Friday, June 22, 2012

May 2012 Newsletter

Hello family and friends,

April 15th has come and gone. In America, that means tax day, stress, extensions, late fees, and more stress. In Ukraine, April 15th is the day the city turns off the heat and hot water. That is, for cities that have a good enough economy to run the citywide boiler system that provide home heating and hot water for washing dishes, clothes, and bodies. After 10 years of living with this system, I still dread the cold days ahead without heat in my home. My Siberian-raised wife meets each morning with a smile as she opens the window and enjoys the fresh air. Fortunately, my life is not about my comfort. I think of the children in the orphanages and those at home with disabilities that affect their body’s regulation of temperature and blood circulation. I think of the department head at the clinic who tells our masseuses not to use the electric heater to make our little massage room warm for the children and infants. Sveta and I are here to change what we can, and to help our readers understand the conditions that we cannot change. With this concept in mind, I will share some statistics and numbers with you.
Your gifts bought these nice clothes

A friend from Wisconsin visited us a few weeks ago. As we discussed MUCH ministries, which he has been following for ten years, I began to realize that I have not shared many of the details of how money is spent on the children to improve the quality of their lives. I have told stories of what we did, but I have failed to draw a picture, or maybe create a mathematical equation of the magnitude of what we have done with so little money.

Happy children returning from lunch.
I began my first outreach in June of 2002 in Marganets at the Orphanage for Children with Physical and Mental Disabilities. The Ukrainian government has a book for orphanage directors that schedules how many articles of clothing a child may receive each year. Two examples are that each child is entitled to one pair of shoes every two years and two pair of socks each year. The schedule continues in a similar fashion for other clothing items. It took MUCH six years to meet the basic clothing needs of all of the children, bringing the ongoing needs to a maintenance level. I allocated $100 per month to buy clothing and shoes for the children. The exchange rate at that time was $1 for every 5 grevnya. From 2002 until 2007, the economy was changing slowly and the dollar was able to buy many items of clothing for a small amount. My manager in Marganets was buying very large amounts of clothing for 500 grevnya. By 2007, we could buy a set of clothes (underclothes, socks, shirt, pants, and shoes) for a child of average age and size for $14.

The following year brought two factors that changed our buying power. To our advantage, the exchange rate rose in our favor to $1 for every 8 grevnya. This was good for MUCH but the cost of living increased also. The prices rose to parallel, and even exceed, the exchange rate adjustment. Second, the worldwide economic crisis brought a great challenge to us on both sides of the Atlantic.
You are looking at major self-image improvements!

As the years advanced, prices continued to rise. We learned early on that the quality of clothing was as important as the price. Ukrainian-made clothing is of poor quality because the machinery has not been modernized. The government still has control of part of the businesses. Our other choices of affordable clothing for our children come from China or Turkey. Our experience is that clothing made in Turkey is of a better quality and lasts longer. That brings us to 2011, when we increased our allocation to 1600 grevnya per month. Last year, we were able to clothe a child of average age and size for about $40. This suggests an increase of 13% each year for the cost of clothing during the past five years. Below is the list of clothing items that we bought over twelve months. The total cost in 2011 was $1775. Below is the list items purchased last year for the 156 children at the orphanage for children with disabilities in Marganets.

21 Jackets                $211.25
30 T-shirts                $154.50
7 Pair of Jeans          $186.25
1 Pair of leggings      $    3.13
2 Dresses                 $  66.25
3 Pair of shorts         $  20.00
2 Pair of sandals       $  27.88
1 Dressy T-shirt       $    6.25
2 Swimsuits             $  39.37
40 Pair of shoes      $692.50
2 Jumpers               $  16.25
7 Sweaters              $  71.87
2 Pair of sneakers    $  20.00
2 Pair of pants         $  27.50
4 Pair of tights         $    5.00
10 Pair of socks      $    5.00
4 Ball caps              $  17.50
3 Pair of boots        $125.00
2 Coats                   $  31.25
1 Pair of mittens      $    3.25
4 Travel bags          $  45.00

This is an example of how we spent the funds that we receive from our sponsors. We have five other outreach ministries that help a total of about 500 children in three cities and two villages. It is big work needing big sponsorship.

Here is Sveta’ article to share a story or two from a different angle.

