You won’t forget this story of providence in a very dire situation!
Tajikistan in the 1900’s
Many countries do not have the freedom that we do to worship, listen to songs, and praise God freely. One such country was the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. More than nine-tenths of Tajikistan’s territory is mountainous. Without irrigation, any form of agriculture or gardening would be nonexistent. A large majority of its people are of Iranian descent. Most Tajikistanis are Muslim. The background of this true story took place during the civil war in the early 1990s.
All resources were in short supply, especially food. One, two, and three years passed, and the food pantries were empty. Galina, living in Tajikistan with her 12-year-old daughter, foraged for edible roots. Sometimes she found something, but other times, she returned empty-handed. In the springtime, they would be happy to find black grass, raw onions, mulberries, or some edible herb that would be their meal. These were not typical green leafy vegetables—like spinach, collards, or kale, but more like culinary herbs and spices.
On the Verge of Starvation
Four years passed, and they were hungry. She soon realized that her daughter, Svetlana, was only skin and bones and would die soon if she did not have food. So, Galina left home one day. She told her daughter, “Please stay here. Do not go anywhere. Do not open the door to any stranger. Do not answer door knocks, but hide.” (Remember, they were in the middle of a war, and soldiers were hidden throughout the hills.) “I will go out to find some food, and I will come back.” Then she left.
It was summer, and usually plants flourish, but not in Tajikistan because there can be no rain and a lot of heat in some seasons. Now, there was no food growing. There was nothing to eat. Galina pleaded with the Lord, “God, You know that my daughter is dying. I need You to provide some food for us.” She cried out, trusting in the love that God had for her. She was in the middle of a big crisis. She did not know how she and her daughter would survive.
A Trap or Deliverance
Galina found no leaves, no herbs, nothing. Wondering and sadly, she returned home. She opened the door and then closed it immediately. “Lord!” she exclaimed, being alarmed. Inside, Svetlana cried out, “Mama, mama, open the door!” Galina thought it was a trap. The soldiers were using food to capture her. You see, Galina remembered the food bribes of the KGB officers during her early childhood years in Siberia when Stalin persecuted Christians. It took repeated coaxing from her daughter. “Come in!”
Galina opened the door again in disbelief. “Mama, you know when you left that you told me not to open the door for anybody?” “Yes,” Galina responded, “I told you that.”
“After you left, I heard someone knocking on the door, and when I heard the knocking, I stayed inside just as you told me and hid. But they continued knocking. And they were knocking very strongly, very, very strongly. They kept saying, ‘Svetlana, come out.’ “I was scared and didn’t know what to do.”
Svetlana then decided to go over to the side of the door. Again, she heard them say, “Open the door. Open the door. I have something for you. I know you. I know you are hungry. I have food. Open the door, please.”
So, Svetlana opened the door, scared. When she opened the door, the lady said, “You are the daughter of Galina. I was sent by God to you today because God told me that Galina and her daughter were dying from malnutrition. They need food.”
The angelic visitor unloaded all the food from the car onto the kitchen table and all around the house. There was so much food that they did not know what to do!
Thanksgiving In Tajikistan!
Would they do well to save the food and keep it to themselves?
They decided to bring the food to the church and told the Pastor to gather all the people because “Everybody will eat this weekend!” And the ladies began cooking for the people.
For one year, they cooked from the food that had been brought to Galina and then to the church. God helped these people to survive the famine for eight years in Tajikistan.