Dreams to Actions

By Nastya….

I’ve lived in the Kherson region of Ukraine my entire life. Unfortunately, our family needed to evacuate to Western Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion. It was devastating for us to know our house and church were now occupied by the Russian military.

However, since our brave Ukrainian soldiers were able to drive the enemy out of some regions of Kherson, I made several trips there to visit friends and family. While driving through damaged or destroyed villages, God opened my eyes to the destitute lives of the local kids.

I felt a call to serve the children of these de-occupied villages. As we started our ministry with just a few volunteers, we all stayed focused on our mission: to bring light into the lives of hundreds of children in this Kherson region.

The children here, seemingly have no fear of strangers, mined fields, or bombs falling over their homes. They calmly tell the stories of the murders of their relatives by Russian soldiers, which they saw with their own eyes.

Many of the girls were raped by Russian soldiers, some of whom have already given birth to children. There are children who are still looking for their parents who were taken as prisoners during the Russian occupation of the Kherson region.

These events and many others have caused deep psychological and emotional disorders in children. Talking to children of different ages, you notice that all of them have changed their reality.

These children have lost their thirst for life, have no desire to learn, communicate with their peers or build relationships with others. They have no plans for the future, no dreams and no hobbies. Their life is monotonous. They spend all their time on social media hunkered down in their own missile-destroyed home.

On our team’s first trip to these de-occupied villages, we were struck by the number of children and teenagers that lacked even basic communication skills.

Our team of young people has been together now for one year. It consists of 20 young Christians from different cities of Ukraine.

Currently, we serve in 5 villages in the Kherson region (for safety reasons, we can’t name them). We visit each village once a month for 2-3 days, spending up to 3 hours a day with children. All team members have 2-3 children in each village whom they counsel (for closer relationships). During the other 25 days of the month, we communicate with children online.

On our mission trips, we spend time with the kids in prayer, studying the Word, playing games and doing career guidance (helping children choose their future profession), listening to children’s stories, crying and laughing together.

Throughout the summer, we organize day camps in different villages, with all kinds of activities for children. It is so surreal, that little children are singing while there are sounds of explosions in a near-by village that is being completely destroyed by Russian troops. It is terrifying.

Each meeting with children who have survived the occupation and live in the villages that are constantly shelled by the Russians is different and unpredictable. Our only motivation is to somehow become the one who will show these disadvantaged people a merciful and loving God.

So, the main idea of our ministry is to build strong relationships that will help children begin healing to overcome their PTSD, and find a desire for knowledge, and most importantly, introduce them to Christ.

When we asked Nastya about the needs of the ministry, she replied this way:

There are many challenges for this ministry:
Firstly, this is a dangerous area. Russian drones, artillery and missiles are a constant threat.

Secondly, it is difficult to find a place to gather, with rooms that meet the general standards for holding meetings. The villages are ruined.

Thirdly, we are growing but still have a small number of ministers and volunteers. There are many children in the villages. For example, in one village, there are 200 children aged 0-17. Due to a shortage of leaders, it is impossible to reach all the children to build strong relationships that will bear fruit.

Requests for HART:

PRAYER SUPPORT! We believe that prayer is the driving force in life and ministry. It is important to have a constant prayer life and prayer support from others. Please have your HART Community keep us in their prayers.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT. Our ministry covers most of our costs, however, support for several items like transportation expenses, materials, sports equipment would be a huge help for us.

We have a desire to walk beside these disadvantaged kids through this difficult period of their lives, as well as to be the light in their lives that Jesus speaks of.

Thank you for the opportunity to partner with HART. This is God’s blessing for us.

With love and gratitude,
Anastasiia