Scenes from the Sidewalk

Build The Bridge To Local Sponsorship

2008-05-15T15:10:00.002+03:00

Expat Buffalo wrote a post about a study on Ukrainian NGO's doing anti-trafficking work. The post also notes that some of these NGO's also work with street children and are completely dependent on international donors to support their work. You can read the post by clicking HERE.

This information highlights the problem of complete dependence on sponsors outside of Ukraine. If that funding is pulled or lost, then the organization must shut down.

This is why we are working hard on our tennis tournament fund raiser here in Kyiv. We want to raise awareness of the problem of street children, show that there is a way to solve this problem and help educate the local Ukrainian community on how they can sponsor and help the children in their own city. We want to help build a bridge for NGO's and ministries to help them go from foreign sponsorship to local sponsorship.

Street Kids

2008-05-14T15:53:00.001+03:00

Some of you reading this blog may not be aware that before I came on board with CrossRoads Foundation and ChildRescue, I ministered in a local church's soup kitchen for street children and then spent a year doing what I can only call, "bare bones" ministry on the street with two other friends, Tolik and Masha, who desired to keep working with the kids we had known for several years and had now "out grown" the soup kitchen's ministry to children.

That was a very difficult year of ministry for me and I still have a hard time writing or talking about it in detail. Unfortunately, most of those kids are still living on the streets as homeless adults. I don't regret the choices I made to continue to minister to them as it was the right thing to do at the time and the Lord urged me to do so. Even though I believe many of these kids came to truly trust in the Lord, it was still frustrating to not be able to help them get back into normal society. I cannot imagine to not at least try to do everything you can for these children to give them a hope and a future. (Hence, why what I'm doing now with CrossRoads Foundation and Child Rescue is so important to me.)

When I met with Tolik this week, he told me that he saw one of the "boys" we used to work with and he told me that he had married and now had a child and that he was no longer living on the streets. Tolik told me that he had thanked him for helping him. I know for a time he had lived with Tolik and Tolik had spent a lot of time working with him individually.

That year was a hard time for us and I am grateful to God that he is allowing us to be able to know that some extremely positive results occurred from that time of walking in faith and following his lead.

I know that God loves each of these children individually and is waiting to work through those of us who are willing to be his hands and feet.

The Football Federation of Ukraine's "Day of Football"

2008-05-10T16:57:00.004+03:00

Today was the Football Federation of Ukraine's "Day of Football" and children from all over Kyiv came to play in a special tournament just for them.

It was held at the beautiful Ukrainian Football Federation complex in Kyiv.

Our boys from the Day Center completed in a tournament for organizations that work with street children.

The competition was taken very seriously as they were defending their championship.

They were successful and WON! Congratulations!

Strokes Against Hopelessness 2008

2008-05-09T15:15:00.003+03:00

On June 13,14 & 15, CrossRoads Foundation and ChildRescue will be hosting "Strokes Against Hopelessness 2008."

Our first tennis tournament, held last fall, generated much interest and support from the Kyiv tennis, diplomatic and business community towards helping street children.

Those who participated were anxious to hold the event again and we are thankful for the support and excited to host it again this June.

If you would like to participate or help sponsor this event, please email us at mmkukraine@yahoo.com for more information.

Photos

2008-05-06T19:56:00.002+03:00

Open Hands

2008-05-02T15:56:00.000+03:00

One of the hardest things about our ministry or in fact probably any ministry where you are working with children, is keeping your "hands open" as your work with them.

It is so easy to begin to feel some kind of ownership over them or some kind of special protection towards them as you get to know them and work with them. I think this is partly normal as these are feelings that can come out of loving and wanting the best for them. But it is important that we always remember that ultimately, no matter what our influence in their lives are, they are in God's hands, they are God's children and we have to be willing to allow him to choose how he is working in their lives and what he allows to happen to them.

