Orphan Refugees & Future Work with Orphans in Ukraine

Update from Buddy, missionary

We never anticipated a work with orphans and children’s homes when we first left to live full time in Russia, but we ended up doing just that from the first week we landed there in 1996. It became part of our mission statement to go through every door that God would open and use it to expand His Kingdom, and the orphanage door never closed. Now it appears that it never will. Because of the war, that door in Ukraine will remain open for years to come and for that reason we will pursue it. The Bible lets us know that God has a heart for orphans and, if that be so, then we should as well. I will be sharing with you in the days to come how that particular ministry will unfold with hopes that you will continue to pray with us as the fallout from the devastation of this war grows.

For now, I will remind you of how we began orphanage work in Ukraine already 8 years ago. Back in 2014, during the first Russian invasion of Donbas and the takeover of Crimea, an orphanage in the Slovyansk region (Ukraine) reached out to us for help. We were still in Smolensk, Russia at the time, and through a series of events, we got the news that the orphanage had basically been abandoned because of the invasion results there. For that reason, we began to send aid to them. They were without a heating system, so we installed wood stoves for them and supplied winter firewood for them for 8 years. Our last shipment to them was in February of this year, just before the war began.

In March, with the help of some of you, we began the process of evacuating those 75 kids out of that war region and into a safe area, where they have since been placed in homes and 70 of them are secure now as far as we can have possibility to know. However, 5 of them ended up in Turkey, and for the moment are in a form of Turkish foster care in deferent homes basically between Istanbul and Ankara. One of our friends from Russia helped us to get these kids out and now he is temporarily living in Turkey as well and has been the overseer of their care since March. Now the problem has arisen that their refugee status will end at the end of August and there is the possibility that they could be deported or taken by the state and placed who knows where, unless we intervene.

I tell you all that to let you know that I am in Turkey this week to help get these children placed in proper homes before that time expires. I sense a responsibility for them since we were the ones who actually took them out of the Ukraine. In the first days of the war there was a frantic rush in every direction to get people to safety and a lot of official paperwork was thankfully postponed in the process for expedience sake. So it was with these kids. Now those processes have been worked out officially with all of them except these 5. It is important we need to get that finished. These are just five in the midst of millions, but they are important souls, and they are our 5. All of these kids are in their early teens. I was thinking this morning about what that must feel like inside the heart and mind of a teen... to have been thrown away in the beginning of life, then jerked out of whatever stability you may have found in a children’s home by the ruthless invasion a foreign army, and then suddenly a war brakes out and you are uprooted and hurried to safety, without being asked or told really where you are going. Then you end up in Turkey, in a completely different culture surrounded by people who speak a different language, eat different food, and weren’t really expecting you or hoping you would come. It would take the love of God and the His peace to make that experience have a happy ending. We will be doing what we can to make that happen.

While I will be in Turkey, the work will continue in Ukraine. As I write this this morning, Pastor Pasha let me know that they arrived in Donestck region with another shipment and are planning the return trip today. They will be making three stops along the way as they will be bringing out 15 refugees from different war regions of Donetsk and a couple from Lugansk. It is a three day trip on the return side, so your prayers for them are welcome.

We are also beginning the process of helping some of the people in the Irpin/Bucha area prepare for winter with stoves and shelter as well. I will be telling you more about this in the days to come.

There seems to be increasing tension in the south around the Kherson area and in the next few weeks I expect there to be a release of that pressure in some manner. Probably it will be the hardest fighting of the war so far. Keep your eyes and ears open for events around that area. It will be strategic to the rest of what happens in Ukraine.

As always, thanks for every thought and prayer.