October 20, 2008 – Praying for Ukraine and Spreading the Gospel to Orphans
“God gave me a burden for orphaned children in Ukraine, and gave me a passion to teach them the Good News of Jesus Christ; to assist others in their ministries of helping orphans receive the Gospel and live a decent quality of life; and to do spiritual battle in this region of the globe as God leads.”
Hello Friends,
I am in Kharkov, Ukraine now. But first I want to tell you about an orphan girl I met in an orphanage in Cherkassy 3 days ago. I want to tell you this sad story along with some other sad and shocking realities about children who are not only orphans but are also being taken advantage of.
This first story is about Angela (an-gel-a). She is 12 years old. She and the other children listened on Friday as I told them (with the help of my translator) about God and that He loves them. She was the most attentive; it was obvious that she was hungry to learn about God. During the course of my teaching, I often give the children an opportunity to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord, of course explaining what that means during the process. She and one other girl, Vika, prayed the prayers and asked Jesus into their hearts. Praise God for this!!
Later I asked the children if there was anything they wanted me to pray for. Angela said yes. She told me that the mother is very ill. You know some of there children have no parents and are sometimes referred to as “full orphans.” And some children have one or more parents that are still living but for one reason or another they are not able to care for their child(ren). These are “social orphans.” So I prayed with Angela and as I did, I noticed tears streaming down her face. I felt compassion for this poor girl asking God to help Angela and her mom, thinking maybe her mother is most likely very ill or even near death.
As Alex, my translator and I left the orphanage, he told me that one of the teachers told him a little more about Angela and why she was there. Angela had told me that she recognized me from a previous visit. I thought this was unusual because children come here when they first become orphans and only stay here for 3 months maximum, and then are placed in another orphanage permanently. Alex explained that she had an opportunity to live with her aunt and was there for a while, but the situation was not good. Her aunt was drinking and the aunt’s husband was mistreating the girl. In fact the husband would invite other men over to touch her inappropriately. Oh my goodness this poor girl went from bad to worse! Apparently Angela’s father found out about the situation at her aunts and brought her back here to the orphanage. Why he is not able to care for her I do not know. At least he cared enough for her to remove her from an abusive situation.
Unfortunately, I hear stories like this all to often about children being mistreated, living in the homes of alcoholic or drug-addicted parents and even being forced into human sex trafficking. This may be a shock to you, but I only tell you this because this kind of thing is a reality. It is one of the reasons I come here, to visit and bring hope to these orphans. So please pray for Angela!! And please pray for all the other children in orphanages, living in the streets or living in bad homes.
I was also very moved by Vika. She looked very sad and had a pale complexion. She was not standing with the rest of us; she was off by herself with her head down. I went over to her and said hello and invited her to come with the rest of the kids. She did and she stood beside Angela. Vika is 14 years-old but she didn’t say hardly anything at all. But I know she was hurting. God only knows her situation, so please let’s pray for Vika as well. (In attached photo, Vika is in blue and Angela is in the center in red.)
There are two other stories which Alex told me about later; these are also shocking: He said he heard that one alcoholic mother sold her child for a bottle of vodka. I said, “What? Do you mean she sold her child to someone for a night? What do you mean?” He said, “No she sold her child for good. She said you give me the vodka and you can take the child.”
And finally he said if a teenage orphan girl happens to get pregnant, she is not allowed to stay with her baby. The orphanage tells her she either has to have an abortion, or they will send the baby away to an orphanage that cares for babies and toddlers.
My reason for being here in Ukraine, besides visiting these orphans, is to pray that God would change the environment here in this nation! Many, many fervent prayers are necessary. And please pray with faith, because God can do anything! The Bible says, God waits for us to pray and He hears us. The prayers rise to heaven and then the Father command heaven and earth to comply with His wishes! So let’s pray without ceasing for the orphans and the political, religious and social atmosphere here, that God will set these captives free! And we pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
For the children,
Al Scoglio
Hearts for Ukraine