The success of the Hope Now pre-independence homes cannot be overstated. Once again the organization has developed a model, as it did with its cottage homes and fostering projects, which is now replicated throughout Ukraine and even in other CIS countries. However, the homes are too small to accommodate all the orphans who leave the institutions without a home to go to. In September, Pasha and Vanya from Shpola orphanage wanted to enter Cornah House but there was no room for them. Larissa Vovk, who is responsible for our for work among the children at risk, decided that Pavel should come to live with her but that Vanya would have to go into a state dormitory. She managed to get both boys into trade school. However, a sponsor came forward for both boys so she decided to take them both into her own apartment home. She says both boys have settled and are doing well.
Every Tuesday the young men and women from the pre-independence homes meet at Alpha House for Bible Study so I was asked to visit them recently to talk about marriage and families. I was delighted to see both Pasha and Vanya there taking full part with everyone else. Of course, they need training, especially in how to budget and handle money appropriately, which means that they must also have the freedom to make mistakes. Bear in mind, they have never had anything to call their own until now. Larissa tells how they wisely spent the first money they were given on clothes but they then spent money on mobile phones. I'll let Larissa tell it for herself. "They were very enthusiastic, as soon as the classes finished, they ran to the shop to buy them. The boys laughed with joy, holding the phones in their hands. Who will they phone? The boys are orphans! But that was what they wanted to have. Almost dancing they went out of the shop but within 50 meters big, strong, strangers stopped and bullied them and demanded to have the phones they had just bought. Vanya desperately ran away but Pasha was taken to a yard, beaten and his new shiny mobile phone taken away. When they told us about this at Bible study time, we expressed our regret and gave some advice. We asked about the value of mobile phone for them. 'I felt myself a man', - said Vanya, who managed to save his. Pasha said: 'I don't need it'. At the end of the class, Marina ran to Swindon House and brought her old mobile phone and gave it to Pasha. One could read in his eye that he also wanted to feel like a man. We study the Word of God for two months together. I hope the boys will understand soon, it's not a mobile phone that makes a man a man". Indeed it's not. But who of us will deny that we too sometimes get our values mixed? Is not the current economic crisis a direct result of individuals, institutions and governments ignoring the basic tenets of fiscal prudence? Who will dare tell a 16 year old orphan who has never had to handle money in his life, that buying a mobile phone is less appropriate than a government that is willing to take a country into unimagined debt in order to get its citizens to go out and spend, spend, spend on things worth much less than mobile phones? Maybe Pasha and Vanya will have served us well if their story causes us to stop and ask whether our own values are any better.
The Bible and not least of all Jesus has much to say about money and how we handle it. Certainly, we at Hope Now recognize our responsibility to be good stewards of all you entrust to our keeping for the people of Ukraine. 2009 is uncharted water and yet we dare to believe that this letter from a retired minister reflects the thoughts of many. "I already support several children's charities and am now retired. I have to limit the gifts I can make. However, next year,I will make a donation to this excellent and worthy charity. May God very richly bless all you do. I really enjoyed last night's (Kolo Sertcya) concert, a brilliant performance; and praise God for its work and witness. A great uplift for a nearly 80 year old!". Likewise, we praise God for all of our partners. And wish for you all a very Happy and blessed New Year.
Imagine driving over 2,000 miles zigzagging across the country, over a 3 week period - complete with 5 teenagers and …Vic! This year's Hope Now USA Tour will be here before I know it.
When Dima, with his two older sisters, came into the care of the Hope Now foster program he was just two years old. He had been rescued from an ugly situation but came into the home of Vladimir and Larissa Kusin.
Alina Zalygina suffered terrible burns in a house fire when she was just 2 years old. Her alcoholic mother, the cause of the fire, had her parental rights taken away...
