Children of Hope

What do you see above? Look at them from a distance; look at them close-up. Look at their clothes. Look at the expressions on their faces. Look into their eyes. What do you see?

I see children. Each one has a story unique to him or her, as do all children. What they are at this time in their lives can be summed up in a few words. They are children. What will they be? How will they change? Where will they go?

The answers to many of these questions depend upon adults. How will we touch their lives? How responsible will we be toward them? Will we care? Will we reach out to them? Will we help them become the next generation who will run this world?

These particular 10 children will grow up in a Ukrainian orphanage/school. They are special children, not to say that every child is not special. They have special needs. One was born a crack-cocaine baby. Each child that you see has some type of learning disability. Each child either has a dangerous family environment from which they have been removed, has been abandoned by their parents, or their parents have died, leaving them as orphans. So they will grow up in the orphanage system with 146 other children similar to themselves.

Statistics tell a very sad reality of what happens to children after they leave the orphanage system in Ukraine. Prostitution, suicide, prison, and a life of crime waits for many of them. What can be done?

I don’t have many answers, but I have a few. MUCH has been gradually changing the lives of these children in small ways. Our biggest efforts are supported by our yearly Christmas fund raiser. Four big needs-based programs are touching the personal futures of some of the children. Massage therapy is changing the children from the inside out. The neurology of massage is habilitating and expressing love toward the children in a way never experienced by them before. Computer class is opening new avenues for the children, preparing them for a world of graphic art and word processing. The new music and dance opportunities will enrich the quality of the music arts in their education. Finally, the drug and alcohol program is molding the children in areas of morality, self image, and self respect.

I have stepped up to bat. I am helping these children in these ways. I believe in them. What will you do? Will you help our children through MUCH? Will you help any children? What will you do?

Children in Transition

(I have not entered pictures of our children to protect their identities at this fragile time in their lives.)

For the past year and then some, when I go to Marganets, I visit the children at the transition home. These children are in a very difficult spot in their young lives. Most have been taken from their home because of a very poor environment. Whether it is because of parents who are alcoholic or drug users or the children are beat or just not cared for, the results leave the children in a new situation that is very challenging. I have met one or two whose parents died, leaving them as orphans.

The home is run with a very strict schedule, keeping the children busy to avoid time for them to dwell on their problems. This particular home is run by a Christian director. She sees the great need for the children to have more time to adjust to their loss of family. Their program focuses on helping the children modify their lives and build healthy character. Although she is asking the government to give her more time with the children, it seems that ninety day is all that they will allow. Their twenty-six beds stay filled throughout the year.

The director’s big venture last year was to find families to adopt the children before they would be placed in an orphanage. In the first six months of 2008, she was able to place 10 children in local Christian homes. She has contact with the different churches in Marganets and they work together to help the children while in the transition home and to find good families for them. Adoption for Ukrainian families is very inexpensive, so I hear, and they are working on implementing the foster care program. Of course, the challenge in this city of poverty is to find honest foster parents. The money is so needed; it lures many of the wrong parent types.

When I visit with the children, we talk about little things, but they are very hungry for attention. They are very hungry to show their value. They want to know about America. They have very interesting questions. When we have an opportunity for Bible study, I’m always surprised to hear how much they know. I try to take seashells each time that I go. The children are very interested in seeing these homes of sea creatures. Some have been to the sea, but most have not.

When I look at these children, it breaks my heart to know why they are at the transition home. I know their future if they are not placed in a good home within ninety days. I have interacted with children at the local orphanage for six plus years. Even with the best orphanage environment, it is not a good place for a child. A family of over one hundred children is not the kind of family that is needed. There are so many children in need of help in this country; helping the 400 or so that we help is just a small effort for the big problem for the more than 100,000 Ukrainian children in poverty.

Country in Crisis, Family in Crisis

Because I have no TV, by choice, I don’t follow the news often. When I am hungry to know what is going on in the rest of Ukraine or the world, I go online and read the news. I have heard that the economic crisis has hit Ukraine pretty hard, but had not seen too much in Illichevsk. I heard that some stores had closed their doors, waiting for the crisis to pass.

