Arden Haug (in black); Igor Feldi, a Lutheran pastor; and Mary Burce Warlick, the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Serbia and the daughter of Lutheran missionaries, greet worshipers on Pentecost Sunday at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stara Pazova.
D
Life struggles in Vojvodina
espite experiencing economic woes since the end of the Yugoslav federation, Vojvodina is still a prosperous region of the Republic of Serbia, said Vladislav Iviciak, a Lutheran pastor who directs the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organi- zation. It has “energy resources, fertile ground that is underutilized [and] hot springs,” he said. With its relative pros-
perity, Vojvodina has become a magnet for migrants, including Roma and others, he added. Yet they don’t necessarily find hoped-for employment.
“Poverty is rapidly increasing,” Iviciak said. “Current data [shows] that each day about 400 people are losing their jobs in Serbia. ... In Vojvodina it is 70 per day. A lot of unfair privatiza- tion has taken place. The government has been sell- ing good enterprises and those firms are bought by tycoons.”
According to news reports, many of the new owners are Russian nationals.
EHO, which works with the Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches, has seen an increase in the demand for its diaconal or social service ministries.
That’s challenging, Iviciak said, because the global economic crisis “affects the funding for our work. Some donors have dif- ficulties sustaining levels of support. A lot of people write to us asking for jobs.” The organization runs an independent newspa- per, works to end violence against women and does environmental work. It offers programs for seniors, Roma, people with disabilities, street children, those who have cancer, and those living with or affected by HIV/ AIDS. “Working in the project
center for people living with HIV and AIDS, we
teach people how to work with those infected and how to advocate for their rights and the removal of the stigmatization of those afflicted with the condi- tion,” Iviciak said.
He said he is motivated by the vision of “civil society fostering human dignity. Churches, and especially the Lutheran church, have a mandate and the ability to contrib- ute to the development of [society].”
This is a witness of
faith, and part of Lutheran and Christian identity, Ivi- ciak added.
Based on Lutheran World Federation/Lutheran World Information news releases.
August 2012 33
COURTESY OF ARDEN HAUG
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