Need for Bibles among the orphans
The decline of the living conditions of the Belarusians triggered collapse of family values. Abandoned by their parents, many children have found themselves in the orphanages and children’s homes. The kids need to be treated with a special care, as they are vulnerable and can be easily wounded. Love towards parents and feeling of confidence inspired by parental love are basic emotions of everybody, especially children, and the state of having been forsaken by parents leads to forming a mighty inferiority complex. So, dealing with such kids requires unselfishness and devotion from the staff. They work self-sacrificially, doing their best to compensate the absence of love, although it is impossible to the full extent. Maintaining contacts with the workers, we get to know the needs of the children’s homes and realize how much work to be done in this great area.
It is true that no human efforts can heal the wounds in the young hearts, but there is One Who is able to transform sadness into joy, and despair into peace, and Whose love can be a source of immeasurable joy, filling the life of the little ones with a new meaning. And reaching them with the Word of God is a task of high priority for our Bible Society; this is what we are called to. We give thanks to God for this privilege of serving Him through dispensation the books containing the divine message of love and salvation, and believe them to conduce to healing of the little inmates.
The following is the excerpts from the letters of request we received from the workers of Gomel' children’s home.
"There are 280 inmates in Gomel boarding school #5. All of them are retarded children, suffering from various maladies such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome etc. Spiritual literature would be of great help for the kids, giving them consolation and support. However we currently do not have any Christian books" (S. Plesskaya, chief librarian)
"Gomel boarding school administration would be grateful for the gift of spiritual literature which is great support in the matter of implanting moral and spiritual value into kids’ hearts. There are more then 300 children ranging from 6 to 18 years here, and they all need consolation, encouragement, and, most of all, love. We hope their hearts will change under the salutary influence of Christian books. The staff too will get to know more about love of God" (M.Savelyeu, Gomel boarding school Director)
The stories of the little inmates are really heartbreaking. Here are some of them.
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Stories of little Valya and Volodya
Valya, 9, and Volodya, 8, have found themselves in the children’s home two years ago. Their mother’s been in prison for evading paying maintenance, and, left to their fate, the children had starved. The father seems to be totally indifferent to his own children, and has looked in just once for two years. A woman named Luiba, an Orthodox believer, visits them on Sundays. She presented them with the book “Jesus Is Alive”, but there is no more Christian literature there. |
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...and Lena
Lena, 10, also is an orphan, though her parents are alive. Her mother lives in Gomel. She is addicted to drink, which is why she had been deprived of parental rights and the unemployed. The father has a job, but manifests no desire to care for his daughter. He has abandoned her, and pays her no visit. Earlier, when living with the granny, Lena had the Gospel to read. It was the granny’s book, and she didn’t allow the book to be taken to the children’s home, but presented the girl with the cross on a chain Lena is wearing around her neck. Lena, like any other little inmate of the children’s home, wants to have her own Bible. |
The teacher, Yelena Ivanauna, says, “There are many kids who are kin here. The mothers-drunkards keep procreating offsprings, and then give them over to orphanages. So big difference in years between the kids of the same family is not something exceptional. For example, a boy may be 12 years old, while his sister is only 2.
“Such so-called mothers must be sterilized”, she adds with bitterness.
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Children asylum in Brest. Taken from their loveless parents, the kids are sheltered there for six months, and then they are sent to different children’s homes, or, if good luck holds, to the families willing to adopt them. |
Andrey came from hospital, after having had lots of traumas. His parents had divorced, and father married another woman, who took a dislike to him. Father would beat Andrey, for which a suit was brought against him, and he was deprived from parental rights. In case his grandmother doesn't take him from this shelter, he will be sent to Children's Home.
Sasha Kolgotov, 5, used to live at the family where there were 5 children. Mother was alcoholic and prostitute. Once Sasha woke up and drank a liquid aimed to clean pipes, and so burned his alimentary canal. Twice a month he gets to hospital for operation on removing scars from alimentary canal.
'A winner of Miss Brest competition once visited the shelter and gifted $500;
now medicine supplies for treatment are bought on that sum. The shelter is also rendered help
by Philip Morris tobacco plant, as well as by ordinary people who send clothes there.
