still wanted to walk with us. We arrived at an orphanage, where the Catholic bishop joined us. Children who need a home live here, for long periods of time, sometimes until they are of age. This centre receives support from abroad. It is very well equipped, while children at home are so poor; quite a contrast.

We then arrived at a prison where people are held while awaiting trial. People are sometimes held here for up to three years. We met a man who had just come out of prison, and he said a few words about his experience. The administrator of this prison came out and saw us, but would not talk to us because of fear. The employees were also afraid of us. During the meditation, one man told about what it means to be imprisoned not only physically, but spiritually as well.

This is Peter who is a member of the Alcoholics Anoymous (AA). He has done a great job. For about two or three years he met once a week with a group of two to four people. He now has four weekly groups totalling 20-30 members. He has enormous patience.

We then arrived at our last station: the so-called labour market. This is the place where unemployed people meet early in the morning and stay until afternoon, waiting for someone to give them a job. They hope some farmer, for example, may have a small job to be done. They come every day, even in winter when it is cold, raining or snowing. They make fires to keep themselves warm. Very often no jobs are offered, and they start to drink, and later can be seen lying in the grass. People also call it the slave market because the people looking for jobs have no rights. They may be betrayed, do the job and still not get paid. They have no health insurance. The right to social welfare is only a dream for them. One of them said to us that we had been walking for only three hours, but they must stay outside all day whether it rains or snows. He said we do not live in the same world! And he was right. The bishop in his vestments also spoke. What he said was a bit strange, but I thought it was very good and fit the occasion.

We finished our walk with an agape meal. Several members of our congregation and the Catholic parish had prepared 200 liters of different kinds of soup. We started distributing the soup, and people came with baskets to get it. Some came from the asylum. What was left over we gave to the asylum and the social home. Some people were so hungry that they came with empty milk cartons to get some soup. They had nothing else. Many people in our country are hungry. One of the main organizers of our group was Sigrida. She is not in the picture, but she works in an asylum and has a family of seven to feed. She earns only 100 lats for her family to live on, and cannot pay her rent. In December she will have to go to court because the municipality has asked her to get out of her flat. There are several members of our congregation with similar problems. We hope she will be lucky and her case will go through.

What is clear is that "Jesus is looking for you." Here is a shed where people find shelter when the weather is bad. Afterwards we met with a leader of this group. They have formed a very strong organisation. This man tells them where to go to work and where not to go, because he knows most of the workers and the employers who do not pay. We hope to develop closer cooperation with them; so far, we have only offered our cooperation, because we do not want to do everything for them so that they don't make it on their own. If they would like we could try to renovate their shelter. They wondered whether they really needed a renovated shelter, and said they could do it themselves or even leave it as it is. We continue to visit with them.

The last picture is about our people having to go on carrying this cross for some time.