In the above photo you see “Katya” who is one of 10 children in a family that we have assisted with shoes, clothing and toys. Katya’s family is so large because the parents have also adopted children who were abandoned.
I thought spring had finally sprung in Ukraine but yesterday I received a call from Kyiv saying it was -5C and snowing! In Zaporozhye we only had a dreary cloudy day with blustery winds and a wind chill factor below freezing.
Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I leave Zaporozhye at 5:00 AM heading to Ivano-Frankivsk where I will be meeting with the Church and teaching in the WBI preacher training school. Today (Friday) I am meeting folks at the storage facility in Zaporozhye to load trucks and later meetings with various others are scheduled. One of the scheduled meetings later today is with the Berdyansk Mayor’s office—this is the city where we shipped the container of donated special needs equipment that Easterseals of Arkansas gave us in January out of Little Rock.
I remembered that I failed to send you any photos of a day’s activity spent in giving out shoebox gifts and shoes and school supplies to families with many children. This day was memorable because I met with several families with 5+ children. Many of these families are so large because they are touched with the heartache and horrors experienced by Ukraine’s cast-away children and want to help the children.
These families are not rich in material possessions. In fact, many of those I visited lived in impoverished conditions but they are content and their family is wealth beyond measure for them. As I entered one of these homes I was greeted by the mother who had TEN children. She was smiling and happy and gracious.
The house was not spotless but it offered an atmosphere of accepting love and you instantly felt comfortable. The children were well behaved and polite. Most were timid especially when faced with a stranger that spoke southern American English! In this home was “Katya” whose photo is above. At first Katya was friendly but when she heard me speak she instantly ran to hide behind her momma’s apron! After that I never could coax a smile from her.
These families with many children are common and we assist them in every location of distribution. In Ivano-Frankivsk we have assisted a number of these families over the years. These families are always grateful for anything we can share with them. They are content to live “without” but when commodities are offered to the children their heart bursts with gratitude.
One might expect to find resentment and bitterness or a yearning desire to have things differently but you will not hear those evil attitudes expressed. There is a universal fact of life…those who are always wanting things to be “different” or situations to change will never be happy because they do not know how to be contented with what they have.
It is a refreshing joy to visit these families and work with them!
Their homes are a blessing for their children and they are doing all they can to help many children in unfortunate environments.
Hopefully the memory of the compassion expressed in the giving of shoes, clothing and shoebox gifts will open the door for the gospel’s message of true compassion and giving!
Continue praying for our efforts and the opening of doors by which the gospel can be preached!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Zaporozhye, Ukraine
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