There's a book entitled "Orphanology" by Tony Merida and Rick Morton. I highly recommend it to anyone serious about obeying the Lord's commandment of helping the widow and orphan.
When most people hear the word orphan they think either:
a. The world is full of orphans but it is not my problem.
b. The only way to help an orphan is to adopt him/her.
But neither one of these thoughts are true.
Did you know that there are 750,000 Russian children living in institutions, and only 17% of them are actual legal orphans (where both parents are deceased). Most are social orphans for various reasons such as economic hardships, health related hardships, both parents being incarcerated, and the list goes on and on. For these kids, they hope to one day be reunited with their families, and that is the goal. Unfortunately, all too often, these goals are never reached. Many children are simply abandoned and left to age in the orphanage until they graduate around the age of 16 or 17.
The future for these institutionalized orphans is particularly bleak. They are vulnerable children released into the world to live independently when all they know is how to accept what has been handed to them. In the orphanage they had little experience with the outside world. Many spent their short lives segregated from society. They were confined to the institution for sleeping, eating, schooling, playing, and rarely had visitors. Now, on the outside, there is little opportunity for emotional support, further education, or employment. These kids are lost. They lack the life skills and support necessary for survival. Many turn to crime or prostitution to survive. Statistics show that 10% of graduated orphans will commit suicide before they reach their 18th birthday.
So, no, adoption is not the only way to help orphans. it is a wonderful way to help, but not the only way.
That is where Friends of Children comes in. Friends of Children and their workers visit orphanages monthly. They build loving friendships and offer a glimpse of hope to these kids. They take the children out into society on field trips and try to better prepare the children for the "outside" world. Best of all, they offer Christ's love to them.
Friends of children also runs the Grace Center which helps graduated orphans transition to mainstream society and provides some of their housing needs, financial needs, and material needs. They do what they can with what little they have. And when I say with what little they have, I mean very little. There are so many young people homeless, hurting, feeling hopeless, and lost. The need is great and the workers are few.
Are you ready to obey the Lord's command to help the widow and orphans? Are you willing but don't know how to start or get involved? Are you feeling the Lord's call on your heart to help, but adoption is not what he is calling you to do right now? Or ever? Then the answer is to see where the Lord is already working and to join in. Simple. As the Nike slogan says... "just do it." If you would like to join Natasha in her efforts to serve the orphans of Russia please contact Ken Dockery with Big Family Ministry and let him know you want to support Friends of Children. The harvest is great and the workers are few. Won't you come work with us? www.bigfamilyministry.org
If you are already a partner with Big Family let me say Thank you. You are making a difference!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Brightening up the summer for Russian orphans
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| Bolshevo home |
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| The joy of picking berries and eating them! |
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| What does one expect to see on an Ostrich farm? |
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| Luga children at farm |
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| Natasha comments: Why did I bring a knife instead of a fork? |
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| It's time to cook! |
Summer is often a difficult time for a Russian orphans. Most, but not all orphans, have the opportunity to go to a government-run camp for up to three weeks. Unfortunately, many of these camps are not well-run and supervision is minimal, so the camp becomes an opportunity for the children to “run wild” and experience drugs, alcohol, and… the list goes on.
Natasha Kirillov recently sent us a wonderful report on how the lives of children in their Mother’s Project are being impacted and changed by the spending their summer at the village house in Bolshevo. The Mother’s Pproject helps young (usually single) mother’s keep their children and prevent them from becoming orphans. Natasha also sent us photos and a brief report on how the orphans at Luga were treated to a picnic. For children who must sit around their orphanage all summer long, the picnic was a heavenly experience.
Natasha reports: “Bolshevo was a wonderful opportunity for the children we help support. Children stayed under our supervision, in fresh air, participated in all activities of the family life in the village: cooking, cleaning, working in the garden and ending up with playing and swimming. We see that children change while they live in Bolshevo. They eat good healthy food, learn to behave, to take care of smaller ones. Many of the children lack those things at their homes, when they see their mother only early in the morning and in the evenings. Christian fellowship, church, prayers…all that brings good seeds that will grow into healthy life in their future. Children and mothers stayed together with the Grace Center children. If you would have visited them you would feel the atmosphere of a real God's family!”
Enjoy the additional photos of children at Bolshevo and Luga.
If you are not already involved with our mission to Russian orphans, we invite you to join. Click here to learn how you can partner to help Russian orphans.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Ostriches and a lake
The children of the orphanage/internat of Luga had a wonderful time this past July when Natasha visited them. They were able to leave the orphanage for five hours. Can you imagine not leaving your house which is also your school but once in an entire month? No trips to the grocery store, no little errands to run, no where to go to be alone for a little while, no change of scenery. Well, that's how it is for the children of Luga. That's what makes Natasha's ministry Friends of Children so special. She was able to take them out to an ostrich farm. Then they went to a lake for a hot dog lunch and a swim! Exciting stuff for these kids. Fun times! But then reality all too quickly the day is gone and the kids have to head back to the orphanage/school. Here's a description in Natasha's own words.
