Hello family and friends,
Sveta and I wish each of you good health and happiness as we begin to see the fruits of springtime. We have recently returned from a two-week journey visiting friends and MUCH children. Our first stop was in a village outside of Poltava, a twelve-hour train ride. It was very cold there for this time of year. We visited three families and I spoke at a church service. I see possibilities for a massage program for children in the surrounding villages. Our second destination was Marganets, where we would visit the two orphanage/boarding schools and the Transition Home that we sponsor. To get from Poltava to Marganets, we had to take a four hour bus to Dnepropetrovsk (say that one five times fast) and a two hour bus to Marganets. I learn more about Ukraine each time that I travel. I see more cities and villages, and better understand the people and their plight.
Six days and seven nights of our second leg of our journey brought smiles to the children in Marganets. The orphanage is going strong in the development of new uses of their computer room and music and dance training and competition. Although, most of the children were away on spring break, the fifty-some children with no family were at the orphanage. Sveta and I connected with a handful of children who wanted to talk and become friends with us. Some of the children were those who talked with Sveta by phone the last time that I was there.
The best news that we received came from the manager of the orphanage. She told us that she has seen a very big result because of the new clothes that the children have received over the years. In the past, children would go into town, wanting to interact with the local children. Their clothing and general appearance was very poor, therefore the children of Marganets families treated the orphans very badly. They would fight with them, sending them back to the orphanage with broken noses and black eyes. Now, the orphans blend in with the other children of Marganets and there are no more incidents as there were in the past. The local children have a new respect for the children from the orphanage.
Since my youth, I have always enjoyed working with wood. Andre, the art, computer, and woodworking teacher, captured my interest in his work from my first visit. Since that time, I have seen more of the work that the children have produced under his tutelage, as you can see to the right. They have entered their work in competitions and contests throughout the region. As time went on, other materials were provided to develop new skills. The newest learning task is weaving with straw, as you can see in the picture (above) on the far right. This is one more craft item that they can sell in the city centers in the future.
The role of the Transition Home initially was to provide a ninety-day orientation to living in a larger group setting before being sent to an orphanage. When we visited the Transition Home, we learned that it had become a Center for Children, with twenty children living there, and ten children coming for the day and then returning home at night. The goals are to: 1) help parents in jeopardy of neglecting their children by removing the children from the home environment for the day, giving the parents an opportunity to organize their lives. 2) keep children from entering the orphanages and give the director time to find good foster homes where the children can be nurtured and develop in a number of ways for nine months instead of ninety days. There are now two psychologists on staff and they have a special room to interact in with the children. The vision for this room was three years in the making.
The second orphanage, which helps only local children in Marganets, was without children when we visited, again because of spring break. The director met with us and shared all that is happening there. He showed us pictures of him harvesting the honey last year, the result of our first project of providing three bee families at this orphanage. The children were administered honey and herbs the same as in the other orphanage, and proceeded through the cold and flu season without having to quarantine the orphanage. After, he took us outside to show us the 60 plus fruit trees that the children planted last year.
A six-hour train to Sevastopol and an hour and a half electric train to Saki left us off within walking distance of the home where we would attend church that Sunday. Nellya, who translated for me in the past, lives there with her mother. We visited for tea, wanting to have time for Sveta to have some conversation and get a feel for the community. Before we could leave, Anya and Andre arrived to pick us up. We would be staying at their home in Froonza and they happened to be in Saki at that time.
Sveta’s Journey
Our two-week trip for me was very impressive. I learned and saw very many good things in the boarding schools, massage rooms, and in the families. I am glad so many people give their love for children. When we visited the orphanage, leaders expressed their gratitude to Mark and all the people who provide financial and material assistance for children.
The director of the orphanage recalled how MUCH sponsorship began at this boarding school for special children. That was 10 years ago. The children had old ugly clothes, and they were very different from children who live in families. This always led to conflicts between these different children: fights and broken noses, but the most important thing is that children felt marginalized, handicapped in the society, they were not accepted by their society peers, who had good clothes.
Now, says the director, the situation has changed due to sponsorship. Children from the orphanage have a good variety of clothing that does not distinguish them from children living in homes; they have confidence in themselves, developing aesthetic tastes, and make friends among the children who live in nearby houses in families. These are the results of MUCH investments and work.
In the orphanage, a lot of attention is paid to developing children's talents: dancing, singing, crafts, and wood carving. We observed a lesson in woodcarving. The boys are interested, they are working with enthusiasm under the leadership of their teacher, and what they learn here can be useful for their future.
