Ex-Hare Krishna Starts His Own Church To Help Mankind.

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Russian revels in bracing exercise at Scott Base

 

 

MIKE SCOTT at Scott Base - Taranaki | Friday, 16 November 2007

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dailynews/4274646a6002.html

 

The Antarctic, of all places, is the last spot on earth you would expect to meet an ex-Hare Krishna Russian beekeeper who wants to start his own church to help mankind.

 

Telecom technician Andrew Velman also founded the Siberia in Antarctica Health Club which has a uniform of shorts, sunglasses and bare feet.

With current Scott Base temperatures hovering about -10C, the group is for the hardy.

And membership apparently varies from day to day.

"It was very cold in October. If it's -20C or more, then I'm not advising to go barefoot," Mr Velman said.

"If you have very fresh snow and then you rub it all over the place, it's a very nice feeling of refreshment at the beginning of the day."

Mr Velman's work at Scott Base is fixing electronics such as satellite links, phone links and even machinery such as forklifts.

"Here you have a variety, because here you're in charge of pretty much anything."

It is not surprising Mr Velman likes variety, considering his life.

He was born in the former Soviet Union's remote Kamchatka Peninsula.

His father was a military pilot who was put on standby to drop nuclear bombs on the US during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

In 1990 after the fall of Communism, Mr Velman left Russia for a one-year stay on an Israeli kibbutz before heading to South Africa.

Five years ago he arrived in New Zealand and turned his hand to marine electronics, marketing Russian cereals, studying and becoming a beekeeper.

Personal habits are interesting too. His haircut is an annual scalp shave on New Year's Eve and he removes his beard every birthday - April 23.

He is currently doing religious studies through the University of Otago and plans to start his own global religious organisation called Third Temple Church.

"Why are humans on top of the intellectual ladder? And yet why are there still prisons, wars? ... This is strange. I think it's because we lost connection with God. This is why we stumble and I offer a return," he says. TARANAKI Daily News photo-grapher Mike Scott is a guest of Antarctica New Zealand's media programme. People can read his blog at www.taranakidailynews.co.nz