We had one pre-teen girl who had lived at the rehabilitation center for several years and then was forced to leave by the orphanage officials in her home city which is far from Kyiv. Many of our children are actually not originally from Kyiv and have migrated here as this is what many street children do to find "better" lives scrounging for food in the capital city. It is typically not a problem for most of the children who are not from Kyiv to continue to live at our center. Their documents and paperwork are reviewed by the state orphanage institution officials from the city of their origin and they are allowed by them to continue to live in the center. But in this girl's case, the officials demanded that she return to her local institutional orphanage. As she was well loved and was growing in many areas of her life, this was a huge blow not only to her but to the staff as well. It was painful to have to let her go.

Another tiny two year old girl was found at the train station several months ago and immediately stole everyone's heart. I got an email when I was in the states letting me know that they had found her family and felt that she could be reunited with her family and go to home to live with them. This again was painful as many of us had become attached to her. However, as I thought about it, I realized that this is what our ministry is supposed to do and that is what I have to focus on and be thankful for instead of focusing on how much I will miss this little girl that I never even got to say goodbye to.

Each of these girls highlights two different stories to me. One has a happy ending and the other and unknown and possibly a not happy ending to her story. I know that in both situations that we did all we could for each child within the means of the law and our own ability as individuals and a ministry. We loved each one while they were in our hands. Now they both are in God's hands and we have to trust that he will take care of both of them.

A Photo Shoot

2008-04-29T14:16:00.004+03:00

Photographer Cheryl Nemazie visited a couple of our centers last winter and here are some of her shots.......

These two guys never stand still long enough to get anything but an action shot!

On her first day at the center, this little girl took over the doll and baby carriage.

Break dancing at the Day Center.

Photos by Cheryl Nemazie, copyrighted 2008

Get Creative!

2008-03-25T23:56:00.003+02:00

I am getting emails from people who are interested in our ministry and I thought I would put out the suggestion to our readers that if anyone has any "topic" ideas for our blog or questions about our ministry to feel free to share ideas or questions in the comments section. I am thinking about how to be more creative and share about our ministry on the blog and thought it might be fun to get some feedback from the readers to spur ideas. This will help me a lot! Thanks!

Post From The US

2008-03-20T20:47:00.005+02:00

You may notice that for the next few weeks, posts here might have a different twist or perspective to them. I am currently in the states and so am not on hand in Kyiv to photograph and write about our ministry first hand.

I am a missionary and as such I raise my own funds to live and serve in Ukraine. So, once a year, I travel home to share with my church, sponsors and friends what is happening in Ukraine. This is also a time to reconnect with family and friends, attend personal business like doctors/dentists/banking and try to catch time to relax in between it all.

I will post here as I am inspired to share thoughts about our ministry and also have some photos that I can share as well.

More Photos

2008-03-17T19:48:00.004+02:00

Here's the last batch of photos shot by the children.............

Their World

2008-03-13T20:53:00.006+02:00

Here are a few more shots that the kids took with a camera.....

A Child's Perspective

2008-03-09T15:31:00.003+02:00

I like children's artwork. In my art history class in University, our teacher told us that children make good use of perspective and composition in their artwork but that most lose this in their drawings when they grow up. Because I like photography, I am always fascinated with photographs that children take.

The kids at "The City of Happy Children" love to have their photos taken, (The digital cameras produce instant viewing of the shots which makes it that much more fun!) If someone is brave enough to give them their camera to use, they also love to take photos. Emily generously lent them her camera and I thought it would be interesting to post some of their photos so you could see the center from "their" eyes........

"V" is for Volunteer

2008-03-04T17:59:00.003+02:00

These girls are making the victory sign but "V" also stands for volunteer. Emily Mark has been volunteering at the "City of Happy Children" and has become a favorite friend. Emily is an independent missionary from America who decided to take a step and start to minister to the children. We are glad to have her and so are the children. She is looking forward to teaching English and will most likely continue hugging the little ones in between classes!

ChildRescue Shares Ministry With Philadelphia Church

2008-02-28T16:08:00.002+02:00

On February 24, 2008, ChildRescue shared their ministry with the congregation at Kyiv's Philadelphia Church. Philadelphia Church's relationship with ChildRescue has been a positive force in supporting their work with street children not just financially but also by being a source for staff members and a place where the children are warmly welcomed to come and participate in church services.

ChildRescue showed their new video on street children and the children perfomed some songs and skits. But nothing is ever as effective as when the children and teenagers themselves give their own testimonies and share their smiles to bless those in the Christian community who are reaching out to help street children.