In Marganets, we had a great meeting with Tatiana and her husband, Vladimir. Five years ago, they took two children, Ivan and Antonina into their family. Ivan is holding Antonia’s picture. The little boy is Tatiana and Vladimir’s grandson. Kelly, a young woman visiting from America, noticed Ivan and Antonina in the transition home, and her heart was very worried about the future of these children. Thus, Kelly was the driving force for this Ukrainian family to carry out this good work.
During the first Christmas holiday, Tatiana and Vladimir’s very large family visited their home. When Ivan and Antonina saw all of these people, they hid in their room. They anticipated that this holiday experience would resemble those of their past, with much drinking and fighting. Living in a Christian home was a very different and new experience for them. It was their first of many loving holiday adventures.
When Antonina came to live with Tatiana and Vladimir, she was the age for 8th grade, but had only completed 2nd grade. With very much help from Tatiana, a previous teacher, she has caught up with the curriculum, graduated school, and now she studies at the medical school. Ivan continues to go to school. With this family, these children will have a bright future. When God works through different people, connecting them, He ends up with a wonderful result, as in this case. Two children, many years behind in their education are brought into a loving family where they receive love, guidance, care and training for a wonderful future.
When Mark and I were in the village of Froonza, Crimea, we visited the massage program that Mark initiated two years ago, and met with parents of children who are receiving massage. They are very grateful for this wonderful opportunity for their disabled children to have massage from a qualified massage therapist. Parents talked with admiration about the results they actually see, the physical improvements in their children. I understand the need for a massage program for children of this village. Thank you, MUCH, for sponsoring this program.
We recently received a report from our masseuse and a photo of Mi, a girl in Dobromel. The girl has already received two courses of 20-day massage. She has very visible results in her physical and psycho-emotional condition. I know this girl and see how her eyes have changed, from empty and sad to tranquil and happy. (Please compare this photo to the photo in the March newsletter). Our massage therapist writes that Mi has become more confident and stable in her emotions. In late April, Mark and I will go to this orphanage and we will see the children. We very much miss them!
During this trip, my eyes have been opened more to understand Mark’s work. He is like a bridge between people and organizations. I see the great results from the sponsors of MUCH and Mark’s efforts! This brings me inspiration, and I am very glad that I joined the team and can give a piece of myself for this good deed of charity.
Living my dream,
Sveta
We have more stories to tell! I am working on a better way to share our stories, but if you have some ideas, please let me know. Help me understand the images that you perceive from my stories. We are touching many lives of children in need. If you could see, first-hand, as Sveta did, and as my brother and his wife did, I think that my newsletters would be more inspiring. What would you like to know about the children? But be careful! Their stories may break your hearts. Write to me at muchhope1@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. Early in April, Sveta and I will be in Dobromel to visit the children at the orphanage and see the progress of the massage program. Please continue to pray for these children as their lives are taking on new meaning.
I wish for all of you who will celebrate a holy day this month, that you may be showered with blessings.
Blessings of love and healing,
Mark and Sveta
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
MUCH March 2012 Newsletter
Hello family and friends,
It is Leap Year! We on the MUCH team will be leaping with joy, praying for a year of many improvements, new sponsors, and new doors of ministry opening for the children. When I moved to Ukraine ten years ago, my world became much bigger. I had become a traveler, finding that there are children everywhere that I go who are in need of help. In the June Newsletter, I wrote about a missionary couple in Nikolayev, Sveta’s hometown, and a short-term mission team from Florida who was interested in helping children in the orphanages.
It seemed that the doors had closed, although another meeting with Dan and Mary Ellen, the missionary couple, blossomed into another possibility. They told us about a Pastor who was ministering to the needs of a small (ten beds) transition home west of Nikolayev in the village of Berizanka. In December, the Pastor, his wife and daughter, a translator, Sveta and I, visited Berizanka. We met the children and the Director. The Pastor’s team told the Christmas story, sang songs with the children, and I talked with the children. Afterwards, I had an impromptu meeting with the Director and learned the awful truths about these children and the children of the village. I was told that there are 100 children who need to be removed from their homes and processed to the orphanages through this little transition home.
When a child enters the government system, on the way to an orphanage, or enters life in an orphanage, he or she becomes a non-person. In this case, the transition home receives very little financial help. When Sveta and I were there, they had no medical supplies at all. Many times the children are taken from lice infected homes, or are removed from their homes because of neglect or abuse. The transition home needs medical supplies for these situations and for daily child-care. I have shared this new potential ministry with my board of directors, but in the interim, Sveta and I acted on this immediate need from our own pockets, providing $63 for the basic medical supplies, which covers a variety of items.