Sveta’s Journey

For eight years running, one of the programs of MUCH helps children with disabilities using massage. Special attention is paid to the early intervention of children from the age of one month old. This is the time to start doing massage; you can fix many of the children's problems. Close collaboration with the child neurologist, the masseuses of MUCH mission have shown excellent results. We call this early intervention, when the doctor sees the problem, she immediately prescribes a course of massage for the baby. The formation of the skeleton in its infancy is the most active and massage makes it possible to correct the defects of the bone and muscular systems, to send the physical development of children in the right direction.

Many children are placed on special observation in the clinic because they have a congenital dislocation of the joints or other problems. After the age of one year, doctors removed the children from the observations as they have received a full recovery. This is a great help for future productivity in the lives of the children.


N. has made great progess
We recently met with a woman in Illichevsk whose granddaughter, N., was one of the first patients of the MUCH massage program in 2004. Her mother was living in the Chernobyl area during the disaster of 1986. N. (right) has struggled with a brain tumor, leaving her with a form of Cerebral Palsy. Now, she is18. Her grandmother told me enthusiastically that she will finish college this spring and will study at the university. The woman's face shone with happiness and she is very grateful to Mark. Through massage, Nastya recovered balance in her muscular system and only a small difference in her physical condition is visible. She blends in with the other girls well. When Mark and I walk through Illichevsk, we meet grandmothers or mothers whose children were or are receiving massage courses. I can see in their eyes the gratitude for the fact that there is a person who cares about their children.

Mark has a photo archive of the children who received massage during the years. I looked through the photos and videos for all the years of the mission to see the results of many of the children. After years of work, the masseurs were very fruitful with many of the children.

During the birth of twins, one of them, Di., suffered a birth trauma – the result was a 4th degree hearing loss and as a consequence, the child is lagging behind in development. After several courses of massage mom sees improvement - the girl began to hear better, repeats vowel sounds, murmurs, she has become calmer, and has improved sleep and appetite. - In December 2011, Di. received the first course of treatment for hearing loss at the institute in another city. It cost $1,000. The second and third phase of treatment requires an additional $1000 each. This is a very large sum for this family. Her mom asked Mark to help her, but currently the mission is unable to allocate these large sums.

Only one of the problems this child will face.
We all begin life needing a helping hand.
D. , age 11 months, was born with his left ear incompletely formed – the ear canal is closed, his head slightly miss-shaped, and perhaps these problems will affect the development of the child's speech and mental development.

Doctors recommend surgery when the child is 3 years. Until that time, massage will help the normal development of the child, stimulating the brain. We can evaluate the child during this time and divert other possible developmental problems.

L. is 1 year and 5 months old. Even at this age, she has disabilities: psychomotor delay, hemiplegia, diabetes, insulin dependence of the first degree. L. cannot sit or walk, one leg is shorter than the other by 1 centimeter, and her head is slightly deformed. The girl's father left the family. The grandmother cares for the child. This young mother sits in her office with an indifferent eye; she is in despair and depression. All her dreams of a beautiful life collapsed with the birth of this disabled child. A lot of money and time is required to see progress in the life of this child. They have visited an osteopath, for a treatment that cost $100. Because of the great number of procedures, the family has no money. The grandmother is looking at massage as an affordable treatment at the MUCH clinic, with hope that they will see some results.

My dream is that all children will be healthy. When I see a disabled child, the question arises in my heart: What can I do for them? How can they be helped? Help for them is a prayer to God. I want to show them God's love through our hearts. I dream that you, my dear friends, will see a little part of the lives of these children, that you may allocate a place in your hearts for these precious souls.

Thank you that you have supported this program for eight years. Because of this, many children receive full recovery; massage brings a partial recovery to others. We see good progress because children begin to do what they could not do before the massage (such as: better walking, talking sitting, standing, range of motion and speech, to mention the most obvious).

Your support helps us provide these and other services for more than 500 children across Ukraine. Twice a year, we visit the children in the programs in Dobromel, Marganets, and Froonza. Because we live in Illichevsk, we have greater opportunity to see the needs of those children. I feel great joy at the thoughts of what we do, what our teams do, and the growing mission because of God's grace. The most important thing – it is priceless to every human soul. Remember and think about the happiness and welfare of others.

Living my dream,
Sveta

Sveta and I visited the children at the Dobromel Orphanage in the end of April. Next month’s newsletter will share exciting news about the children and the massage program. It is the fifth massage program that MUCH initiated, beginning in January of 2012. – As always, thank you for your prayers and financial support!

