As some of you will already know, I’ve just returned from my second visit of the year to the children’s home in Brovariiy  The last few months have been quite difficult for the home, with various personal and financial problems, and I was able to discuss with the ‘steering committee’ plans for the future.  Negotiations are continuing with the local council towards obtaining either a building or , more likely, a plot of land on which we can build a home to house up to 40 children.  However, in the short term, it is now proposed that the current building (which actually belongs to the Director, Nadia, and her family) be sold, and a separate apartment be rented for the children, in the name of the Fund, which will make matters far clearer from an official organisational viewpoint, hopefully opening up the way for further financial sponsorship. This will also act as a temporary ‘soupkitchen’ from where we can help kids still living on the streets. Already, a small team regularly takes small aid parcels (donated by members of the local church) to a number of families who have no regular income due to disability or sickness.  Currently two of the children have been in hospital for several weeks with quite serious medical conditions (lack of interpreters prevents me knowing exactly what!), and two others, with special needs, have recently been transfered to a residential school for kids with learning disabilities, while another boy has returned to live with his grandparents. Until the long term expansion plan can go ahead, it is not proposed to take on any new children to take their place.

Up until recently, most of the day-to-day expenses of the home were met out of Nadia’s own pension from a previous marriage, but this has now come to an end following her recent remarriage, so external support from groups like ourselves has become even more crucial.  So, if you are toying with the idea of taking out a regular standing order to support our work, this would be a very good time to do so!
 
 

On a positive note, a number of local shops and farms are now supplying hte home with a regular supply of basic foodstuffs (tho’ most fresh fruit, meat etc. still has to be purchased), and we are also receiving regular donations of good used clothing for the children.  Over the Summer, donations from here in the UK enabled all the children to enjoy a short holiday at a cabin by the River Dnieper, which they obviously thoroughly enjoyed!

I was able to bring some good news about the help which we in UK are able to offer the project.  Funds raised from the recent Three Peaks sponsored walk look like topping the magic £1000 mark, and we are proposing that this sum be put into an investment account, as part of the building fund for the future, but with the interest paid being available for ongoing expenses in the meanwhile.  There are also a couple of other sponsored events in the offing which will hopefully boost this sum - and hopefully the existence of a capital reserve (however small) will encourage confidence in the project from other potential sponsors.  I also confirmed that, with regular giving so far pledged by our supporters, we will be able to make a regular contribution of at least $50 per month to the running costs of the home (this is probably equivalent to rather more than the average monthly wage for a manual worker in Ukraine).  It is hoped to be able to start paying the three core workers a small salary before too long, and, with our Charity registration nearing finalisation, I am hopeful that the ability to reclaim tax on donations may make it a realistic possibility for us to meet this cost ourselves, with only a minimal increase in donations.  With the enthusiastic arrival on the scene of a couple from Basildon (who actually hope to move out to Kyiv as ‘humanitarian missionaries’), sponsorship for the project has been promised from a number of churches, and I have also been asked to submit a proposal for consideration by the Missions Committee of my own local church, St Edmund's in Roundhay.
 
 

In addition to catching up on the children’s home, I was able to pay a return visit to the small church in Titiiv ( a  small county town about 100 miles from Kyiv) which I visited last Autumn.  Being the middle of harvest time, most folk were unable to attend the service, but we enjoyed a lively time of fellowship and discussion.  I also had a chance to catch up on the progress of the pigs in the small-holding which Pastor Valentin has established (largely from his own income) as a job creation scheme for the villagers.

I also had the chance to meet up with Gareth, a young New Zealander working as a missionary in Kagarlyk (about 50 miles from Kyiv), and hear a little of his plans for helping folk set up ‘corruption free’ small businesses.  These are the kinds of projects I would like to see us being able to support in the future, as they will help local Christians to take responsibility for their own communitiies’ needs, without the feeling of dependency which direct finanacial aid tends to create.  (I have heard several horror stories of the ‘strings’ attatched to some Western sponsorship!).