The next problem occurs when the children need to go to the hospital. They are non-persons, so they must pay money to be seen and treated. That cost is $38. Now, the medical system is supposed to be free, a government run socialist-type system. However, we are talking about a post-Soviet emerging country that, after twenty years of freedom, is still learning how to treat its people with respect and value. Sveta’s and my desire is to create a savings account within our ministry for these children’s needs for hospital visits and for keeping the first aid medical box full.
Sveta’s Journey
The last time, Mark wrote about a girl who will now be a new patient of our masseuse. Mark was very unhappy to hear of the core poor performance of doctors who have caused injury to this child at birth by their careless actions.
This child, Ya, has wonderful loving parents, and she could have been a wonderful healthy baby. Now, the situation is that the child needs constant care and concern because she is disabled. This child cannot sit, cannot stand, and, of course, cannot walk. She cannot hold her head upright long (literally, she holds her head for 2-3 seconds and then her head falls to her chest). In order to alleviate the plight of this child, a special chair and stroller are required.
Parents give a lot of time to this child: mother and daughter go to a sanatorium in another city, medication is needed, various procedures are necessary, they visit the Center for Children with Disabilities, and she receives a twenty-day massage.
Now, Ya receives a twenty-day-massage with our highly qualified massage therapist. Dr. Natalia has two goals at this time: one is to relax the muscles that are in a very elevated tone in order to reduce the frequently occurring spastic reaction, and the other goal is for the child to be able to hold her head upright for longer periods. Even these small results will be a big help for the child. We must trust in God; only He can perform a miracle for this child.
A girl, whom we will refer to as Mi, is 9 years old and lives in an orphanage/boarding school in the city of Dobromel. She has scoliosis of the upper spine. In addition to scoliosis, Mi is mentally challenged. Mi comes from a family of six children; one of the children died during childbirth. Her family lives in poor physical condition that adversely affects the parents and children, respectively.
In such families, the parents usually do not pay attention to the emotional and physical conditions of children; there is no interaction between the parents and the children. The main task of parents is to feed and clothe their children. They are not interested in the inner world of the child; the child does not feel the love and emotional support that he or she needs to grow and flourish.
Mi often complained of pain in her spine, although, after the twenty-day massage, her condition has improved significantly. Her back pain disappeared, and her psycho-emotional condition improved.
We will refer to this girl as Da. This 12-year-old is also in the orphanage/boarding school. Da also is mentally challenged. She received a twenty-day-massage. Upon completion of the massage, the girl surprised the therapist with her reaction. She was a little aggressive, crying, and asked to continue to give her a massage. (Any negative behavior is a cry for help.) A few days later, the therapist understood the reason for this extraordinary behavior. All the time that Da was getting a massage, she also experienced much attention, care, and human touch. She probably never before in her life experienced so many manifestations of attention to her person. The girl wanted to continue.
Massage is a great help for the children who are in the orphanage/boarding schools, help on a physical level and also in assisting the psycho-emotional level.
I believe that after reading this letter, you will see the great need for massage in many children. I'm expanding the boundaries of my knowledge of massage and am more and more amazed at how great the beneficial effects of massage are on the human body.
Thank you that you are supporting these children expressing your love for them in practice (in your prayers and financial support). What is the most important thing in the world? I think you all know the answer - love. Love is more important than anything.
Grace to you and peace and love be multiplied (Jude 1:2).
Living my dream,
Sveta
As we march into spring, we look to God to open the hearts of our readers to seek His direction in sharing His provisions. The children of Ukraine can be a liability, or, with some help, they can be an asset for their community, region, or even their country. MUCH continues to walk through the doors that are opened before us. Won’t you join us in this great adventure? Thank you for reading. Please continue to pray for our children.
Blessings of love and healing,
Mark and Sveta
It is Leap Year! We on the MUCH team will be leaping with joy, praying for a year of many improvements, new sponsors, and new doors of ministry opening for the children. When I moved to Ukraine ten years ago, my world became much bigger. I had become a traveler, finding that there are children everywhere that I go who are in need of help. In the June Newsletter, I wrote about a missionary couple in Nikolayev, Sveta’s hometown, and a short-term mission team from Florida who was interested in helping children in the orphanages.
It seemed that the doors had closed, although another meeting with Dan and Mary Ellen, the missionary couple, blossomed into another possibility. They told us about a Pastor who was ministering to the needs of a small (ten beds) transition home west of Nikolayev in the village of Berizanka. In December, the Pastor, his wife and daughter, a translator, Sveta and I, visited Berizanka. We met the children and the Director. The Pastor’s team told the Christmas story, sang songs with the children, and I talked with the children. Afterwards, I had an impromptu meeting with the Director and learned the awful truths about these children and the children of the village. I was told that there are 100 children who need to be removed from their homes and processed to the orphanages through this little transition home.