Blessings of love and healing,

Mark and Sveta

Thursday, June 21, 2012

June Newsletter 2012


Hello family and friends,

It was in the upper 50's F yesterday, but summer is right around the corner. School is almost finished here in Illichevsk, and the children will be running to the beach. Ice cream stands will be rolled out to the sidewalks, and life will appear happy for all. As I walk through the streets of Illichevsk, I am thankful that I was called to live and work in this clean city. Sveta's and my one-bedroom apartment meets our needs and is our home sweet home. We treasure it as we journey home from our fourteen-hour train and bus trips visiting the children in Dobromel, Marganets,  and Froonza.

Continuing our look at how we spend our funds, I will share two general areas: education and healthcare. Why is MUCH interested in Education? Everyone knows that education provides the building blocks for functioning in life. It shows us the road to a brighter future. Here in Ukraine, we are looking at two very specific problems: poverty and alcohol abuse. Our goal is to break the cycle of poverty. We believe that alcoholism is a direct result of poverty, although alcoholism has additional roots. We look at the family structure and see that children from poor families have little motivation and almost no encouragement to live a better life.

V. is hungry for a better life
Five years ago, we began the Transportation Scholarship Program with two high school graduates. As you saw in the January newsletter, one of the two graduated. The second dropped out of our program and disappeared. Over the years, three or four more students from very difficult homes were encouraged to go to college. Only one had the motivation to go. Currently, we know of two in college who are in need of help, and more who will graduate high school in the coming years. We have the opportunity to help Illichevsk break the cycle of poverty one child at a time. Currently, we have one student, V, who is in the nursing program at the medical college. The cost for one student to travel to Odessa and back (there is no dormitory system similar to the US) is about $42 a month, the cost of one taxi ride in some US cities. Currently, MUCH does not have the funds needed to help more than one student, but they are waiting.

J. begins vocal training.
 At the Marganets orphanage, we support in a small way the Computer and the Music and Dance classes. The administration sees big results occurring in the children because of these two programs. MUCH sees the same results, but why are we convinced that the programs are of value for our support. We understand that music is a central focus in the lives of children and teens all over the world. More importantly, we look at the effects on the brain. Music stimulates the brain and is documented in many studies to have multiple effects on the body and mind. More information about music and its benefits can be found on the internet or in libraries. 


J. is vocalist for the dance team.

Dance also has multiple values. It provides exercise, improves balance, flexibility, fluid movement, organized thought, team interaction, and more. Learning computer skills provides the obvious preparation for the work world and social media, but our focus is that it teaches the children to think using logic. Using the computer is an activity that requires the developing use of logic. We support these programs with a small contribution of $25 a month. It began as an incentive to the teachers to teach new programs. The manager recently gave us a wish list, which included $250 a year to buy material to make costumes and buy dance shoes, and $125 a year to buy new library books. Currently, MUCH does not have the funds to provide these materials.  Watch J perform in national competition

Sisters struggle together.


The second focus is healthcare. We are concentrating on two types of help. The newest type provides funds for medical treatment of children in a village transition home. This is a small contribution, $37.50 per child for a hospital or Emergency Medical Service visit. To refill their medical box with total contents costs $62.50. This facility is only large enough to house 11 children. Since we began helping these children about five months ago, we provided all of the supplies for the medical box, which was empty. We helped two children recently, one needing an appendectomy and the second in need of an EMS visit because of her heart. This is a small program, but these children are very much in need of a program that can provide funds for medical treatment. We have a Ukrainian sponsor who is giving toward this need.

 
The second type of healthcare is our medical massage program. We have been providing massage treatment for children with disabilities for eight years. One massage currently costs $2.85. We manage five massage programs in three cities and one village. Twenty-one massage treatments are provided each day, costing $59.85, less, I believe, than the cost of one medical massage in America. Each month, we spend $1,197 on our massage program. There is NO overhead! The massage rooms that we use in each program are free to MUCH. The parents bring their own sheet and towel for their child, and the masseuses provide their own massage oils, if they use them in their style of treatment.

After receiving massage for my own minor disability, we began our massage program in 2004 with enough funds to give three children massage each day for a twenty-day treatment program. Our results have been very good since the beginning, and we have grown over the years. In Illichevsk, we have two programs totaling 12 children a day. In the village of Froonza, we provide four children massage each day. At the orphanage in Dobromel, we began a program in January for (4) children a day. When Sveta and I were there in April, the director was so excited about the results that he
A. battles Downs Syndrom with massage.
and his staff were seeing
in the children, that he wants to have a second masseuse to treat an additional four children. At the orphanage in Marganets, the manager is very pleased with the results that the doctor and her nurse are seeing. We discussed having a masseuse from the city community come and work with the children. This is another opportunity for us to expand our massage program.