At the end of the presentation, Philadelphia Church pastors and the congregation prayed for the leaders, staff and children. This kind of church support and participation for the staff and children is not only encouraging, but it is a crucial spiritual step as these children learn to adjust to life back in normal society.

On Adoption

2008-02-19T18:05:00.001+02:00

International adoption is very popular in Ukraine. People from all over the world want to adopt Ukrainian children from the Soviet style institutional orphanage system. Upon seeing these institutions filled with orphaned children, many visitors are appalled at the lack of care the orphans receive from the state. The government's slow process of addressing the out of date system of orphan care in Ukraine has generated many problems.

The blog, Expat Buffalo wrote a lengthy post on this subject and writes, "commercialization and profit margin of criminal activity mixed with foreign adoption is driving a trade in children." To read the post, click HERE.

Blog Award

2008-02-14T16:39:00.005+02:00

We bloggers actually have an unspoken etiquette about encouraging each other and supporting each other's passion to blog about whatever is on our hearts that we want to share with the world.

I think blogging is an incredible way for anyone to get their thoughts or information out into the world that otherwise may never be heard. If your blog is good, people will read it and you can have anything from a small to large influence on your corner of the world.

I have encouraged many friends to start a blog and one of them is Marianna. She writes a blog called "The Heart Of The Matter" which is about her family's life in Ukraine. She just won an "Excellent" blogger award and has passed that award on to me here at Scenes From The Sidewalk.

My job is to now pass that award on to ten blogs that I think are excellent. Here they are in no particular order:

1. World Street Children News - The most comprehensive blog on the international problem of street children. A MUST visit for anyone working in this area of social work.

2. African Kelli - Living the life in Phoenix AZ, Kelli bikes, cooks, photographs, and crafts her way through life. She works in public health and has great thoughts and books to share as well.

3. Emmychka - Emily is an independent missionary in Kyiv, Ukraine and she opens her heart almost daily to share about her life, faith and how God is still not finished with her yet, but has already done so much which she wants to share for his glory.

4. Family Frontiers - Richard J blogs about his faith and family life with his wife and their three adopted children. He shares tales with a particularly special sense of humor and style.

5. Mission Issues - Everyone should know a missionary who has lived on the field longer than they have. This blog is written by a missionary in South Africa who has a wealth of experience to share with anyone who stops by his blog.

6. Persecuted Church Weblog - Do you want to be challenged or humbled in your faith? Read this blog.

7. Inside The Mind Of Cap - A constant commenter on my personal blog, Greetings From Kyiv, I encouraged Cap to become a "Spin off" and write his own. Cap has taken on the blogosphere and moved it to new heights. Stop by Cap's blog to get a good laugh and hear some stories about my high school days.

8. Robyn's Thoughts - Robyn writes a daily devotional blog and shares information about Christian books that inspire her. She has written her own book, Blessed, in which she tells the story of how she and her husband adopted six children.

9. Ukrainiana - A front row seat to the circus like atmosphere of Ukrainian politics.

10. Vilhelm Konnander's Blog - An expert on politics and security in Russia and Eastern Europe, Vilhem's blog is a great way to keep up to date with the political happenings in the former Soviet Union. He also has collected an extensive list of links to the most popular blogs from all over the former Soviet Union.

The City of Happy Children Grand Opening

2008-02-06T15:38:00.000+02:00

On January 26, 2008 The City of Happy Children hosted it's grand opening. The City of Happy Children is a government sponsored NGO. This new rehabiliation center is modeled on ChildRescue's organization and is administrated and run by their staff. It's an example of one successful organization helping another and this way the children are the ones who benefit the most out of the partnership!

There was a press conference held by Lesiya Svyatnenko, President of ChildRescue, Nikolai Kuleba, Director of Kyiv's City Administration Children Services, Dennis Bass, The Mayor of Kyiv's 1rst Deputy, and Jeremy Hartley, UNICEF's representative in Ukraine.

TV news came to cover the event.

Clowns came to blow up balloons and be silly.

Singing was mandatory.

.Cake was served!

