It's our third charity year since the "special military operation", and life in Russia remains changed forever.
While life looks like it goes on ‘as normal’ in our charity news (because our projects are still running), it’s far from normal. In fact, it’s an absolute miracle that our work is still able to continue.
Life is not normal in Russia and our charity operations in the UK aren’t either.
Russians are returning to ‘internal emigration'. This is a term that was frequently used in Soviet times where individuals don’t really engage with the wider world around them, instead they create their own small lives where things are just about manageable. This is a survival mechanism used to cope in an increasingly oppressed country. During the past three years, Russians have been through many changes including mobilisation, death and injury to loved ones, the rising costs of living, new criminal laws associated with freedom of speech and an economy that's focused on warfare and less and less on welfare. These are just a fraction of the major events affecting the ordinary Russian, and we have seen people becoming increasingly worn down as they hold on to emotions they cannot express.
As a charity, while our work remains legal, it’s been increasingly hard from our end too, and as a team we are beyond ready for the situation in Russia to change. Numerous organisations have chosen to stop working with us, so we’ve had to change a number of the ways we operate. The amount of compliance we have to complete to keep things going has two of our four staff team feeling like nervous wrecks some days!
The UK public are understandably cautious of involving themselves with our work and being associated with Russia. Some worry that we are breaking sanctions, and because of this we have seen our general income dropping since 2022. Thankfully, there are no sanctions that are relevant to our work, and we are permitted to continue. Because some are apprehensive, we want to reassure people that anonymous donations are always possible (by direct bank transfer or on our website).
We are so grateful for the miracle that our work and projects are able to continue ‘as normal’, but we hope that you will join us in praying for big positive changes in Russia soon.
"Father God, we trust You. We know Your plans are higher than our own. Give us peace and strength as a community of people who care about Russia, to continue representing You with love because of the love You first showed us. Amen"
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