Martin Journal Entry: The Challenge of Culture

By E. Scott Martin

This past week we had AGWM missionary and long time friend Anita Koeshall and her daughter Stephanie come to Bishkek to conduct a seminar/workshop on our cultures and how it affects our worldview lens and behaviors. The purpose of the seminar was to assist Chialphastan in becoming more effective in sharing with the various cultures we are encountering in the “Stan” countries.

Each team member was asked to interview a student and begin with his or her life history, then ask ten specific questions ranging from social environment to kinship control norms. It was fascinating.

Now, I need to be very sensitive on how and what I say. I interviewed a young man from Afghanistan who is a very bright and intelligent person. He has one of the largest vocabularies I have ever come across of any university student anywhere and he plans to publish a 200-page book he has written on his experiences in Afghanistan. He is my friend, and because of that he felt willing to really open up to me. He discussed his disillusionment with Islam and went into great depths describing his culture and how they think and view things.

We discussed in detail the death and tragedy he has seen and experienced. As he described to me the day his mother was publicly flogged for no real reason other than to make an example of her, he broke down at my table and wept hard. No words were said for at least three minutes. He then described how a man of the ruling party struck his mother on the hand so violently with a piece of metal that her hand was broken. Again he wept.

He described women being shot in the back of the head in public and men being hung by the neck on electric line poles.

I asked him how long he expects to live. He said if he goes back to Afghanistan he won’t live more than 45 years. If he gets to the West, he will probably live between 60–70 years.

He is an incredible young man; gifted and talented. I am the picture of the Church and Jesus to him. He is so open. These are the people we reach on our journey here. This is real.