"We visited Ostrich Farm where they saw different birds and domestic animals, had a chance to shoot at a target which was alot of fun. After that we went to the lake and had picnic, swam and played games. The only sad thing was that time went very fast and when the bus came pick up children we all thought that next time we should bring them out for longer period of time ( this trip was 5 hours, but this wasn't enough!).
When it was time to say good buy, they hugged us and felt really sorry that such day is finished. They say that it's so boring for them to stay all the time in internat and thanked us a lot for not forgetting them.
When they went to the bus, it was hard to say good-buy and we went to the bus with them. I told them about you, that you think about them, remember and send money to support such events. They all kept silent and listened attentively. One little boy said "Send my hello to Jodi!", others started to say "Say our thanks to this wonderful lady", the adults said that they appreciate what you do for those children whom you have never met! I felt that knowing that their life attracts people from far parts of the world is very surprising for the children and touches them seriously."
One part of this quote really speaks to my heart. It is when the kids told Natasha thanks a lot for not forgetting them. These kids feel forgotten, like no ones knows them or cares. Like no one loves them.
Doesn't that break your heart? It should. Rembember, these kids do not have loving parents to give them hugs and encourage them. No one to tuck them in at night and pray with them. Natasha is the only Jesus that these kids might ever see. Please consider helping Natasha in her ministry Friends of Children. Your help will enable her to take the children of Luga out on more day trips, send them to summer christian camps, provide them with clothing, games, school supplies, and fresh fruit (a luxury). Or what about just writing these kids.. you can mail them letters so they know that someone really does care about them, loves them, and prays for them.
With some organizations you send money and you never really know if your child is receiving the funds. I can tell you from first hand experience that the support I give goes directly to these kids. I have seen God take the funds I send and turn them into special memories for these children as well as provide hands on items that the kids needed.
If you would like to become more involved in touching kids lives, and see monthly exactly how your donations are changing lives, e-mail Ken Dockery with Big Family Ministry at info@bigfamilyministry.org or check out the website http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/ and sign up to be a "Family Friend".
"We visited Ostrich Farm where they saw different birds and domestic animals, had a chance to shoot at a target which was alot of fun. After that we went to the lake and had picnic, swam and played games. The only sad thing was that time went very fast and when the bus came pick up children we all thought that next time we should bring them out for longer period of time ( this trip was 5 hours, but this wasn't enough!).
When it was time to say good buy, they hugged us and felt really sorry that such day is finished. They say that it's so boring for them to stay all the time in internat and thanked us a lot for not forgetting them.
When they went to the bus, it was hard to say good-buy and we went to the bus with them. I told them about you, that you think about them, remember and send money to support such events. They all kept silent and listened attentively. One little boy said "Send my hello to Jodi!", others started to say "Say our thanks to this wonderful lady", the adults said that they appreciate what you do for those children whom you have never met! I felt that knowing that their life attracts people from far parts of the world is very surprising for the children and touches them seriously."
One part of this quote really speaks to my heart. It is when the kids told Natasha thanks a lot for not forgetting them. These kids feel forgotten, like no ones knows them or cares. Like no one loves them.
Doesn't that break your heart? It should. Rembember, these kids do not have loving parents to give them hugs and encourage them. No one to tuck them in at night and pray with them. Natasha is the only Jesus that these kids might ever see. Please consider helping Natasha in her ministry Friends of Children. Your help will enable her to take the children of Luga out on more day trips, send them to summer christian camps, provide them with clothing, games, school supplies, and fresh fruit (a luxury). Or what about just writing these kids.. you can mail them letters so they know that someone really does care about them, loves them, and prays for them.
With some organizations you send money and you never really know if your child is receiving the funds. I can tell you from first hand experience that the support I give goes directly to these kids. I have seen God take the funds I send and turn them into special memories for these children as well as provide hands on items that the kids needed.
If you would like to become more involved in touching kids lives, and see monthly exactly how your donations are changing lives, e-mail Ken Dockery with Big Family Ministry at info@bigfamilyministry.org or check out the website http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/ and sign up to be a "Family Friend".
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Final Bell
The “final bell”: a bittersweet day for Russian orphans
The “final bell”. “Final bell” is how Russians label their last day of school and graduation day. The final bell often rings in somber, worrisome tones for the orphans of Russia. Most of us think of graduation as a joyous occasion: the beginning of a journey into the future to live out childhood dreams.