In all of our massage programs, we are treating a  maximum of 252 children a year. So, how many children with disabilities are within our radar? There are about 600 children in the three cities and one village who have disabilities that could benefit from massage. MUCH is limited in providing more services by a lack of funding. In the ten years that I have lived in Ukraine, MUCH has initiated new programs and caused them to grow. We want to continue to meet the needs of more children, but we want to see growth come along slowly but surely, as we have during this last decade. In order to grow, we must see new sponsorship.



Sveta's Journey
Welcome to Dobromel, Mark!


We visited the Dobromel Orphanage at the time when many of the children who have family were going home for a short holiday. As we traveled toward the  orphanage/boarding school, my heart began to sing a joyful song. After being away from my new little friends for six months, I wanted very much to see them again. Our visit with the children brought great joy to them. When we arrived, they came running to us, with hugs and kisses for us, asking, "Will you'll be giving us a massage?" I replied, "We've come to visit you, to see how you are doing." All the children were eager to receive massage. The week that we lived across from the boarding school, they asked me each day to give them a massage.

Natasha, the masseuse, is educated in Sports Medicine. She gives massage and children receive exercise training directly related to the focus of the massage. When these are combined, the results are very effective. One therapist cannot give massage to a large number of children. At this orphanage/ boarding school, virtually all children need massage.

We spoke with Lydia, the manager, and she enthusiastically talked about the great results that she saw in the children during the first four months of the program. The program of massage in this boarding school started working in January 2012, and even in such a short period, all of the teachers and educators have noticed the physical and psycho-emotional changes in children for the better. Hyperactive children were less excited and more relaxed, more attentive in class, and some even improved handwriting and posture.

The director, manager, Mark, and I are very pleased that the children have a wonderful opportunity to get a massage. The director has a vision to provide progress reports on the results of the massage program for Government authorities to obtain official permission to add a position for massage in the budget of the boarding school.
 
We brought pictures of children who were photographed in October during our past visit. They love to be photographed, so this time we took many pictures of them and they will be looking forward to our next visit when they will receive new pictures.

During this wonderful time spent with children, God gave me new eyes to see the children. My heart ached as tears fell from my eyes, such pain as if they were my own children. I do not know why God allows me to see, filled with compassion, the children's hearts. Of course, I pray for them. While we are visiting them, I can hug them and give them my love. I ask myself this question: "What more can I do for the children; I only spend time with them twice a year?" Familiarity with these children helps me to see their needs and guides me how to pray for them. They are in your hearts and mine, and I know that these children are in the heart of God.

Thanks for your help! O.
 O has a very sweet personality. You can see the smile on his face and the joy in his eyes. O has scoliosis and a deformity of his chest. Without massage and exercise treatment, his condition may become a more serious problem. In the February newsletter, you read about E, and saw the picture of his severe scoliosis and deformed chest. It is possible that without treatment, O could go in the same direction. MUCH is taking the time and making the effort to improve O's life. Please help us to guide his health in a progressive direction.

 M, a young girl, two years ago received an extensive burn on her back, abdomen, and parts of the upper arms. Together with other children, she ignited a fire to bake a potato, the fire burned low and the girl decided to pour
Massage helps me so much!
 gasoline on the fire. Splashes of gasoline fell on her sweater, and it began to burn. M was scared, but her younger brother quickly realized that it was necessary to remove her sweater and he removed the burning sweater. Then, when she was brought to the hospital, the doctor said that it was very good that they removed the sweater; if it were not so, he would have had to remove the sweater with the skin. The girl showed us her post-burn scars. All the back and stomach wounds healed solid brown. After several days of massaging the skin, it became softer and more elastic. She is also in need for corrective surgery. M really likes when she receives massage. It also has very positive emotional effect for her.

Where else may all these children receive massage and the results of restoration of mental, emotional, and physical health? My prayer to Almighty God is for healing of mind, body, and soul for these children, for God's mercy and salvation of their souls.

Many thanks to all of you that you keep praying for our MUCH children and financially supporting the work of all of our masseuses. God bless you!

Living my dream,
 
Sveta

We want to share more about the children at the Dobromel orphanage with you in the July Newsletter. Until then, please keep the children and us in your prayers. Thank you for reading! 

Blessings of love and healing,

Mark and Sveta