|
When they were just in their early teens Tanya, (14 yrs.) and Oksana, (13 yrs.) started attending the Baptist Church at Telepyno. There they learned the ways of God and started to share what they heard with their parents. However, their stepfather became angry and cast the children out of the house, saying, “May your God care for your life!”
Though hurting inside, the girls tried to show no pain as they wandered the streets of the village looking for shelter. Eventually, they settled down in a deserted, derelict barn. The next day they went to school as usual but never returned home.
>After a while, a Christian school-friend asked them to come and live with her family. That was four years ago. Tanya, now 18, has graduated from school. At the age of 16 she immediately went out to work to start earning money to buy a house. To the world around, they look extremely poor because every spare coin is saved toward the house to call their own home.
The church too has saved some money to help but with only 20 members, most of whom are elderly, there is a limit to what they can do. Together they have collected almost $800 but they need twice that much to buy a small cottage that has now become available.
When Oksana finishes school this July, she will take advantage of a place to live at Hope Now’s “Swindon pre-independence Home”. In order for her to stay here, she will need support from Hope Now partners of about $90 a month, plus an additional amount for an education sponsorship to learn a trade. Donations to the General Fund make it possible for Hope Now to help these brave girls.
Larissa Vovk
Children’s Care Officer
|
