After a slow morning of waiting for people to get out of bed (I was up at 10am, which was really early), Yura and I eventually headed down to the administration office at 2pm.
Let me explain some background here. Yura and his wife Alona spent two weeks at our place in Krasnoyarsk in March. The first thing that I learnt about Evenki culture is that they can turn up almost unannounced, not let you know how long they will stay and then leave without any warning. During the time they stayed with us, Yura often played the disappearing act. By the time we went on this trip I was used to his disappearing act but Mika found this difficult. During those two weeks in March we had a lot of chances to discuss many things about Siberian peoples especially the Evenki and the Ket but others too. I shared with Yura my idea of the Ket getting reindeer again. As we discussed the idea he was very keen to help and to make it possible. He explained that it had happened before with the Evenki and that it simply came down to whether the Ket would have the desire. This was the very reason that Yura came to Kellog with me. Of course God had other plans that we were yet to discover.
Even by day 5 Yura was getting a feel for the Ket people and their attitudes. He knew that they have very little hope and motivation. I guess I was beginning to see it too, but my world view is western and believes that surely people will want to take a chance when it is offered to them.
In the hour that we waited for the administration to turn up we discussed these ideas in more depth. Firstly he did not feel that the Russian people in the Kellog administration would understand the goal or idea. Also he explained that there would need to be a minimum of 6 men to take care of a reindeer herd, and that 10 would be an even better number. We could only think of two men, Gennady and Sasha, who could remotely be interested, but the idea seemed even too hard to them. Yura was very gracious and is thrilled by my motivation and desire to help. He never made me feel stupid. But by the end of our discussion I could understand what he meant. I felt very discouraged and disappointed. How would it ever be possible for the Ket to get reindeer again?
The answer lies in their need for salvation. The Transformations story for the Inuit is a wonderful example of people being healed from abuse, depression and addictions. Such transformation in Kellog would see them have hope for the future through Jesus, and give them the motivation to believe that there is a future for the Ket people.
This is Gennady. In my opinion he is the best chance the Ket people have to move forward. It appears that he is a motivated hunter. I spent more time with him on Monday 16th, just the two of us. I encouraged him to consider taking one or two of the younger teenagers hunting with him as an opportunity to be a good example for them and speak into their lives. This was a novel idea that he had not thought of before. I hope he takes it to heart. I intend to write to him and encourage him further, so he may yet do something of this nature.
Gennady has been thinking of some translation work. He has tried to translate a couple of Bible verses, but has found it extremely complicated. The Ket language does not have a word for love. There are concepts in the gospel that would be hard to explain in the Ket language. I encouraged Gennady to take the time to pray in his own language and to ask the Holy Spirit for the words to do so, and for the words to explain the gospel in the Ket language and culture. I also encouraged him that he could do this for the next few months, and that as he began to get words and ideas to explain the gospel, that he could then begin translation. I gave him a set of 9 Bible stories that our team has used. They are paraphrased stories, but they are intended to be used for oral story telling. Gennady had a look at these stories and immediately remarked that they looked a lot easier to translate than the Bible itself. So hopefully he can use them as a tool in telling the gospel in the Ket language, and possibly in the future our team may even be able to record them on to cd.
Monday is helicopter day, a big event for the village. All of the shopkeepers (4 or 5) come to collect their products. It's the only realistic way out of the village. I found myself hoping that everything would be smooth with our flight the next Monday. The isolation was very real.
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