With the support of the St John’s Opportunity Fund, Anna Velykorodnyy travelled to Serbia with Emmanuel Church Durham, a trip which illuminated the power of faith and language to connect people across the world.
I have always loved discovering and engaging with other cultures, especially through learning foreign languages. I find it easy to connect with people from across the world; this may be due to my mixed heritage (British / Ukrainian). When the opportunity arose for me to go to Niš, Serbia (a country I had never visited but had heard a lot about) with a team from Emmanuel Church Durham, I knew I had to take it. It was a great opportunity to learn the unique situation of Serbians within Europe and also to make friendship and connections. Thanks to the generosity of the St John’s Opportunities fund, this was made possible.
We spent a week working with an international church in Niš and put on various events for the local young adults and student population, creating an environment where people could connect with others. For example, we got to run a session of their weekly English club ‘TALK’ where we played various games and spoke to different young people from across the city from local Serbs to international medicine students. Our aim was to continue the relationships between the two churches and encourage the Serbians in their outreach.
Before and during our trip, I made an effort to learn some Serbian – from simple phrases, such as ‘what is your name?’ and ‘thank you’, to learning a few worship songs in Serbian that people would sing in church. Whilst there I found that people were pleasantly surprised and touched that I was trying to speak their language. Throughout the week our team from Durham led some collective worship and whilst we did this mostly in English, there were one or two instances where we would sing a song half in English, half in Serbian. When we did this on the Sunday morning in church, I noticed that once I’d switched to the Serbian lyrics that the congregation sang louder – it was a really moving moment, and quite a few people said how they had really appreciated it. Nelson Mandela said that speaking to someone in their language speaks to their heart, and this has been a sentiment that has really stuck with me over the past few years and is one of the reasons I so love learning languages.
I would say my favourite part of this trip, and one of my biggest take aways was how much I connected with people. From having deep conversations and praying with people that I had met a few days prior, to laughing with friends new and old. I really gained a newfound appreciation for being immersed in community – and I so loved to see how God can bring people together from countless corners of the world.