But no one has ever presented us with Bibles or other spiritual literature', says Valentina Alekseyevna, the Director of the shelter.
Belynichi boarding school for orphans
was established in 1979. Now there are 180 children
ranging in age from 5 to 17 years there.
Having finished the school the young people generally continue
their study at technical colleges. For the period of the existence of this school,
more than 600 children have finished it, and only 15 of them have been adopted.
At the picture:
Serguey is happy to get the colorful and well-illustrated children Bible.
Krugloye boarding school
for orphans houses 94 children from 43 inhabited localities. The kids range in age from 8 to 17
years though parents sometimes leave even their babies near the front door. The spiritual
literature granted by the Bible Society as a gift to the
orphanage library, quickens children's great interest. The Bible Society will surely keep on
making every effort to supply orphans with spiritual literature and reach their hearts with
Christ's love.
Logoisk asylum
Founded three years ago, Logoisk asylum shelters the kids abandoned by their parents.
According to the Director of the establishment, Natalya Nickalayevna, the main task of the asylum's workers is to help children return to their own families. This is why the kids are kept in the asylum no more than half-year. For this period the teachers meet with the parents, talk to them, making an appeal to their feelings and trying to get them to give ear to their words. They lend their souls to the task, and it is vital that the fathers and mothers lay the words they hear to heart and take their kids back to the families. In case of depriving the parents of parental rights, the children are sent to children's homes. While in the asylum, the committed workers tell the children the message about Jesus Christ, His love and the faith, and we pray that the precious literature we bring along when visiting the asylum would help the teachers implant the seeds of eternal truth in children's hearts, so that the solid foundation of true saving faith might be laid at the beginning of their lives.
Borisov Boarding School currently shelters the kids with inchoative as well as advanced stages of tuberculosis. Established in 1961, this health restoration center is situated in the greenbelt near Borisov town, and provides the opportunity for recuperation for some 200 kids yearly. The building is in picturesque surroundings, pine forest making air healthy. Apple tree garden, age-long oaks and chestnut planted by the graduates conduce to recuperation of the little inmates.
The inmates receive treatment procedures, spend plenty of time out of door and have five meals a day, their food wholesome. Now that they have got the spiritual literature, we hope it will be a blessing for both the kids and teachers, as these books bear the message of God's love toward men. They had needed love so badly when at home! It was the troubled families those poor kids have come from, their parents having advanced stages of tuberculosis. The boys named Vasya and Liosha (photo) arrived here more than two years ago. They were very pleased with the books we brought. In the quiet of the beautiful forest they will read the Word of God, getting to know His eternal truths of love and salvation.
Zhodino Boarding School
Founded in 1960, Zhodino boarding school for orphans and the kids left without parental care is situated 50 km distant from Minsk. It is currently houses 220 children, of which 32 kids are the real orphans, and the rest are the social orphans, i.e. have their parents debarred of parental rights. Every summer the school is visited by the representatives of the American charitable organization "Ministry to Orphans". They pay the kids attention they need so badly, playing with the inmates and teaching them to spend their leisure hours fruitfully. The Americans presented the library with many wonderful books on various topics, but there is no book among them to bear the message of God's love, and so they can neither bring consolation nor provide any solid foundation for the life lying in front of the children.
That is why the Christian literature presented by the Bible Society had been gratefully accepted by the school administration (photo). We gave the precious books to the library and now they are accessible to all.
At the boarding school a seminar sessions are held on education and nurture of the children, and "Christian ABC" will be of great help in this regard. Issued by the Bible Society of Belarus, this book contains Christian moral values and shows how to apply them in a daily life. Not only the materials of the book edificatory, but also it bears the message of God's light and mercy. "Christian ABC" is filled with the material helping to develop speech, memory and brainwork. Hopefully this literature will be a blessing for the inmates of this boarding school, which has become a home for the kids, and may it be a place where they will learn to see God's love and manifest it to those around them.
Kholopenichi Children's Home
It is situated 150 km from the city of Minsk. 150 kids are roofed there, and just eight of them do not have parents. The other children's parents are physically alive, but they are chiefly either drunkards or behind the bars. Since 1960 there had been 43 graduations, 1246 inmates left the children's home for making their own lives. Having become a part of our society, they currently work as officers, teachers, builders, and businessmen.
