Echoes from Swedish Pioneers

Photo left: Ruth Hansen congratulated with Iecava Corps 10th birthday. Photo from Stridsropet

Photo right: Bertil Rodin at the gate of Skangali. 

In connection with the twenty years anniversary of the re-start of the Salvation Army work in Latvia after the occupation, a special edition of "Kara Sauciens" (War Cry) was published. Some of the articles from that edition will be published here. This one is about two of the pioneers restarting the work in Latvia.

From Sven Nilsson’s book “Baltic Bridges”... A thorough record of

 The Salvation Army’s history in Latvia (and the Baltics).

Captain Ruth Hansen:

““..when the Army once again commenced work in Latvia in 1990, Ruth felt that she ought to be there. She started by arrang­ing for relief shipments while she was the leader for the corps in Lulea and by August 1992 was on location in Latvia to participate in the pioneer work.

In the Finnish Krigsropet #12/2000 Raija Lahteinen describes Captain Ruth Hansen’s early days in Iecava. To start with there was no available meeting place, so contacts with people were made in the open market place by serving coffee, distributing Bible tracts and singing a few refrains in Latvian. After six weeks Ruth Hansen found a suitable meeting place where people could be invited and a regular ministry was established. Relief shipments came from Norway and Sweden, which meant that social assistance could be given. After some time work was also established in Bauska, a larger community than Iecava, but that did not mean that the work in Iecava ceased” (p.114).

“God even uses fleas!” Ruth Hansen tells the story of how she was attacked by vermin and finally had to seek the help of a dermatologist in Bauska.  That contact led to the doctor, Ruta Stelmaka, becoming a Salvationist. During these many years she has served as translator for the corps officer and all the visitors from other coun­tries. Ruta Stelmaka also set up a small clinic in the building in which the corps rents space, receiving people who could not afford to visit a doctor.” (p.115).

Bertil Rodin:

“When it comes to the Skangal project there are many who have worked on it together, but the passion driving it all is Bertil Rodin in Stockholm. He was the one who met Claës Palme and Mårten Palme during the flight between Stockholm and Riga, which has been mentioned earlier. That became a meeting with consequenc­es.” (p.196).

“Anyone who is passionate has difficulty going into a quiet life as a retiree and so it was  natural for Bertil Rodin to involve himself in the work for Latvia, and especially Skangal. Its chapter is finalized for this book, but every day new excerpts are being written into the Army history and especially into the hearts and minds of young Latvian children and young people. Skangal gives witness to the mutual understanding and good will and the indomitable faith in everyone’s potential that burns within the heart of the passionate.

The Latvian Republic honoured Bertil Rodin for his contributions, when President Vaira Vike-Freiberga pre­sented him with the Latvian Three Star Order on May 4 2001.” (p.197).

More about the beginnings and history of The Salvation Army in the Baltics can be found in “Baltic Bridges” by S. Nilsson. Available in Swedish and English, to be translated into Latvian.