Anya has been working with an Austrailian team for the last month
or so, travelling to orphanages around the Kyiv region. The team
is here on practice from their universtity in Perth. They were all girls studying
to be physical therapists for the disabled and paralyzed. It was a great
time spending with them, translating and developing relationships with
the hospital nurses and directors. Anya enjoyed it but said it was the
most emotional month of her life. To see the kids laying crippled and
unable to move or do anything just put her in tears. Also the fact that
they could have been helped when they were young, but because the
doctors and nurses don't know how and don't really care, makes it all
the worse. Either way it shows that Ukraine has a long way to go in how
they treat eachother and their children.
While all this was going on Kyle travelled back to Uzhgorod to see the
children from the camp that he helped with this summer. The kids were
so happy to see him and the team, especially since they have been calling
him since July, asking him when he is coming back. He and the team did
a whole program for the kids in the gypsie orphanage. They told the Christmas
story as an act, of course Kyle was the donkey :) Anyway it was a great time
and much more fufilling as they were able to give each kid gifts. If you can
understand the kids in the orphanges out there have really nothing. The team
was able to give them candy, toothbrushes, toys and even clothes for each child.
It was a great time and full of fun and God's love.
I went to a new place this time when he was out with the team in Uzhgorod.
It was actually a gypsie village with a lot of kids, but not a lot of adults, pretty typical
for a gypsie community. I honestly didn't know what to expect coming in and
was pretty shocked when I walked onto their street. See the village has mostly
Ukrainains and then a street full of gypsies. I expected poorer conditions but not
the level that I saw. I have been to Africa and have seen the poorest of the poor, but
have never witnessed really any poverty in Ukraine.
This was poverty (see picture above).
Most of them don't speak Russian, they speak Hungarian which I completely don't
understand. The pastor in the village did speak Russian so I had a good time chatting
with him. I learned that they don't really harvest anything. Ukrainians are the best
stewards of their land I have seen in the world, so i was shocked that i didn't see
any gardens behind any of their homes. But then it hit me, these aren't Ukrainians,
they are gypsies, this is what they are known for. I'm not being predjudice but the
Ukrainian are, and right then i understand why they don't like the gypsies. They
don't like the rudeness and the laziness, and the gypsies don't help their cause by doing
and living like they do. So they make their money by selling scrap metal, fixing appliances,
but they don't have gardens. It made me want to scold them, but i restrained. It
did light a flame in me in that I realize again how much I love to help God transform
mindsets like the gypsies and the Ukrainians.
The kids were adorable though as you can see. They listened and were very receptive
to our message as it was translated into Hungarian. None of them can really read our
write in Russian or anything. So one of our team members that lives our their, Sylvia,
is teaching them every week in Russian. Maybe next time we go they will be fluent.