There are 28 teachers at this home, their wide hearts full of sacrificial love. Not only they aim at giving the kids knowledge, but also strive for implanting moral values into the hearts of the youth. The Christian literature was given to the library of the children's home, and this gift was accepted thankfully (photo). Now both the teachers and kids have got access to the precious books, which will open the world of God's love and His eternal truths to them.
Cliotsk children's home is situated 160 km from Minsk, in the village of Damatkanovitchi, and currently shelters 96 orphans. This home is far from the main highways and, although sponsors support the establishment in some ways, there are no Christian books for the children in the orphanage's library. It is no wonder that the Director Sergei Vasilyevich showed a keen interest in the books brought by the Bible Society.
"Many children speak Belarusian, therefore the Christian ABC in Belarusian will be of considerable help to them in their studies. And, what is more important, these books will lead them towards learning God's eternal truth", said the Director (photo).
Baranavitchi children's home for retarded handicapped kids
Baranavitchi children's home for mentally handicapped children is located in the settlement of Garadishchye near Baranavitchi in the Brest region. 200 children live there at the present time, looked after by 175 staff, of whom but 15 are males. As the car packed with the Bible Society literature pulled up to the building, a boy named Vitya came up to us. He carried about a prayer book, using it regularly for saying his prayers. Having learned that we brought along many Christian books for children, Vitya was very glad (photo).
Stan'kovo children's home
It stands near Minsk at the edge of a former landed estate in picturesque surroundings. A small lake adds to the beauty of the area. There is an apiary, a small hog-breeding farm and a garden, which all help encourage the children to work with their own hands. The children are taught to appreciate and maintain the beauty of the nature and the committed teachers and nurses do their best, showing love and care to the young inmates. However, it is hardly possible to substitute parents and create the spirit of family relations where there is no family. The sensitive kid's hearts are acutely aware of the absence of parents' love, and we pray that through the literature we've handed them, our merciful Lord Himself will comfort them and take away the burden of their parents' sins. May they see His love and mercy through this Holy Book and accept it so that the life-changing Word of God might enable them to stand against the temptations and corruptive influences of this sinful world. These children deprived of parental love are easily hurt and made vulnerable because of their loneliness and feelings of inferiority.
Copyl' support boarding school
Established in 1957, it is situated in the village of Sinichevo and currently houses 140 children, some of whom are slow in mental, physical and emotional development. 70 children came from broken families, and three have no parents at all. At this school the children are taught agriculture which enables them to become vegetable-growers or stockbreeders after they graduate.
The Director Rayisa Pavlovna (photo) has worked for the school for 30 years. As she says, the inmates have physiological and psychological problems, and the books presented to the school's library will help them to find peace in their hearts. The Christian ABC issued by the Belarusian Bible Society will enable the teachers to give engaging lessons, in which the children will not only improve their memory, enrich their speech and develop their minds, but they will also learn God's commandments and discover for themselves the entirely different world of God's love.
Slutsk boarding school
houses orphans as well as children left without parental care. There are 167 children there, of whom 40 come from broken homes with one parent and 6 children have no parents at all. The parents of the rest are alive physically, but dead spiritually, showing no desire to care for their own children and therefore they are deprived of parental rights. Whether the parents have committed crimes or are addicted to alcohol they have condemned these little ones to suffer because of the absence of parental love - the most important thing a child needs. Since a while ago it's become not something exceptional to resign a child to foster-parents. Recently it has become more common to find foster-parents for some of these children and every time it happens the staff and teachers are very joyful, being aware that a child cannot be happy without a family, however hard they try to create an atmosphere of love in the house. Parental love and care are just irreplaceable.
The Director and the teachers thankfully accepted the gift of a set of Christian literature from the Bible Society. God's love radiating from these precious books will warm and heal the young hearts.