When a child enters the government system, on the way to an orphanage, or enters life in an orphanage, he or she becomes a non-person. In this case, the transition home receives very little financial help. When Sveta and I were there, they had no medical supplies at all. Many times the children are taken from lice infected homes, or are removed from their homes because of neglect or abuse. The transition home needs medical supplies for these situations and for daily child-care. I have shared this new potential ministry with my board of directors, but in the interim, Sveta and I acted on this immediate need from our own pockets, providing $63 for the basic medical supplies, which covers a variety of items.
The next problem occurs when the children need to go to the hospital. They are non-persons, so they must pay money to be seen and treated. That cost is $38. Now, the medical system is supposed to be free, a government run socialist-type system. However, we are talking about a post-Soviet emerging country that, after twenty years of freedom, is still learning how to treat its people with respect and value. Sveta’s and my desire is to create a savings account within our ministry for these children’s needs for hospital visits and for keeping the first aid medical box full.
Sveta’s Journey
The last time, Mark wrote about a girl who will now be a new patient of our masseuse. Mark was very unhappy to hear of the core poor performance of doctors who have caused injury to this child at birth by their careless actions.
This child, Ya, has wonderful loving parents, and she could have been a wonderful healthy baby. Now, the situation is that the child needs constant care and concern because she is disabled. This child cannot sit, cannot stand, and, of course, cannot walk. She cannot hold her head upright long (literally, she holds her head for 2-3 seconds and then her head falls to her chest). In order to alleviate the plight of this child, a special chair and stroller are required.
Parents give a lot of time to this child: mother and daughter go to a sanatorium in another city, medication is needed, various procedures are necessary, they visit the Center for Children with Disabilities, and she receives a twenty-day massage.
Now, Ya receives a twenty-day-massage with our highly qualified massage therapist. Dr. Natalia has two goals at this time: one is to relax the muscles that are in a very elevated tone in order to reduce the frequently occurring spastic reaction, and the other goal is for the child to be able to hold her head upright for longer periods. Even these small results will be a big help for the child. We must trust in God; only He can perform a miracle for this child.
A girl, whom we will refer to as Mi, is 9 years old and lives in an orphanage/boarding school in the city of Dobromel. She has scoliosis of the upper spine. In addition to scoliosis, Mi is mentally challenged. Mi comes from a family of six children; one of the children died during childbirth. Her family lives in poor physical condition that adversely affects the parents and children, respectively.
In such families, the parents usually do not pay attention to the emotional and physical conditions of children; there is no interaction between the parents and the children. The main task of parents is to feed and clothe their children. They are not interested in the inner world of the child; the child does not feel the love and emotional support that he or she needs to grow and flourish.
Mi often complained of pain in her spine, although, after the twenty-day massage, her condition has improved significantly. Her back pain disappeared, and her psycho-emotional condition improved.
We will refer to this girl as Da. This 12-year-old is also in the orphanage/boarding school. Da also is mentally challenged. She received a twenty-day-massage. Upon completion of the massage, the girl surprised the therapist with her reaction. She was a little aggressive, crying, and asked to continue to give her a massage. (Any negative behavior is a cry for help.) A few days later, the therapist understood the reason for this extraordinary behavior. All the time that Da was getting a massage, she also experienced much attention, care, and human touch. She probably never before in her life experienced so many manifestations of attention to her person. The girl wanted to continue.
Massage is a great help for the children who are in the orphanage/boarding schools, help on a physical level and also in assisting the psycho-emotional level.
I believe that after reading this letter, you will see the great need for massage in many children. I'm expanding the boundaries of my knowledge of massage and am more and more amazed at how great the beneficial effects of massage are on the human body.
Thank you that you are supporting these children expressing your love for them in practice (in your prayers and financial support). What is the most important thing in the world? I think you all know the answer - love. Love is more important than anything.
Grace to you and peace and love be multiplied (Jude 1:2).
Living my dream,
Sveta
As we march into spring, we look to God to open the hearts of our readers to seek His direction in sharing His provisions. The children of Ukraine can be a liability, or, with some help, they can be an asset for their community, region, or even their country. MUCH continues to walk through the doors that are opened before us. Won’t you join us in this great adventure? Thank you for reading. Please continue to pray for our children.
Blessings of love and healing,
Mark and Sveta
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