My visit wasn’t all work, though, and I had plenty of opportunity to relax with old friends and to enjoy the sights and sounds of Kyiv, including an evening cruise on the Dnieper.  The centre of the city has been transformed since my first visit, almost ten years ago, into a thriving cultural centre, with a bustling, relaxed festival atmosphere.  The glitzy designer shops in the new marble and plate glass shopping mall make a sharp contrast to the striking social needs of so many ordinary Ukrainians; clearly this is a society struggling with the temptations of consumerism as it strives to bring itself rapidly into 21st century Europe.  Let us pray that the Church will have wisdom in portraying the message of Christ free from the material trappings of Western lifestyle.

Thank you for your support; please keep us in your prayers!

Anthony
 

 
Trip Report - April 2002

Greetings in the precious Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

As some of you will know, I've just returned from my second visit to the 'Children's Hope' project in Kyiv, which has been quite a hectic time.

There has been some controversy over the project in the local church over recent months, so quite a bit of my time was spent catching up on exactly what is happening. However, I was reassured by the openness of the team in Kyiv to believe that, despite some minor setbacks, the home itself continues to function well, with the children happy and well cared for, and that funds donated are reaching the point of need. We also talked about ways of tightening up the administration of the project to avoid future problems with 'church politics', and ensuring more effective communication between the team in Ukraine and myself in England.

I spent one morning at the home, playing with those kids who were not at school - and their dog, Black! - and taking photos.  As my church here in Leeds is involved regularly in the "Operation Christmas Child" shoebox appeal, I was delighted to see that our kids had all received a package from the scheme, co-ordinated at that end by the local Baptist church.  One note of warning to anyone donating to the appeal though: most people in the former Soviet Union are unable to read English, so be careful that toiletries etc. are clearly identifiable.  Several of the children had suffered quite nasty allergic reactions after mistaking perfumed 'Body Wash' for facial moisturising cream! Currently three of the children are in hospital suffering from blood disorders (from what I can gather associated with the continuing problems resulting from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster), and one day of my stay was taken up with humping boxes filled with 15,000 vitamin and mineral enriched chocolate bars (which were donated by a local company, having just passed their official sell-by date), specifically designed to combat these conditions.  Half of this consignment was passed on to other local churches involved in work with children.

Progress towards better and bigger accommodation for the children is slow, but, following the recent elections in Ukraine, we are optimistic of increased support from both the local mayor, and the representative in the national parliament, who have both expressed a genuine interest in the project.  Do please pray that a suitable building (or possibly land on which to build) will be quickly released for our use - together with the funding to finance it!  Once a suitable building is up and running, it is hoped to establish a separate 'unit' within the home for children with learning and/or mental health difficulties.  We currently have 3 such children in our care, but there are a further 9 children in a local state institution whom the paediatrician feels would benefit from the more personalised care which we can offer.  Obviously, with my own background, this is something I would be particularly keen to support, perhaps working alongside and training local workers for a short time.

Another positive note is that, during my stay, we were able to meet with Valery Stepanian (a leading Ukrainian actor and film producer) who has expressed an interest in becoming a patron of the Fund, and possibly donating a percentage of the royalties from his latest film - "Hostages of Time", a love story focussing on the plight of children who lost their parents during the Stalinist purges of the 1950s - to our work. This poses the interestinng possibility of my becoming involved in promoting the film here in the UK!?!  Negotiations about the film rights etc. are continuing - again, please pray for God's leading.

Yuri also arranged a meeting for me with the President of the local Pentecostal Bapist Union (to which Praise and Worship Church is affiliated), which comprses of around 280 churches nationally.  Nikolai speaks excellent English (having attended Bible School in Australia), and was very interested to know of my involvement with Children's Hope (which receives some funding from the Union).  He proposed that on future vistis to Ukraine, it would be good to draw on my expertise to arrange seminars for workers from other local churches who are involved in similar projects among street childern and orphans. There is clearly a real need for Western psychological/sociological input to such projects, and if my professional background can benefit the Body of Christ in this way then I would be overjoyed.  I would certainly be delighted to see such connections develop over the months and years ahead (something I had been praying about in recent weeks), and, in future it will hopefully be possible to give financial aid to other projects in addtion to the existing sponsorship of the 'Children's Hope' home in Brovariy.