Keep Praying

2008-02-05T16:33:00.000+02:00

I hope these posts on prayer gave you a idea on how to more specifically pray for our ministry and others working with these children. Continue to read our blog and pray as you read about our ministry, see what we are doing, and learn about these children.

One of the goals of our blog is to share how God is working in the lives of these children so that the readers are encouraged in their own faith and that they would be moved to become involved in our ministry. Prayer is a simple and powerful way to help support our work in Ukraine.

"Rise in the night and cry to your God. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord; lift up your hands to him; plead for your children as they faint with hunger in the streets".......Lamentations 2:19 (LB)

Foster Families

2008-02-02T15:26:00.001+02:00

Pray for foster families.

Our ministry works with several foster families and would like to find more couples to get involved so that the children can be placed in homes if possible, rather than having them live at a rehabilitation center.

The concept of using foster families instead of the old government system of institutional orphanages is a new one and so far there is only a small amount of movement towards this change.

Pray that healthy families would desire to take in children for foster care and that a national system for foster care would replace institutional orphanages.

Obviously foster care has it's weaknesses but in many ways it can be a stronger and better system for the children than the orphanage system which basically tosses children out of mainstream society.

You can read a blog about an Ukrainian foster family HERE.

"He is a father to the fatherless; he gives justice to the widows, for he is holy. He gives families to the lonely, and releases prisoners from jail, singing with joy! But for rebels there is famine and distress"......Psalm 68:5,6 (LB)

The Parents

2008-01-28T16:24:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday was the official opening of "The City of Happy Children." This is a new government NGO rehabilitation center for young children that ChildRescue is co-ordinating and administrating. In the midst of nearly three hours of craziness which included tons of visitors, press running up and down the halls with large video cameras, official speeches by government officials, clowns, and too many balloons of all shapes and sizes to count, I noticed one small boy sitting happily on the lap of a man who was carefully feeding him a piece of the large, delicious chocolate and cherry cake. It was obvious when the man looked up at me that he was this boy's father because they looked so much alike. A woman hovered and wiped a piece of cake from the little boy's mouth and I realized that this boy's parents were visiting and that the center was working with them so that hopefully, one day he could go home and live with them.

Pray for the parents of these children. The first step with each child is assessing their needs and finding out if it is at all possible to reunite them with their parents or with social work or counseling, they could have some kind of a relationship with their parents.

Many of these children end up abandoned or on the street for a variety of reasons. Pray for the parents of these children and that if possible, they can at least build a relationship with them if the child cannot live with them permanently.

"Never! Can a mother forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be, I will not forget you".......Isaiah 49:15 (LB)

Radio Interview

2008-01-25T21:06:00.000+02:00

Ben Benson visited our ministry last year and visited the streets himself to meet children who live on them.

Sally Jesse Raphael interviewed him on her talk radio show about his impressions and thoughts on Ukrainian street children and our ministry.

To hear the radio show, click HERE and choose the January 23rd show. The interview with Ben starts about eighteen minutes into the show.

The Church

2008-01-24T18:13:00.000+02:00

Pray for the church. The church is not supposed to be about a building, but the real church is the body of believers who profess to follow Christ. We are to be Christ's hand's and feet as we serve him and show others his love.

Pray that the churches in Kyiv and in Ukraine would stay focused and passionate. Pray for Pastors to be strong and true to the Word of God. It is out of strong churches where the Bible is taught correctly that God will be able to call and use Christians to help orphans and street children.

I have spoken with many Christians who are overwhelmed with the thought of helping these children. They tell me they can't face abandoned children because they don't understand how God can allow that. They tell me that they are not strong enough emotionally to get involved with them. Anyone who is a Christian is called to get involved with them as God has made it clear in the Bible that these children are his children. Psalm 68:5 is just one of many verses which show his heart on this subject....."He is father to the fatherless"......(LB)

If we truly know God as our father, we in the church will understand that he commands us to help these children. Pray that the churches in Kyiv will come more and more to understand this calling and become more passionately involved in ministering to these children.

