Vlad Radetskie. Hello, we are the Radetskie family: Vlad, Sabina, David, and Erika-Feruza. In 2010, we purchased a plot of land in the village of Yaloma, in the Khachmaz district of Azerbaijan. The village of Yaloma is located in northern Azerbaijan, bordering the Russian Federation.
In 2018, we built a two-story house on the property. The house features five bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a garage. When you hear the number of rooms, do not picture an American house. Houses and rooms here are much smaller. Our house also has outdoor facilities, including a large shower area and separate restrooms for men and women.
Our home is situated within a nature reserve area, with an oak forest beginning right behind the house. Rivers with cold, clear water flow down from the mountains nearby.
The Caucasus Mountains begin about 18 miles from our house. There are many beautiful spots, villages, and waterfalls there, as well as very healthy, therapeutic air. The Caspian Sea is also just about four miles away. There is a tourist zone nearby featuring numerous holiday resorts and entertainment areas.
In 2023, for the first time, we tried renting out part of our house to vacationers. In America, you would call this a B&B (although we don’t provide breakfast). And for the past two years, guests have come to stay with us. We began by renting out an upstairs room for $10 a night. However, we faced a problem: the rooms on the second floor lacked doors, air conditioning, furniture, beds, and bed linens. There was no kitchen, either. In this part of Azerbaijan, it gets hot in the summer, and vacationers expect air conditioning.
We knew we needed to improve the rooms and amenities to attract more guests. However, we did not have the funds to make the needed improvements. We heard about the Society of the Good Shepherd from a European brother who had been to Honduras and witnessed the work there. So we looked into the possibility of the Society beginning a work here. We were told that the Society would give it a try. We had good references, and so we applied for a loan and had it approved.
With the loan money, we purchased and installed four new doors for the upstairs bedrooms. We also purchased one air conditioner, eight new beds, and eight sets of bed linens. We also built a brand-new kitchen. For the kitchen, we bought: 10 square meters of wood paneling, 9 square meters of wall tiles, 16 square meters of floor tiles, a kitchen corner seating unit, a microwave, an oven, a juicer, and an electric kettle with a thermal flask. As you can see, this small microloan enabled us to accomplish a lot.
This summer, we have been able to rent out three rooms on the second floor at $10 per night, bringing in $30 a day. These rooms are much smaller than what many Americans are used to, but people here are comfortable with them. This extra income will be a huge help in meeting our daily living expenses, plus the income provides us with funds to pay back our loan. Please pray that we always have guests for these rooms and that God will bless the brothers and sisters in our country.
The Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210 • (717) 349-7033
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Honduras Donations