Azerbaijan is a small Muslim country of eight million people, bordered on two sides by Armenia and the Caspian Sea. Since 1988, conflicts have caused nearly one million Azerbaijanis to flee their homes. Many are now living in refugee camps and have been waiting to return to their homeland for more than ten years.

Our compassionate Master learned about the suffering of these people. On Her instruction several initiates visited the largest refugee camp in Sabirabad, to bring the refugees the material and spiritual comfort from Master.

On November 13, Golden Year 3 (2006), initiates from Hong Kong arrived in Baku, the capital. Local people there speak the native Azerbaijan language and many speak Russian as well, but very few speak English. After checking into a hotel, we were happy to find that God had arranged an enthusiastic and capable helper who spoke good English - the sales manager of the hotel. With his help in getting a translator and a driver who knew the country roads, we set out to visit the camp early the next morning.

On our arrival we found that most refugees had built mud huts for themselves. The people in the camp were very happy to see foreign visitors and told us that with the approaching winter, food was their main concern.

The camp officials told us that we first had to obtain permission from the local government authorities. So we went to the Town Hall of Sabirabad and completed an application, then met with three levels of officials before being referred back to the Ministry in charge of refugees in Baku.

Early the next morning we went to the Ministry. After seeing the senior official there, we finally managed to get the approval from the government to send food to the camp. The officials required us to provide the same portion to every individual, including children, which totaled 8,875 in number.

Initiates immediately set out to buy the food. The sales manager took leave from work that day and brought us to meet his friend who owns the largest wholesale food business in the capital. The owner was impressed by our concern for the refugees, and gave us good discounts. We ordered 9,000 portions of food, with each portion consisting of 1 kg (2.2 pounds) flour, 100 gm (3.5 ounces) tea and 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds) sugar cubes. These were the items preferred by the refugees. On each portion of the food, a sticker of Master’s photo and a message from Master printed in Azerbaijan was placed: “‘We must never forget God; then we’ll have everything, because everything comes from God’ ~ Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai.”

The following day we rented a 40-foot container truck. Miraculously when loading, the cargo fit perfectly, filling the entire container exactly to the opening at the back.

On the morning of November 17, we started early for the camp and arrived to find that all the local officials were waiting for us, together with a big crowd. We immediately started unloading the food into a designated depot. The camp inhabitants then lined up orderly to receive the food. They were very happy and kept saying, “Thank you.” Soon it was getting dark and the distribution had to be stopped until the next morning since there was little electricity in the place.

Before we left that evening, the officials suddenly changed their strict attitude and shook hands with us enthusiastically. They promised that everyone would receive the gift packages in a fair and orderly manner the next day, and they asked us to thank “the Lady” who was behind the whole operation.

The next morning we received an invitation to meet the Cabinet Minister in charge of refugee problems and international aid. When we arrived, the Minister told us he had received a report of our operation the day before, and he thanked our Association for coming from far away to help the Azerbaijan people. He hoped that we would also help by telling people in the outside world about the condition of the refugees in Azerbaijan.

Initiates are thankful to Master for giving them the opportunity to know and to serve the people in this remote part of the world. In the process we met many beautiful people. All the local people who helped us were very happy to receive Master’s photo. They kept asking us to thank ‘Ustad Ching Hai’ (‘Ustad’ means ‘Guru’ in the local language) for caring about their people.

Many times the sales manager expressed his wish to meet Master. He took the photo of Master to a well-known holy man in Baku. On seeing the photo, the holy man told the manager that this lady is “very close to God, very holy.” The manager then expressed his belief that Master is a Prophet sent directly from God. He was very thankful when we gave him the Russian language sample booklets and said he would share Master’s photo with his friends and relatives.

In a visit of less than one week, we could feel the Master Power working in this country through the change in attitude of the local people we met, from high-ranking ministers to the poor. We feel happy for the Azerbaijan people because we know that this faraway country is now being blessed directly by God.

Expenditures by The Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her International Association to Provide Care for Refugees in the Azerbaijan Camp

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