As well as the child-related parts of my visit, I was again asked to preach at the main Sunday service at Praise and Worship Church (now settled in a more convenient and comfortable hall in the centre of the city), and also attended the church leader's meeting on the first and last nights of my stay - I seem to be established as an honourary member of the leadership team!  I also spent two days with Pastor Yuri at a church leaders' convention in Ivano-Frankovsk (South-Western Ukraine), involving a 14 hour overnight train journey each way (an experience in itself!). Although the language barrier was quite problematic, it was good to meet a number of Ukrainian pastors, and learn a bit more about the state of the Church in the country.  Sadly, one of the main difficulties seem to arise from somewhat insensitive "assistance" from Western missionary organisations (notably American!), whose financial and technical resources often seem to undermine the more humble efforts of the indigenous churches. Unfortunately, time did not allow a visit to the Church in Titiiya to catch up with Pastor Valentin and his congregation, though we did exchange a few words by telephone!  Hopefully this will be possible on my next trip - although Yuri is also proposing to take me on a missions trip into the backwoods of the Carpathian Mountains, which promises to be quite an adventure (in more ways than one, facing both non-existant plumbing and rampant witchcraft!), or possibly to Crimea and the Black Sea coast (which sounds far more civilised!), depending exactly when I get over there.

Finally, a few words about fundraising etc.  May I remind you that our sponsored walk of the National Three Peaks will take place at the end of June - so do please give generously!  Also, if anyone knows of any organisation which might loan us a minibus at minimal cost, please let me know, as our original offer of a church minibus has now been withdrawn, and it would be a shame to have to go to the expense of hiring a vehicle commercially. I know a few folk are already saving up clothes etc. for delivery out to Kyiv.  I'm hoping to arrange this for the end of May, so please get any goods to me as soon as possible now. This time, we have been particularly asked for toiletries (especially toothpaste and shampoo), washing powder and "nit lotion"!  Of course, good quality children's clothes are always welcome, and any dried food goods - though preferably nothing too heavy - and also school items like pens, crayons, paper etc.  Or if you'd prefer to donate money (and help support the local economy!) you can do this by cheque - payable to 'Children's Hope (Europe)' - or maybe you'd consider taking out a regular Standing Order , which you can do anonymously by instructing your Bank to pay into ours -  Yorkshire Bank, Crossgates Branch;  Account No. 11799284 - Children's Hope (Europe) - Sort Code 05-00-50.  Remember, money goes much further in Ukraine, so a gift of £10 would feed a child for a month. The good news is that both Western Union and Moneygram are now operating in Ukraine, so we should be able to significantly reduce bank charges on future tranfers of funds.
 

God bless you all - and keep praying!

 Anthony
 

 
Trip Report, October 2001

Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I have just returned from my first trip to Kyiv to visit the orphanage and meet with those involved with the work out there and didn't want to waste any time bringing you uptodate on the latest news. Although I had been to Kyiv on two previous occasions and had briefly met Yuri Alexandrovich, the president of the Fund and pastor of Praise and Worship Church, while a guest of another church in the city, this was my first chance to really get to know Yuri and his congregation - and, of course, to meet the children.

