Since the last report I have travelled 15 hours on a train and 12 hours in various vans! I have visited Strelkoveh, Genichesk, Sivash Lake, Zhitomir and I am now in Kyiv!
This will be a brief report…I am tired and ready for bed.
The visits to Strelkoveh, Genichesk, and Sivash Lake were all located by the Azov Sea and I followed up on distributions made there. Upon my arrival at Genichesk I was greeted with a wonderful gathering at the local school. The day was Saturday and all were off and away from the school but they heard I was coming and all came dressed in the traditional dress of Ukraine. They greeted me with the traditional loaf of bread and then various groups from the school performed for me. The remaining time was spent discussing items they need in the school and hospital.
At Sivash Lake I was with a group that dedicated a monument to the victims of Chernobyl. We also planted trees. This was in recognition of all that we have done to assist the victims of the great disaster (and the official day of the meltdown is April 26—tomorrow).
I left the southern border and arrived in Kyiv very late (11:56 p.m.) and was scheduled to get up very early and go to Zhitomir.
In Zhitomir I saw a number of distribution sites and saw the storage of items that we have shipped in containers.
One of the locations visited was a children’s shelter for homeless children. At present there are 53 children housed here. These are children who have no home. Most are orphans but some are here because their parents have abandoned them or the parents are in prison. I saw two brothers who were there for the second time because their parents cannot stay out of prison.
I was present at a food distribution center where some of the dry food mixes were given away to mothers with children. These are displaced by the war. They were given a bag of food and each came to me and expressed sincere gratitude.
While at the children’s shelter I was given shoebox packages to give to the boys and girls. The Director told the children that although some had not behaved according to the rules so as to get a present she was going to let all have a gift since I was there to give the gifts to the children. The little girl’s photo at the top of the report is showing you a small doll that she found in her box. After all had received a box they went back to their quarters and I visited one group as they opened their boxes. As I walked into the room one little boy was in tears. He had received a girl’s box and not a boy’s box! We quickly got that corrected. Although I was supposedly assigned to hand out the boxes the children decided which one they wanted.
I asked when they would be able to get more food (they come by appointment only). Nicholi told me that this group would not be able to return for food until July 7! The reason is because so many are displaced and the supply of food is scarce.
Pray for our efforts as we continue this trip!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Kyiv, Ukraine
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