On October 29th, eleven of us, with Jack and Beth Newman as team leaders, boarded a plane for Ukraine. Under the umbrella of the Ukraine Children’s Project, this was a trip taken with the primary purpose of ministering to orphans. We had no idea what to expect; we only knew that God had directed us to go and we knew He would direct our steps. During our 10 days there, we had the opportunity to visit seven orphanages. We gave them gifts, we sang with them, we played games, and we brought to them the message of God’s love and the message of his Son, Jesus.

In addition to the $1700 given through KPC to buy shoes, the individual team members either personally gave or raised $4600 to buy shoes. This gave us approximately $6300. This enabled us to go to the market and buy new shoes and socks for almost 175 orphans and have a considerable amount left over. We wish you could have shared with us the excitement on the faces of the children as they put on their new shoes! We also wish you could have witnessed the anticipation as young children eagerly waited for a tricycle to be assembled, or for their very own animal balloon to be completed. It was fun watching them make bracelets or color a Bible picture, get a new hat or mittens, and it was moving to watch their faces as they listened to a Bible story or a scripture being explained. The greatest joy expressed was for the gift of a hug or the anticipation of our visit as our van rolled into the yard.

Some of the orphanages have directors who are caring, and in spite of not having sufficient facilities to work with, they are trying to make a bright and happy home for these children. It would be nice to say all was lovely and fun and pleasant, but this would not be true.

Picture, if you can, broken plaster, cold rooms, sparse food, blank faces and looks of no hope for the future. Imagine not having one item to call your own and never, never being told you are loved, and aching for just one hug. Close your eyes and pretend you are standing in a sewer, and imagine all of the overwhelming odors you would find there. Then open your eyes and realize you are not in a sewer but you have just entered an orphanage full of God’s precious jewels. Some of these jewels have flaws and therefore have been tossed aside and ignored. But, God had not forgotten them, as in the middle of this squalor was an oasis of love. The Ukraine Children's Project, (the “umbrella” organization for our Team) has hired a caring worker who works under their direction. They have established and area (2 rooms) where a group of these children are receiving instruction and are taught to read and write. We saw two being taught to make sandwiches for lunch (a different two each day); and each child has a washcloth and toothbrush hanging on the wall. There was none of this in the rest of the orphanage.

Three members of the Team who are part of the Task Force had the opportunity to visit two hospitals. There we found caring doctors whose only resources were their training and a desire to help their patients. We felt we had stepped into a time machine and had been transported back to the 1920’s or 1930’s with barren facilities, a hospital library consisting of a 3’ x 4’ card file, and empty medicine cabinets.

There we saw a six-year-old girl who had been burned over 50% of her body. She was developing a life threatening fungus infection, because hospitals have no medications and supplies. Her mother sat by her side with a hopeless look because the medications needed to save her daughter’s life were far beyond her reach. As we left the room, we were followed by the little girl’s pleading eyes.

We also saw a young man whose leg was crushed. Because he had no money, he waited six weeks before he sought help. By then gangrene had set in, and when we saw him it had spread to his chest. Again, he needed medication to save his life but as he was an orphan and had no family, his case was hopeless. We left money to purchase medicine for these two children, one hundred mattresses with plastic covers for each child at Plisciv, and a large playpen built for the toddlers to keep them off the floors. We are also sponsoring two workers salaries for one year to assist with the children at Plisciv.