Love the Orphans

Neglect the neglected? Not a godly option…

Ever since he was a small boy, Sasha (not his real name) was neglected, and this was made worse when his mother died when he was still young. His father was an alcoholic and abandoned him, moving to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, while leaving Sasha behind in an orphanage.

Some years later his father returned in need of money to finance his alcohol addiction. He visited his son at the orphanage and began to pressurise him into becoming a male prostitute to raise money. This pressure intensified and became violent. Sasha was unable to bear the thought of the depravity of prostitution but could not escape his father’s demands. Soon afterwards this poor boy jumped in front of a fastmoving train – killing himself at the age of 14.

James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Proverbs 19:17 “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.”

Many of Ukraine’s orphans face a very bleak future. Both within and beyond the institutions in which they are housed they experience a painful life of abuse, despair and poverty. 

Doing something about it …

ChildAid (www.childaidee.org.uk) is a superb British Christian charity which since 1973 has been helping the needy in the Soviet Union and then the former Soviet Republics. Today ChildAid works exclusively with children in Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. ChildAid helps children who are abandoned, exposed to abuse, trapped in a cycle of violence or poverty or living with learning or physical disabilities.

ChildAid’s Christian partners in Ukraine support and nurture orphans spiritually, physically and mentally and by doing this also save them from a life in crime or prostitution. Such orphans are exposed to numerous abuses, including abduction, deprivation of liberty, ill treatment and the denial of freedom of movement. This ill-treatment often includes threats, beatings and rape. The social stigma attached to being an orphan will, almost inevitably, severely limit their life chances. To escape this living hell, many young orphans feel that suicide is their only option. The suicide rate for orphans is abnormally high. Conservative estimates state that 60% of orphan girls are sexually exploited and 10% of Ukraine’s orphans commit suicide by the age of 18.

More than 160,000 people have been trafficked from Ukraine since Ukrainian independence in 1991, according to the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), making the country one of the largest source countries in Europe. Internal trafficking is also a growing problem.

The approximately 82,000-200,000 children institutionalized in state-run orphanages are especially vulnerable to trafficking. Officials of several state-run institutions and orphanages have over recent years been allegedly complicit or wilfully negligent in the sex and labour trafficking of children under their care. For example, a teacher at a school for orphans and troubled teenagers in eastern Ukraine was arrested and accused of plotting to sell a 13-year-old pupil to organ harvesters.

Ukrainian orphans of both genders are easy prey for pimps, sex and slave traffickers or organised crime syndicates. They are often very vulnerable because of economic deprivation or having been sexually abused.

They dream of a better life, which the traffickers and criminals falsely promise to provide when they offer them “work”.

Instead of getting a proper job, women and girls find themselves trapped, enslaved and forced into the sex industry – often in the West – while men and boys become involved in all manner of crime (including male prostitution) and the illegal supply of drugs.

Through loving care and over time orphan “graduates” from the programmes in Ukraine run by ChildAid’s partners have a near 100% success rateof entering society with employment, or higher education or settling into a new family life of their own. 

God’s love in action

Lisa’s mother abandoned her at birth, so she lived in an orphanage where she was bullied and abused. On leaving the institution she was all alone and was a prime victim for the traffickers with a high risk of falling into their hands. Her life was deemed valueless by society (and even by herself). However, ChildAid’s partners offered her sanctuary on their two-year Christian Education and Life Skills programme – a programme which disciples young people. Amongst many areas covered, the programme explores the dangers of grooming, sexual exploitation and trafficking. It builds self-confidence and offers Christian mentoring. It also establishes job opportunities for the youth with reliable and respected employers, thus reducing the economic poverty that makes people very vulnerable to trafficking. ChildAid’s partner also found Lisa a Christian Foster Family. Surrounded by the teachings of the Gospel and the love of Christians she gave her life to Christ, was baptised and is fully involved in her local Church.

Nelya’s single mother died of cancer. Her only living relative was an alcoholic grandmother, but she also died. By the time she was 14, Nelya was smoking, drinking and sexually promiscuous. She was caught up in many violent street fights. She was increasingly vulnerable to involvement with the criminal underworld and in danger of being trafficked into the sex trade. During her time in the ChildAid programme her life was transformed. They helped her to understand the true source of her aggression, which came from a fear of always being alone and isolated. But by being part of a caring, loving and friendly group she lost that fear and became a kind and generous young woman. At the end of the programme she was helped to secure a job in a sewing factory as well as accommodation. Attending church, she soon offered herself for baptism and became an active church member. There she met Vladimir whom she married after a year. Now they have two children of their own.

Ruslana is the daughter of drug addicts. She was sent out to beg as soon as she was able to walk. Ruslana was subjected to abuse of all kinds and immersed in cold baths to stop her screams and staunch her wounds. To feed their addiction her parents sought to sell her to the highest bidder – a clear path to the criminal gangs who feed the voracious sex trade. Fortunately, the authorities intervened and sent her to an orphanage. Fortunately, instead of experiencing the neglect and hopelessness of being in state care, she joined the programme run by New Beginnings (A Ukrainian Christian charity that is one of ChildAid’s partners) and with the security, love and fellowship given by ChildAid’s partner she is now in medical school and has been baptised.

Yulya and her half-brother Phillip began life with their mother and Phillip’s father. The mother was an alcoholic and was extremely violent to both the children. The children fled for their own safety. Living on the streets they became dirty and their health and diet deteriorated.

Denis ran away from home, fearing for his life. His mother, an alcoholic, physically abused him so much that he ran away. For several days Denis lived as best he could in an open manhole that was being repaired by workmen. They found Denis and alerted the social services who took him to a shelter and then to a children’s home.

A way forward

For Yulya, Phillip, Denis and many others the tragic start in their life was a perfect grounding for wasted lives with a clear and open route to crime and prostitution. But with the support of Children’s Hearts, (another of ChildAid’s Ukrainian Christian partners) they have been fostered into Christian families and now enjoy a stable and loving childhood.

God cares so much for the welfare of orphaned children. Their parents may have died or are unable or unwilling to care for them (Social Orphans) but the end result is the same, they are very vulnerable and defencelessand we as Jesus’ disciples, should be extending our loving assistance to them. In August 2017, I did a 160 mile walk in under 144 hours to raise desperately needed funds to help relieve the extensive suffering of orphans in Ukraine and persecuted Christians in Iraq. All the funds raised by this walk will besplit equally between ChildAid’s work with Ukraine’s orphans and the AssyrianAid Society’s (AAS) aid to persecuted Christians in Iraq, including helping them to rebuild their lives after many of their villages and homes were destroyed by Islamic State. The AAS is Iraq’s leading Iraqi Christian Relief and Development charity. 

Let us remember …

If you prefer not to give online you can make a cheque out to: ChildAid and post it to: ChildAid, P.O Box 200, Bromley BR1 1QF, with a note stating that your gift is for Wilfred Wong’s 160-mile charity walk. (web address below) (https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/wilfredwalks).