The Above Photo: Igor, John, Ivan, Anton
Today was busily spent in visiting distribution locations, meeting Dimitry from Sniatyn at the storage/distribution building, various other meetings and finally closing the day in a good Bible study at the Church’s meeting location.
One of my visits was to the Regional First Aid Center. This is the central Dispatch for ambulances and critical calls. The Director is Igor and has been a partner for many years. When the devastating floods of 2008 hit, we worked with this Dispatch to locate and assist those in critical needs. This location has 470 who are employed. There are constant training classes that are taught. The central ambulance dispatch located in this facility covers the entire Oblast. Even though the facility is critical to civic operations it has not received much funding (I saw the call center and computers 20+ years old are all thy have to use). When Yanukovych was President of Ukraine the facility received 5 new ambulances but under the current Administration, they have received none. As I was taken in a tour, I was shown ambulances that had ONE MILLION KILOMETERS of use and were still operating because they had no other equipment. There is a need for portable defibrillators but the current Ministry of Social Policy (the same Kyiv organization that is responsible for the criminal actions that have suspended our shipments into Ukraine) has made it impossible for the First Aid Center to receive donations of these critically needed devices!
The Lord’s Church was presented with a thank you certificate for the partnership and assistance in providing critical care. NOTE: Those trained as First Responders in the USA are invited to come and share your training with these 470 first responders of Ukraine!
I stopped for lunch with Andrii Ivanovych and enjoyed seeing him again. He commented about the Dalriada’s “extreme mountain ride” in October and said they probably did not have anything like that in Montgomery, Alabama. I assured him that he was correct but the group is still talking about that adventure. Thanks to Andrii the construction has progressed to the point where “the end” is in sight but we still need funding to get under roof and then the congregation will do the inside work. We have all bricks purchased. Wood for the rafters and 10MT of cement have been donated. I received word that the Meridianville “Young at Hearts” had sent to Dalraida funds to help in the building. That was great news! This is the group that last year did a Family Bucket drive that served as the beginning of our shipment from Montgomery that loaded 495 Family Buckets into a container!
The day closed with a group of 10 gathering to continue our Bible Study in Philippians.
The Medical Seminar was launched with opening ceremonies tonight and tomorrow they begin the various sessions. This is a marvelous opportunity for the Medical Institute of Ivano-Frankivsk and this ties together months of planning, communication, and hard work that Gary Jerkins, Ron Swang and John Durham have sacrificed to make possible. Their efforts are mirrored by our dear brother Emmanuel and those who are a part of HMI.
Today I received word from Charita that we are confirming the availability of a shipment of fortified rice meals and corn from Montgomery, AL to Honduras! We hope to load out in three weeks.
Tomorrow’s schedule is filled with various visits, continuing meetings and communication on how it will be possible to resume shipping into Ukraine, and the delightful period of Bible study with the brethren here.
Continue praying for all aspects of our efforts!
John L. Kachelman, Jr. Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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