Evenets children's home
The Bible Society closely cooperates with the charitable organizations helping the children of Belarus. The Chernobyl Children Organization from the USA has been involved in the charitable activity for a long time, particularly rendering help to the children's home located in the town of Evenets. On March 10, 2005, the representatives of this organization and the BS worker visited the children's home, which shelters the little inmates suffering from physical deficiencies. Thanks to loving care of those who work for CCO, many kids have visited the USA under the auspice of a sanative program, and this time they have presented all the kids with new blankets. However, there were no Christian books at the children's home library, and, to repair this insufficiency, we had decided to bring them spiritual books as a gift, so that the inmates and the administration both might have an opportunity to read the message about God's love and learn spiritual truths. We passed the books (photo), which were thankfully accepted. Richly illustrated and excellently bound, the books at once caught the attention of the director, the staff and the kids.
Alexey and Sherzot, the friends (photo), wanted to read a Children Bible. Chairbound from his childhood, Alexey is now 14; he became an inmate of this children's home five years ago. His hobbies are computer, fiction stories. The boy is fond of reading, but Alexey's arms are paralyzed and motionless, and, to turn over the leaves, he uses his mouth. His friend Sherzot helped him to open the Bible and they both started read it absorbedly. Sherzot is Uzbek by nationality, his parents forsook him when he was little, and now he is already 17. He told us it is a great joy for him to have the opportunity of reading such nice and interesting books.
100 inmates are sheltered by the children's home, and the majority of them are chair bound kids. But, despite being deprived of many joys of life, the children are kind-hearted and responsive to affection.
We met the girl Olga by name (photo). She is legless, but there was an aureola of joy and optimism about her, and our fellowship left us deeply impressed.
We hope for further collaboration, and pray that God's love will reach the children and repair the wounds in their young hearts.
How to get the Good News across to the orphans who steadily grow in number in our country? We often pray about it, and the loving Lord helps us to come into contact with the devoted Christians ministering to the little inmates of the children homes.
Serving the children in the settlement of Dubrowka
There is a Christian community in the village of Druzhny located some 60 km from Minsk. The members of this community carry out the ministry of preaching the Gospel to the residents of Druzhny as well the adjacent villages. Twenty years ago there had been decided to build a nuclear power station at that site, but after the Chernobyl disaster the inhabitants of the village lifted up their voices against that scheme. The construction had been quitted, and now the residents having been granted quarters have to go to work to distant places. Knowing that the social asylum situated in the adjacent village of Dubrowka is among the targets of their ministry, we had taken a trip to Druzhny in order to make acquaintance with the members of the community and help them with their ministry among the little ones the orphanage in Dubrowka has housed.
Accompanied by Anna, a local Christian, we visited the orphanage. There are 14 kids ranging in age from 3 to 16 years there. Natasha and Nastya, 15 years old each, are the oldest girls. Their life stories are similar: fatherless families, mothers boozing frequently and giving neither care nor love to their own kids. We met also Inna, 4, and Christina, 5.
Christina’s parents are alcoholics; her mother, despite living nearby, visits her just once in a month, arriving on a bicycle for ten minutes meeting.
Anna disguised herself as a clown and played absorbing games with the kids, and we together presented them with the colorful books from the Bible Society. Christine got at once at reading the Christian ABC published by the Bible Society. All the kids had been excited at the performance and the richly illustrated wonderful books.
Ministering to the little inmates in the hospital
A girl named Lena serves the patients of the regional hospital located in Pukhovichi, 20 km from Druzhny. A devoted Christian, Lena works with the children having been abandoned by their parents. These poor kids are very little, their age varying from 2 weeks through 2 years, and Lena puts her heart in the ministry so that the children might feel care and love their parents have robbed them of. Andrey is one of these little ones. The kids are yet unable to read, but we believe that Lena’s loving attitude will help them toward learning God’s truths in the future. The older children got together in the hall of the hospital, and Anna told them about Jesus. All the children were very pleased to receive Christian books, and we hope that they will see God’s love through these books. They all need it so much, especially Sasha and Nadya, whose father killed their mother with an axe, and hanged himself afterward. The kids, doctors and nurses asked us to come again.
Talking to the children in the street
On the way back we drew up, and Anna, arrayed for a clown, went out and talked about Jesus to the group of the kids playing in the yard. They listened to the story of God's love attentively, their eyes sparkling with vivid interest. They all were very pleased to have received the Children’s Bible.