    Much has changed in Ukraine in the 5 years since my last visit - not all for the better!  Kyiv itself shows many signs of Westernisation (eg European-style supermarkets and a plethora of McDonald's!), and a small minority of prosperous 'New Ukrainians' now enjoy a luxurious life-style. But for most ordinary people, increased economic stability has not brought significant improvements in living standards - in many cases, quite the opposite - and staying with an average Ukrainian family really helped put our own economic complaints in perspective. With four working adults plus a disabled grandmother in their 5 roomed tower block apartment, 25% of the family's $800 monthly income (approx £575) goes on rent and household bills. While some supermarket prices are markedly lower than ours, many 'essentials' such as milk, cheese and meat are not that different from your local Tesco - eg 1 litre of milk costs around 32p - so most people tend to subsist on a staple diet of potatoes and pasta, supplemented with homegrown vegetables and token amounts of sausage and other cheap cuts of meat. But for the very poor - such as the children in our orphanage - such 'extras' are a rarity. By contrast, cigarettes are available from 20p for 20, with a bottle of wine retailing at around 20-25p, and vodka as little as 50p - which helps explain the appalling levels of alcohol abuse.

During my stay, I was welcomed very much into the bosom of the Christian family. Apart from 'ministry' activites, I was shown around various historical and cultural sites - such as the new Orthodox Cathedral of Michael the Archangel (a magnificent blue and white structure with gold-plated domes and decorations, recently completed at a cost of many million Grievna) with a row of elderly and disabled folk begging at its gate - just one of many such structures springing up around the city. Meanwhile our P&W church is struggling to afford the rent of a suitable hall to house its congregation. I also had the chance to visit the small town of Titiiya (around 80 miles south of Kyiv - my first taste of the 'real' Ukraine!), bouncing along increasingly pot-holed roads in the pastor's 15 year old Toyota van, with its shattered windscreen and non-operational handbrake! Here we stayed overnight with Pastor Valentin, a former KGB agent now working as a missionary for the pentecostal Baptist union to which my host church is affiliated. Conditions in country towns like this are decidedly primitive - rather like a trip back to the Yorkshire Dales of the 1920s! - and adjacent to the small Prayer House (which Valentin and his wife restored from near derelict condition) is a small pig farm and small-holding which the church community has begun to establish - financed largely out of the Pastor's own pocket. I was priveleged to be asked to preach to the small congregation on the Tuesday morning - half expecting us to be joined by some of the hens and turkeys strutting around the yard! It was quite an experience, and many  a tear was shed as I encouraged them to seek the Lord for the promised Baptism in "the Holy Spirit and fire" to transform their lives and their community.

Back in the capital, I was asked to address the church Leaders' meeting on the evening of my arrival (talk about unprepared!) and then preached to the main congregation (of around 100 folk of varying ages) on Sunday afternoon, on the subject of God's plan and purpose for our lives (Jer. 29:11). I also joined a small ministry team visiting the reknowned Amosov Institute - the national cardiology hospital of the Ukraine, where folk from all parts of the country come for heart operations, including many children affected by the continuing radiation from Chernobyl (about 50 miles from Kyiv). We were able to share the message of God's love with several individuals, three of whom asked us to pray with them. Conditions here were not as desparate as I had anticipated from tv footage of Soviet hopitals - but still they were bad enough! Like something untouched since the 1930s, there was no sign of even basic monitoring equipment in the spartan wards, peeling plaster on many of the walls, tattered lino on the floors, and scarcely a nurse in sight. And, as my interpreter pointed out, this was the nation's showpiece hospital - imagine what the local infirmary must be like. By contrast, the city's newly competed plate glass 'cathedral' of a train station provides a shining example of 21st century technology!

    The main purpose of my visit, however, was to offer three seminars in basic psychology and child development, with guidelines on dealing with 'problem' children. On the first night, it became evident that I had far over-estimated my audience. Rather than the handful of committed workers from the Orphanage which I had anticipated, I was faced with around 45 folk from the local church community - ranging from a highly educated Sunday School worker and a couple of teachers to a number of barely literate former alcoholic mothers! So my next two sessions were modified drastically, to centre on some very basic Biblical and common sense principles for child rearing, sprinked with the odd psychological reference. This was warmly received - and followed up by a number of in-deptth enquiries from the more educated members of the group.

