Discipleship Day 2, Visitations & Hair cuts!

Today we finished our 2nd day of discipleship.  In the younger kids class, we talked about how God is just & always fair.  In the teens discipleship class, we talked about dating & relationships.  In the afternoon, the teens were able to ask a panel of married couples (Valera/Anja, Vova/Lisa, Colin/Tiffany) questions about dating.  We were very impressed by the questions that the teens asked as it showed the real issues they are facing.  In the afternoon, the House of Mercy kids also did a sand art appreciation for the staff, led by Pauline.  The result is a beautiful piece of art for display that the staff can keep.  Each layer represents a child who had a word of thanks for a staff member. Late afternoon, we split into 2 groups.  One group went for visitations & were able to see some of the kids that came to our camp last week.  It seemed that the kids were very happy to see us!  We were able to give out more of Elijah's coloring books & Band-Aids to lots of the kids.  You can see in the pictures that the kids have been very happy to receive them.

The second group (Dan, Pauline & Tiffany) was able to get their hair cut by Oksana, one of the teens from House of Mercy that now has a stable job as a hairdresser.  She did an amazing job for all of us & we're so proud of what she has been able to achieve & the person that she has become.  She is very talented & did her very best for all of us.  Below we included a picture of Oksana cutting Dan's hair.  We know a few of you in Canada would be very proud of what she was able to do for him!

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Sendi

We had the opportunity to visit Sendi in the hospital.  Here's a picture of her and her beautiful smile!  Very sad she wasn't able to make it to the camp this year.  We miss her a lot.

Day 16.1 - Sat. Aug. 8th, Hospital & Visitations

On Saturday morning we left for another town to visit the regional hospital. On the way there we saw some abandon houses, one in particular had hundreds of birds/bats flying out of it. Vasya told us Transylvania was only a hundred Km; Home of Dracula :)

We came to visit the hospital mainly to visit the Children's ward. We will only post a few photos here for privacy reasons. As we chatted with the doctor there we discover the painful condition they are working in. Nearly all the furniture, supplies, and tools are donated by humanity aids. Regular doctors are payed around $130 CDN, while higher up doctors have a monthly wage of $300 CDN. We were allowed to visit the room where abandoned babies stayed. Today there were 11 here.

The doctor also show us some of the things they pulled out of their lungs...

We also visited an operating room and saw some of the old equipments they are using. The room had only windows for ventilation. They are happy even if they can get more used equipments...

However in the hospital parking area there was one very new & shiny ambulance donated from U.S. (Their normal ambulance is just a green van with nothing inside...). Unfortunately we were told they never use it because it uses too much petrol, the hospital can't afford to use it.

After we left the hospital, we visited some of the children on the way back to HOM.

This is where we found Ira & Anna (Sisters) and another Anna & her brother who had been practicing a drama for a whole week in anticipation for our visit. It was the story of Cain & Abel.

As we visited several families, we hear the tragic stories behind each of them. Each deserves our prayers and support. They are children full of potentials after all...

... And as we head out, we found ourselves in the middle of another stampede...

Day 12.6 - Visitations....

As we headed out to visitation that day we found many of the kids wasn't home (out to the river as it was a hot day...)

The older children was away today in this home... only the parents and the younger ones were home... note the giant hole covered by fences at the door...

We headed to our last stop of the day (Traffic was insane today as one of the road closed...)

And the children were home!!

As you might have noticed, they have a lot of kittens...

After we left we asked why do people have so many children? We found out parents receive  more and more money with each successive child. The parents can leave the children at the state orphanage but retain their parental rights and still receive monthly financial aid from the state. The money don't follow the child... We have heard stories where father gives up his baby for money to buy a horse... and mother who had a child only to give them up to receive money to fix their house...

Day 11.2 - Visitation #2

The 2nd family had a few children in our camp. They live in a room at the back of their relative's house...

At the door to their room is one of the craft we did last week...

We tried to take a photo in the small space... They showed us their leaking roof which was also destroying their floor...

Outside the yard was a half built house... which the father originally started... but a bad accident stopped him from continuing... An interesting observation here with dogs. Dogs here are scared of human... I hear a lot of dogs crying here in Ukraine...

As I took this photo her mom kicked the dog away... Alot of dogs here are treated quite differently... I can see why they are scared of us...

Day 11.1 - Visitation #1

During the afternoon we visited some of the kids and gave them some photos of them during last week.We arrived at Kristina's home through a small alleyway. She is being cared for by her grandmom. She lost quite a few family members to TB.

Most of home we visited there's just 1 room with beds all around. Usually there's 7-12 people living in one place...

Kristina put up her pictures in the shelf behind her...

Her grandmom explaining to us her daughter that died from TB...

As we were leaving, the uncle of Kristina showed Vasya photos of his 8 children. All are in State orphanage 'cause he can't support them... I can hear the sadness in his voices as he flip through his photos...

Day 11.4 - Visitation #4

As we head into our last visitation of the day we found one of the girl who only came for the first day of the camp. She was sick and could not be with us for the rest of last week... There's approx. 10 families in this hidden "compound"...

We then found Valek and his sisters, but his brother Sasha just left for the market...

... where her mother works and sells these we think...

But as we were about to leave, Sasha came back! We really wanted to see him!

We finally got to take a group pictures with all the kids!

An interesting story with this family, they were going to be evicted last year (A giant crane nearly killed them when it came crashing down one day...) and a new condo/supermarket was going to be built on that land. The team from last year pray over them throughout the year and God answered with the GLOBAL RECESSION. Because of the recession, constructions was halted and many families was able to stayed... They would have no where else to go if they are evicted...

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Day 11.3 - Visitation #3

One thing we found out is beneath the nice streets and shops hides much poverty and oppression... As we headed down a small alley way across from a big shiny store we find a family of women and their children.

We gave them the pictures along with some food aids...

Vasya explained their condition to us... Their house is ready to collapse and their land is slowly being taken away by people with bigger power... Fundraising is being done in Norway to help this family fix their roof...

We all say our Good Byes at the end of the alley way...