Hope, Opportunity for 3,200 kids in Eastern Europe

Through our partners we support local projects in Eastern Europe.

The adversity encountered by families continues, and so we are pleased that we can offer some respite through the love of our partner.

Over the last 6 months 37 children have been supported by our partner Helping Hands. All are from families who are trying their utmost to care for their children as best they can, and to give them the opportunities that they can, but where financial difficulties limit such care.

Lutza’s and Mila’s father died leaving large debts. They have had no electricity in the house for a year and only a stove for heating a house which is in poor condition. Yet despite this the house is kept tidy whilst mum works for a small income and the girls are both very helpful and lovely. We have helped mum with a lawyer to resolve the power problem and provided material needs for the girls. They are so grateful for the kindness and feel that their adversity is being overcome whilst others are in more need than them.

Meanwhile both the mum and dad of Artyom & Fedor have died, so they now live with their grandmother, who has become sick. She is frightened that the children will be taken to an orphanage. A car accident means that Artyom needs rehabilitation twice a year and constant medications. Grandma cries when Helping Hands brings the regular support for the family.

Another mother brings up her children alone, her salary is low, they only have enough for food, they cook on the stove, during the summer they burned all the wood and during the winter they had nothing left to heat the house with. They were frozen, prepared food at their neighbours.  When we told them that we were going to help with firewood, mum started crying and couldn’t stop saying thank you to everyone for help.  

In these families mothers raise children alone, mothers practically cannot afford anything, the money that they earn goes to utility bills and food, so for them this is a huge help. When people save on everything, this is help from heaven, they say so. They thank God, thank you that you are so kind and compassionate. It means a lot to them.

Thank you for your kind support.

ChildAid

Girl Fund Campaign

This year we are participating in the Girls Fund Campaign, with the project Empowering Vulnerable Women in Eastern Europe .

On Friday 06 March 2020 the campaign starts and it is also Bonus Day. Please consider supporting us during the campaign.

Links:

• Supporting a mother victim of abuse
• Empowering women in Eastern Europe
• Follow our stories on Facebook

Sometimes we read stories that it is difficult to share. Stories difficult to read that we put aside for a while until we find the courage to look at them again. If this is painful for us, we can’t imagine the trauma the child experienced.
This is a story of hope.  Hope that even the worst situations can change when love and care is present.
Ivan (15), Natalia (10) and Ira (8) have the same father but different mothers. Ivan’s mother died from alcoholic hepatitis. His father an alcoholic lived a selfish life. The girls’ mother was an orphan, she lived in orphanage till she grew up. One day she came to dad’s place as a guest and stayed with him. Later they had two children. Ivan lived with his grandmother and the girls with the father. Every time they visited the grandmother to eat something they cried because they didn’t want to return home, but the grandmother couldn’t afford to care for all the children.

For them home meant starvation, violence, sexual abuse and lots of suffering.
When Ivan’s grandmother died he had to return to live with his father. The father was regularly violent. Dad’s friends came often, and they drank and did horrible things in front of the children. Very often when parents were sleeping drunk and naked, dad’s friends hit children and touched them inappropriately.

When, eventually social services came to take the children away, their parents couldn’t even get out of bed because they were heavily drunk. They found Ira on the floor in temperatures of 40 .

The children often went to the neighbours to ask for a little bit of semolina for Ira. All the children were malnourished. Our partners New Beginnings, Ukraine took the 3 children into their home. It was a blessing not to be sent to the State orphanage.  They are now loved and cared for by their foster family. Ira began to talk, Ivan is making progress at school, Natalia sings very well. 
It’s amazing how these children were saved. How different their story could have been.

Your kind donations are giving hope and security to children experiencing trauma.

Thank you for making our work possible.

ChildAid

Links:

• Follow our stories on Facebook
• Visit our website to find out more about our work
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