    Perhaps of most interest to you will be my impressions of the children's home itself, situated in Brovariy, a small town about 5 miles from Kyiv city, where I spent two afternoons meeting the children and some of their carers. I also passed on some gifts of clothes, toiletries and basic medical supplies donated by folk here in Leeds. There are now fifteen children being cared for in the home - all but three under the age of ten, including two toddlers. This includes one family of three children and their recovering alcoholic mother. After problems with the local health authorities over the previous location of the home, in a tower block apartment, the Director of the home - Nadia (which happens to also be the Ruussian word for 'hope') - was moved to sell her own home and buy the present accommodation. This consists of a small detatched house, where Nadia, her two helpers and the family live, plus a separate 'Summer House' where the remaining children sleep, eat and do their homework - currently all the under-tens sharing the same bedroom, which is far from ideal. However, despite the basic nature of the care they are receiving, the children I met were all happy and alert, and, with the exception of one girl with learning disabilities, are starting to make good progress in the local school. While I was there, a box full of secondhand books was delivered, and it was amusing to see the delight with which even a mathematical text book was received!

    As the Summer House cannot be heated adequately, it will be totally unsuitable for the coming Winter months - so it is imperative to make more permanent arrangements. To this end, negotiations are proceeding to buy a rather ramshackle three storey house, with potential for housing up to 40 children, in its own grounds with room for keeping chickens and growing vegetables. The original asking price was $45,000 but this has now been reduced to $40k in response to our offer of $30k - please pray that the Lord will continue to soften the heart of the owner, as well as bring in the remaining funds to meet this bill. Only once the house is secured, can the project really begin to progress.

    A major part of the overall vision is to enable the parents of neglected and abandonned children to reform their life-styles and become stable and productive members of society, able to meet their own family responsibilities. Accordingly, linked to the children's home itself, the church supports a rehabilitation centre for former prisioners in a nearby town, and is developing programmes for supporting recovering alcoholics and drug-abusers. There are also a couple of local businesses, established with church support, which it is hoped will be able to offer employment and training to older children and/or their parents.

    So far, outside support from the West has been minimal, and most of the work to date has been done at great personal expense to the workers themselves; no-one receives a salary from the project, and many have given far in excess of their ability - a sacrifice which will not go unrewardded by God, the Father of Mercy. I noted an encouraging degree of 'ownership' for the scheme among the wider church family, and a number of businessmen whom the church helped get established in the early days of perestoyka have pledged a percentage of their profits to the project. The local people have been faithful in every way they are able in getting this project off the ground, but now it is time for us wealthy Westerners to play our part. As Christians, we do well to recall that we are members with them of one divine Family - and when one member is hurting it is only right and proper that the others come to their aid. Even a brief visit to Ukraine would open our eyes to just how much we have in comparison to our brethren in that impoverished nation - yet the generosity of many of those I met puts us to shame. I, for one, am determined that this must change and I have pledged my help to prick the conscience of the Church in this nation and beyond. I am now formally registered as Regional Director of the fund for Western Europe, and committed to visiting the project twice a year to give my practical support and encouragement (as a qualified teacher and social worker), as well as doing all I can to raise funds for the project here in the West. From October onwards, I am reducing my hours in my paid job in order to commit one day a week to this project. If you are able to support "Children's Hope" in any way, do please contact me. As we seek registration as a Charity here in the UK, help with administration and book-keeping would be valued, translation into Russian is still needed (as I have many requests for various teaching materials to meet), as well as financial giving and fund-raising - plans for next year's sponsored walk should be finalised soon if you can join us! If your church - or some other organisation - would like to hear about our work, do let me know, and , above all do please pray for the children, the workers and the financial stability of the project.

    I took a whole lot of photos during my visit; check out the website in a week or so to see for yourself what things are like! I'm also planning to put together an illustrated 'brochure' for the project over the next few weeks, so do let me know of anyone you feel would be interested in receiving a copy.

    God bless you!