In my opinion, the economy in Ukraine has been moving forward too fast in the past four years. Two generations who never saw what the rest of the world was experiencing were now experiencing the same or similar. In the past 18 years, the people of Ukraine have been flooded with so many “things” that were never a part of their lives before. Some have taken out loans on houses or cars, and are now in very tight finances. Even the banks went overboard in lending money.

One family that I know in another city decided to become a supplier for clothing and material shops. When the crisis hit, their venders could not pay for the goods because customers were few and far between. They were in a serious predicament.

In Ukraine, if you have a private house, there is usually a nice bit of yard that goes with it. But there are no yards like what we call a yard in America. Rather, all of the land is used to produce food or animals for food. This family had a large garden, a pig house, a chicken coop, and a summer kitchen. They had about 20 or so chickens when the crisis hit them.

True to Ukrainian mentality, they took what they had, what they knew, and made it work for them. Determining the most productive item that they had, they mass produced chickens. They turned a family supply of chickens into a business of growing and selling chickens. Now they have more than 200 chickens. The summer kitchen is now a staging room for chickens: peeps to mid life. The pig house is now a staging room for chickens: growth bulk feeding to harvest. This family is surviving the current crisis.

A Father’s Love Story

I call it a Father’s Love Story, but I was not her father and she was not my daughter. Oksana wanted to be my daughter. In her heart, she wanted to belong to someone. She wanted a family experience. She never knew her father, and she had been taken away from her drug using … mother when she was 4 or 5 years old. Her life as she knew it was at the orphanage.

She began to make a connection with me when she was about 15. When I responded to her with acceptance and kindness, her heart responded. She began to dream the impossible dream. Could she have a father of her own, could it be true? I gave her and a number of other children my address. I asked them if they would write to me. (I had been told earlier that the children didn’t have the mentality to write a letter, being an orphanage for special children.)


Oksana was the only one who did write to me. It was clear to my translator that she did actually write the letter. So, I read the letter with great interest. She wrote to me about her dreams. She opened her heart and told me that she wanted me to be her father.

This writing relationship continued for the next four years. When I would visit Marganets I would spend some time with her, talking and learning more about her. The plan was that when she was 18 she could decide her future legally. She continued her education through the tenth grade, and then moved to the youth hostel to participate in trade school to learn to be a master plasterer.

By the time that she graduated, she had fallen in love with a classmate and decided that she wanted something different. She was an adult, in her eyes, and didn’t need a father any more.

Without actually being a father, I experienced many of the feelings and frustrations of what being a father must be. I felt the love, the need, the joy, and the sorrow. It was a difficult experience for me, but I learned many things. We have lost touch and doubt that I will ever see her again. One thing that she asked me to give to her was a Bible. I did, and I must believe that God is watching over her and will guide her to Himself.

January 2009 MUCH Newsletter

Hello family and friends,

Happy New Year! I hope that 2009 will be a bright year for all. As we have closed 2008, I see the progress of the children most evident. I have short videos of some of the children at the massage clinic who are walking who could not walk in 2007. The Emmaus children learned more life skills and are doing projects on the computer. In Marganets, many great things have moved forward in 2008. Most important is the new weekly drug and alcohol prevention program. The year-to-year support for the Transition Home in Marganets, the programs for the Marganets orphanage, and support of the Dobromel orphanage have opened new doors of opportunity to serve our children in better ways.

I have begun to post to this blog each week. I am writing about some of my experiences as a missionary. I hope to shed more light on the lives of the children. A couple of photos will bring my posts to life. Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember what my readers don’t see. Life here has become so normal for me that I forget how different it is. If you're reading my posts, please take a moment to comment at the bottom of the post. I would love to hear from you. Some people think that my newsletter is only about financial support. I hope that you will realize the stories are news about the children. They need your prayer support. But I think that most of all, they need you to be talking about them. They need to become a part of your conversational lives.

Ira and I will be sharing more stories about MUCH children in the newsletters and the blog in 2009. Below, Ira talks about the Rehabilitation Center that is a result of four years of the MUCH massage clinic. The medical community and the local people saw a new value in people with disabilities. MUCH is creating a ripple affect, as it exemplifies the love of God through rehabilitation for people with disabilities.

