Down dirt roads, into houses with empty fridges.
Children running around makeshift fires on the ground. Dirt floors and eight kids in one bedroom. Families still reeling from the shock of their children returning from the orphanage-boarding school in March 2020. More mouths to feed, oftentimes with less money than ever.
When the COVID crisis of 2020 hit Ukraine, we joined the Heritage team to deliver care packages to families in need. The packs contained 2-3 weeks’ worth of food and household supplies. Yura has driven thousands of miles, and we hope that God provides more funds for continued deliveries.
Some families are doing their best with a garden and livestock. Others have turned to drinking alcohol to numb the challenges they face. There is no continued education because most don’t have the luxury of Zoom. Neighbors are calling social services, and children are being returned to the orphange-boarding school, reinforcing the idea that the orphanage is the best solution. But if the choice is an unhealthy, abusive home, then is the orphanage the right choice?
We’ve found ourselves wondering…
Is this is really helping?
What about two months from now?
How can children return to families?
Should we just move to a village and make an impact on a handful of families?
WHERE is the local church? Followers of Jesus?
We don’t have answers right now. We’re living in the “not yet” of this world and this crisis.
This morning on a Zoom call with Europe Without Orphans, I was reminded that “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” (Hebrews 6:10). God sees his children, the widow and the sojourner. He is just, and justice is His to execute.
Van loads of care packages are going out all over the Odessa region.
While social workers usually do not have their own vehicles, to go out and check on families, they do have the ability to check kitchens when they are on a home visit, and this is one example of what they might find.
It’s not uncommon to find sub-standard living conditions like this.
In this home, 8 siblings share one bedroom.
If you’d like to help, you can pray for wisdom. Pray for the safety of these children. Pray for more chances to connect with these families in the coming months. Pray that they come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior!
Even months after the pandemic began, families are still struggling, barely scraping by.
You can give to support the Perekotiy family on the ground at www.globeintl.org/perekotiy
Or reach them through their website to provide support to specific projects: http://www.theperekotiys.com/
This story can send the message that God actually doesn’t provide for his people. But what if God does provide, but he does this by providing through the church? But if the church, the followers of Christ, are distracted, comfortable, or have lost their sensitivity to the plight of the poor and hurting, then needs don’t get met.
So pray for the church to rise up in love and compassion…
and simply pray for the church to be the hands and feet of Christ.