Assisting with AZ7 Training

Last week was another unique time in the lives of Denney and Linda. On Saturday, October 24, we made our way to Baku. We try to get to Baku every 6-8 weeks so that Linda can get a great haircut. The timing was right, Andrea, a Community Economic Development Volunteer, was in Baku for training with Access Bank, her site organization. While in Baku, she had access to a 3-room apartment and invited all the Volunteers who had been in a Bible study group during training to come and go to church together on Sunday. Wendy, Micah, Linda and I accepted her invitation.
The picture above is of the Baku International School auditorium (lower half) where the Baku International Fellowship meets for worship. This was about 20 minutes before the service began. There were approximately 300 in attendance with about 50 of those children under the age of 12. The congregation is made up of expatriates working or studying. The offering was received by four men of different ethnic origin; Indian, African, Asian, and European.
After the service we also met a gentleman involved with the Azerbaijan Baptists. We had a very meaningful, but far too brief of a conversation. We hope to meet with him again in the future when we are in Baku. He asked that I not use his name because of circumstances we understand. He is a very brave man.
We had a good evening Saturday visiting with our friends and fellow Volunteers, then separated after worship. I headed back to Shirvan, Linda headed to McDonalds with the others and then on to Sumqayit. Linda met Connie, an AZ7 with whom she stayed while in the village of Saray. The meeting place for all Volunteers and Trainees in Sumqayit is “The Dove.” The statue pictured above is very near the Caspian, and is known by everyone.
Pictured above at the host family in Saray are (left to right) Vafa the daughter, a relative, Ilhama the host mother, and Connie. Ilhama is a widow with a large extended family. Her husband died of cancer at the age of 46 and was 1 of 11 children. Ilhama would say he came from 11 children and is the only one who has died. There were many relatives in and out of the house always checking on her. Ilhama works as a secretary at the music school in Saray. The house was very clean, and the family as all Azerbaijanis hospitable.
Linda was asked to be a mentor this year. She went to a language cluster (5 Trainees) and observed them teaching 3 different lessons. She evaluated and gave feedback to each Trainee. Linda was quite impressed with 3 of the five teachers. The fourth has potential, but has never had teaching experience, and given the right counterpart will do a good job. The fifth needs to go home.
Linda returned to Shirvan on Saturday, October 31, around noon to Denney’s open arms, peanut butter, soup, and hot cinnamon tea.

I had my usual conversation clubs on Monday. I also went to a wedding Monday evening. The wedding was for a library worker’s husband. There can be 2 weddings. One wedding is for the girl, and she may wear any color dress. The second is the boy’s and the bride wears white. In this wedding, the couple signed the legal documents and it was very western with a woman asking the couple to repeat vows before the customary food and dancing.
On Tuesday I traveled to the village of Tegiyev. The village is right on the Caspian, and about 4 hours from Shirvan. I was there to assist in a session on teaching basic computer skills on Wednesday. Because we are not allowed to travel at night, I traveled to Tegiyev on Tuesday, presented on Wednesday afternoon, and returned to Shirvan on Thursday. Pictured above is a view of school number 32 in Tegiyev. It is the Caspian in the background. However, it was raining, cold, and I fell down on my way to the school.
Pictured above are 2 more of the AZ7 Trainees. They are very talented, and I was equally impressed with the group of AZ7 in the Youth Development Program. In between the 2 Trainees is a relative of the host mother where I stayed.
My conditions were much different from Linda’s. There was a large compound with at least 4 houses, and I’m not sure how many families in each house. I saw so many different people. We all share a toilet. I always had to wait in line, no matter the time of night or day!
I was anxious to return back to Shirvan.
Note of explanation: There is an Azerbaijan proverb, “East or west home is best.” The meaning is wherever you travel it is always best to return home and die at home.
A tender moment for me was during the Friday 10:00 conversation club. The group wanted to know what I was doing in Tegiyev and about what was asked. The host family in Tegiyev wanted to know if I liked Azerbaijan. I used my limited language skills to say I loved the Azerbaijani people, and “Azerbaijan menim ichinji evimdir.” Translated Azerbaijan is my second home. Then a couple of the students asked if I wanted to live longer in Azerbaijan. I explained that we missed our sons, family, and multitude of friends, and as much as I love Azerbaijan, I love them more. One girl responded, “East or west home is best.”