I’m pleased to say that the MUCH Christmas Fundraiser has successfully reached its goal of $3,620!! Four programs will enrich the lives of the children at the Marganets orphanage. We will clothe as many as 104 children who will pass through the Transition Home in 2009. Our funds will support Pastor Volodya’s work with the children who have special needs at the orphanage in Dobromel. All of these programs will operate for one more year because of your generous gifts during this Christmas Season. We say a BIG UKRAINIAN THANK YOU!! СПАСИБO БОЛЬШОЙ!! May God bless your giving hearts.

Here is an update on how the economy is affecting my work here. Ukraine is being hit hard with unemployment, banking problems, and the Russian gas “war.” In spite of all of these problems, what I am able to do is somewhat dependant upon the value of the dollar. In October it had fallen from 5 to 4.5 grevnya for $1. Earlier this week, it had climbed to 8.7 grevnya for $1. It looks to be a very unpredictable year. The Christmas Fundraiser guarantees funding for our six-year-to-year ministries. Our main three outreach programs will be challenged month to month for financial support in 2009. Please be praying for our 400 plus children and our teams who reach out to them throughout this coming year.

Blessings of love and healing,
Mark

Ira's Insight (January 2009)

Now Mark is preparing to visit America. He will go in April 2009. He is taking pictures and short videos of his ministries. We have been visiting Emmaus Club, the massage clinic, and the Rehabilitation Center in Illichevsk. It’s very nice to see people there who can tell us about the positive changes that are taking place.

Two days ago we visited the Rehabilitation center, a city government facility. There is a very difficult situation with the legal documentation of the Center. Our government authorities are not sure who the director of it is at this time. There are three possible candidates. One is doing the actual work. Despite these problems, everybody who comes to the center may find himself in the atmosphere of kindness, hospitality and children’s laughter.

I remember when the director of one of the organizations for the disabled, Ludmila, was dreaming about a rehabilitation center in Illichevsk. She wanted parents who have children with disabilities to have a place in Illichevsk where they could bring their children. She wanted the parents to have the freedom to go to their work, or have some rest while the caretakers played with their children or helped them with some exercises.

Her dream has been fulfilled. Today this center exists and gets a lot of use from children with disabilities and their parents. At the center, children can not only play, but can do some craft work and learn to sing. Every day they have a tasty lunch. It was so pleasant for me to speak to some of the mothers. They seemed to be calm and satisfied, quite contrary to their anguish of previous years. I think the center is the place where they can find peace, by themselves, or with other mothers.

Of course the center has some more potential, but because of the documentation problems it doesn’t function as it should. Ludmila hopes that soon the children can come to the center and have some medical and rehabilitation treatment also. I pray for her wish to be fulfilled.

Until next time,
Ira

The Live Christmas Story

In Ukraine, the Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. When Communism fell, there was a new freedom of religion. The Orthodox Church was no longer the only church allowed by the government. Other Christian groups wanted to celebrate Christmas on December 25th. The new government decided to allow the people to celebrate both. Not only did they celebrate both, but the day after Christmas was always a holiday. So the Christmas Season consisted of: December 25 and 26, December 31 and January 1, 7, and 8. It was most interesting for me to experience this the first year that I was here. If you were a churchgoer, that was a lot of services with a lot of sermons. This season is the first season that will have Christmas only on January 7.

The Evangelical Baptist Church took full advantage of January 8. It may be the first time there was a live presentation of the Christmas story. They created different scenes in the park next to their church. After the 10 AM service was complete, the player all took their places, ready to tell their stories. It was a very cold afternoon, but it didn't stop the enthusiastic choir or actors. Small groups would go from scene to scene to hear the story. It was a great event. It will be repeated, and will be recreated in different places in Illichevsk.

The people who grew up under persecution still have a high value of what religious freedom means. Unfortunately, this passion has not been experienced by the younger generation. They respond with enthusiasm of the event, but haven't experienced the true value of what it means to be free to express your beliefs in public. I continue to try to learn of the secrets of life during communism.