Ukraine – More than Just Surviving
Thank you for your effective prayers and wonderful support for the huge needs in Ukraine at present. You are keeping poor elderly people alive, providing safety in the House of Hope for people whose homes have been bombed, enabling us to house and protect orphans who have had to leave their orphanages in areas that are now under Russian control, and also evacuate so many to safety in Germany and Norway.
Ever since this outrageous war broke out in February, our local teams in Odesa have been driving the two big cargo vans to many of the villages to supply Survival Packs to the elderly and poor families in the remote areas of the Odesa Province. We delivered tens of thousands of survival packs of food and hygiene products, together with picture Bibles.
Since the outbreak of the war this project has remained a top priority. Our local teams have continued to reach people with survival packs and Bibles. Some have come to the House of Hope for refuge, and we take them in.
While we trust God for the ultimate protection of the House of Hope we are doing our part of making the House and those who take refuge there secure from all with a non-Godly intent. We have built a strong security fence around the House of Hope and are setting up an alarm system on the gate.
The names in the following accounts have been changed for the protection of those concerned.
Evacuation of needy Ukrainians goes on every week
On a daily basis people are arriving at the House of Hope begging to be taken from Ukraine. Every week, our two 26-seater buses are full of fearful people begging to be taken to safety. The atmosphere in the grounds of the House of Hope is very tense as these people urgently seek to leave the country. We don’t charge anything and feed and provide for them all the way. As they pass through the Moldova border, the smiles and tears of relief are reward enough for our faithful drivers. They spend three days driving through Moldova, Romania, and across Germany to Düsseldorf.
Doors are open to take more refuges to Germany, but we are planning to take more to Norway in August when the refugee agencies open again after the summer vacation. The new route will be driving through Poland, into Denmark, by ferry to Norway, and drive to Trondheim and Molde on the west coast. It will be slightly shorter than driving all the way across Germany.
Our two big cargo vans that we were able to buy in Latvia, are being driven every day, full of provisions bought in Moldova, to the poor and starving people in the damaged and pillaged city of Mykolaev. We have been asked to take tinned foods to the Ukrainian frontline soldiers there next week.
Susan’s story
Susan´s father left home when she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He did not want to have anything to do with an invalid child. The pain of being different and being rejected for her physical condition did not stop her from being happy and cheerful to others. Susan´s mom did all she could in these circumstances. She would take her daughter for a daily walk by taking her wheelchair downstairs and then carrying Susan down as well. Susan spent the winters in hospital where there were no facilities for disabled people. Her sister and mother had to help her go to the toilet every time.
When the war started, no one wanted to help evacuate disabled people. All they had been offered was to take them across the border, and then they would be on their own. When her mom called us, she was hopelessly disappointed and said we were her last chance to survive. None of us took even a second to think about it. We said we would do our best for her. She was most surprised when we offered to take her and the girls to Dusseldorf, and that we would drive them all the way and help them start a new life.
It was a difficult journey; at every bathroom stop the whole group had to step off the bus so that Vitaly could carry the wheelchair and Susan off the bus. But no one complained; everyone was sympathetic.
Today they are enjoying comfortable rooms with wheelchair access to elevators and outside. They made her challenging situation more manageable.
They all happily gave their hearts to Jesus, and now enjoy freedom from the unforgiveness and resentment they held towards their unsympathetic relatives.
We’ve found out there are groups who are charging US$350 per person, just to take Ukrainian people just across the border, and dumped there and left to their own devices. How terrible for poor people who don’t where to go! We have the privilege to take them for free, all the way to Dusseldorf, Germany, and help them into accommodation provided by the Jewish Messianic Fellowships and register them for refugee status with the authorities. As a result, so many have come the Lord.
A Families journey from war-torn Kherson in South-East Ukraine
This is Anita and her daughters, Daisy (5) and Polly (3). Only a few days ago, they fled their home in Kherson on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine. They drove to the House of Hope via a town (in the opposite direction) to escape Russian-controlled territory and continue to Germany, hoping for a safer life.
The Russians recently took control of the Kherson region and seized the local school near where Anita’s family lived, as a base of operations. For the people of the village, having the shops, streets, and official buildings filled with Russian soldiers, it felt like they were living in an army base.
Over the years, Anita and her husband had worked hard to build a home and provide for their children in a part of Ukraine not known for great wealth. The war and the arrival of the Russians brought shelling, sirens, explosions and looting. Finally, when a shell exploded right next to their house, they decided that she and the two girls needed to get to a safe place.
The departure was heart-breaking – she had to leave her husband behind. The evacuation was arranged, and all they could take was two small bags. They were not the only ones wanting to leave and a convoy of cars formed overnight that would leave quietly at 5am.
There were multiple Russian checkpoints at which the family was searched. Leaving each checkpoint there was the fear that they would be shot in the back, like so many others. They had heard only a few days before someone had been gunned down at one of these crossings. Fortunately, the family escaped unharmed, but the emotional and psychological strain took its toll.
Normally the drive from Kherson to Odessa takes a little over four-hours; this journey took several days. They had to change direction many times as routes became blocked. On one occasion, everyone – women, children, and elderly people – had no choice but to stop for seven hours in the scorching sun, waiting and hoping for the opportunity to continue their journey.
Finally, they reached the House of Hope. They said, “Sheltering in the House of Hope felt like paradise. Despite the sirens and having to run to the bomb shelter repeatedly, it felt like they were still safe. The presence of God was so real, and the peace of God had a calming effect.”
Since Russia was jamming digital services and mobile connections in Kherson and the surrounding region, all information was filtered by Russia. The local people had no chance of knowing what was happening outside that area in which they were trapped. The propaganda is that Russia is advancing and will soon take the whole Black Sea coast. Seeing the difference between the information they were fed, and the truth, was extremely liberating.
We are standing on God’s word in this context and praying this for you “If you extend your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Isaiah 58:10-11
Thank you for your very generous gifts for the homeless children of Odesa. Thank you for helping us to rescue these poor people. Please continue to stand with us and help us to rescue many more children and families.
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