"The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father's point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord -- not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world."........James 1:27 (LB)

The Leaders

2008-01-22T14:56:00.000+02:00

My experience in Ukraine has shown me that God is calling and raising up Ukrainian Christians to share in his work of ministering and helping street children. Many of these men and women tell me that they can't explain it, they just have a desire to help these children which is so strong that they are compelled to get involved and help them.

Ukrainians who serve in full-time Christian ministry make sacrifices in their personal lives and in their financial security as well. Their leadership is crucial as they are building a Christian testimony in their community as well as influencing the future of their country.

Pray that God would call many leaders to the area of ministry for street children. Pray that he would give them great wisdom, direction, patience, vision and love as they work with the children, the government and with people in their own community.

Remember your leaders who have taught you the Word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and try to trust the Lord as they do.......Hebrews 13:7 (LB)

The Caretakers

2008-01-21T12:40:00.000+02:00

So many times we focus on the children and forget about the ones who spend many hours expending their energies and taking care of the children's needs.

The caretakers need continual prayer. They are the ones who constantly interact with the children. They need extra doses of strength, wisdom, love and probably the most important quality of all.......patience!

A caretaker can never replace parents, but they can be teachers and role models who have a possible life changing affect on the children.

Without strong spiritual direction in their own lives, they cannot model this to the children. Pray for their own spiritual strength and direction and thank God for their commitment to helping these children.

Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results........1 Peter 5:16 (LB)

It All Begins And Ends In Prayer

2008-01-18T15:58:00.000+02:00

Today as I was traveling home, I came up out of the metro and saw a small boy, about five years old, who was alone, dirty and counting money in his hands. He never stopped moving for a second as he went down into the metro's kiosks and seconds later came back up with two bags of potato chips which I think he stole off a table.

This all happened in about the time it took you to read the above paragraph. I grieved inside as he went back up the steps in front of me because I knew instinctively it would be impossible to build enough trust with him to get him to stay in one place long enough to call and have someone pick him up. He went jauntily on his way into the crowd of people and disappeared quickly from view. I felt helpless.

This week I met and then heard the story of two abandoned children. A little girl, just shy of two years, was found at the train station and brought to the rehabilitation center where we all spent a lot of time cuddling and admiring her. David told me the story of a tiny two month old boy he had visited who had been found in the garbage bin in Dnepropetrovsk. He needed a heart operation. The local physicians refused to perform it but there was a happy ending to the story when physicians and government officials in Kyiv heard about him and what was happening and managed to get the baby to the capitol where the operation was immediately performed. He is now doing well. (Interestingly enough, the Ukrainian physician who performed this surgery is being taught English by a ministry to Ukrainian doctors which is led by missionary Dr. Jim Peipon. It is fascinating to see how God works as ministries and missionaries touch peoples lives.)

It is a great thing to physically be able to save a baby's life and it is also wonderful to be able to give a small girl a safe place off the street. But there are still many other children who are not so fortunate as these two. Whether you literally look at one of these children as I did today, or whether you are reading about one, a person can feel very helpless in the knowledge that nothing can be immediately done to help them.

As I stood and watched that little boy disappear into the crowd and as I wondered where he would sleep that night, I realized that I could do something for him immediately that would help him. I could pray for him. So right there at the entrance to the metro, I took a few minutes to pray that God would allow Christians from a ministry which cares for street children to come into his life and help him get off the street.

David has told me that many people reading this blog ask him "How can we pray for this ministry? How can we pray for the children." You can start today and take some time like I did to just stop and pray for that little boy who is probably still on the move and will be until late tonight when he finds an underground place to crawl into to crash for the night.

"One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must keep praying until the answer comes. "There was a city judge," he said, "a very godless man who had great contempt for everyone. A widow of that city came to him frequently to appeal for justice against a man who had harmed her. The judge ignored her for a while, but eventually she got on his nerves. " 'I fear neither God nor man,' he said to himself, 'but this woman bothers me. I'm going to see that she gets justice, for she is wearing me out with her constant coming!'" Then the Lord said, "If even an evil judge can be worn down like that, don't you think that God will surely give justice to his people who plead with him day and night? Yes! He will answer them quickly! But the question is: When I, the Messiah, return, how many will I find who have faith and are praying?"...........Luke 18:1-8 (LB)