Alina’s passion for helping women began with her own addiction and recovery. Her freedom was found in Jesus Christ, and she's gone on to share this with hundreds more through the crisis centres she and her husband founded. Through this work, another issue has been raised to the forefront - Domestic violence.
Alina and her team continually innovate to ensure the safety of Russian women. Their recent efforts include educating on domestic violence, a crucial step given Russia's inadequate legal protection for abused women. Over the past year, they've encouraged social media sharing and even appeared on local radio to raise awareness. You may have seen some of their materials among our posts online. To grasp the gravity of Russia's domestic violence problem, consider this: a 2017 Global Homicide Study revealed that 10% of all domestic violence-related deaths occur in Russia, a nation that's only 2% of the global population.
We've provided Alina with valuable Russian language resources on domestic violence from the UK charity, Restored. She's enhanced these materials with Russian data, videos, and created a presentation. Alina is actively sharing this information with those willing to listen. As well as educating women on how and why to escape an abuser, she addresses the devastating effects on children. Take Katya and her sister Natalia, for example. You might recall Katya from a previous email update. These two young girls have shared their heart-wrenching experiences, their inability to protect their mother, and the trauma of witnessing abuse.
Children who witness violence feel scared for their own lives. A 30-year-old man listening to Alina's presentation stood up at the end and said, "I am one of those children." ...his childhood trauma had not disappeared with age.
Alina is calling this outreach education ‘A World Without Violence’ which also addresses the reality that Christian families face this issue too. Churches in Russia are embracing the chance to talk about this and they are receiving more invites to come and speak. Dasha, Alina’s daughter, is also working on educating her youth group as part of their discussion time as well.
We thank God for brave people like Alina who are willing to stand up and speak about this difficult subject. Please pray for her and that people will join her in striving for justice.
Your donations to the Crisis Centre not only contribute to the day-to-day running of an amazing women’s refuge but also make incredible outreach efforts like this possible.
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