For orphans, the final bell begins the world’s most cruel surprise party. Orphans have lived all or most of their lives in an institution: following strict schedules, making no decisions, being told what to do and how to do it, learning no life skills. Then…final bell. They graduate and are thrown into the world, like birds who are set free but have never learned to fly. Easy prey for the villains of the world. Nine out of 10 face a future of drugs, alcohol, prison, prostitution, or suicide.
I will never forget that day on a muddy playground in northeast Russia, three weeks before final bell. We were visiting one of the internat orphanage schools where our Russian church team has been ministering to children for several years. We enjoyed a lunch of soup and bread with the children, and migrated outside to the still-recovering-from-winter playground. It was a bright and warm spring day, a rarity for early May in this part of Russia. Skies cloudless. Gentle breeze. Coat-quickly-coming-off weather. Within minutes, the playground was alive with running, laughing, tagging, yelling, and games. Children showing off on the one piece of antiquated playground equipment. A soccer ball being kicked back and forth on the gray-brown field.
We sat with a group of the older children on a broken-down bench at one side of the playground. As we watched the amazing show of energy and life, I wanted to freeze-frame the afternoon. It was like a patch of timeless joy in lives headed to an almost certain dead-end. I wanted to keep these children from ever having to hear the final bell.
“Final bell…it’s only three weeks away,” I thought to myself. “I wonder if any of the children sitting with us are graduating.”
I turned and asked: “Are any of you graduating this year?”
Katia smiled and then raised her hand: “Yes….”
“Congratulations Katia! Where will you be living when you leave the school?” (I knew that many of the children who graduate from this internat have to move at least three hours away.)
Katia’s smile melted. She looked down, staring at the stubble of spring grass pushing up through the patch of mud between her feet. Silence. She continued to stare at the ground. The children who sat with us waited politely. Quietness. We waited. And waited.
Finally Katia had to answer: “I don’t know….”
At that point, I should have been wise enough to change the subject, but I really wanted to know what she would be studying in vo-tech school, which is supposed to be the next grade for internat graduates.
So I asked, “What will you be doing when you graduate?”
Katia continued to stare into the ground… arms folded… bent over in a stomach-ache-kind-of position. Her entire posture and countenance said that she wanted to cry, but she held back the tears with the toughness she had acquired from her lifetime within the gray walls of the orphanage.
Again, a long wait until she decided on her answer that came slowly in an apologetic voice: “I don’t know.”
I held back the tears that I wanted to shed with Katia. Quickly, we changed the subject back to the playground, the impromptu soccer match, the beauty of the day, and the excitement and joy of being together and sharing our love with the children that we had grown to know and love.
Unfortunately, Katia’s dilemma is normal. The majority of orphans who graduate from the internat schools of Russia have no hopes and dreams for their future. If there is anything worse than living in an orphanage, it’s living in an internat orphanage. Children whose parents have any kind of social problem are likely to end up in the internat school, where they are routinely diagnosed as slow learners and children with problems. Based on our ministry to children in the internat orphanages, these schools are full of beautiful, talented, kind, and smart children who will never have a chance to develop what God has placed within them. Those who go on to vocation school often have to relocate to a far away community. They usually give up after a month of two in strange and lonely surroundings. They drop out, somehow get back to their town and familiar faces, and try to find their way in an unfamiliar world. Many will live on the streets; some find shelter with other children their age. Most will somehow find enough money for cheap vodka or grain alcohol. They seek temporary solace in the arms of another. Babies are conceived. Babies are born and are given up to the orphanage baby houses. The vicious cycle continues.
When we first started working with Russian orphans, we thought what orphans need is clothing, showers, computers, games, fruit, and ice cream. Time and experience has taught us the only solid answer for orphans is to get them into families. We still minister to children where they are in the orphanages, but we focus on encouraging foster homes, transitional homes, and adoption.
Much prayer is needed. Only God can make the changes necessary to set the orphanage children of Russia into families.
When we think about Katia, we rejoice in knowing that, through our faithful volunteers at the church nearby, she has heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Not just once but on many occasions. Someday the real final bell will sound for Katia and all of us. We pray that on that day Katia will finally know where she is going and what she will be doing: living forever in God’s big family.
Ken Dockery, co-founder, Big Family Mission
http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/
The “final bell”. “Final bell” is how Russians label their last day of school and graduation day. The final bell often rings in somber, worrisome tones for the orphans of Russia. Most of us think of graduation as a joyous occasion: the beginning of a journey into the future to live out childhood dreams.
For orphans, the final bell begins the world’s most cruel surprise party. Orphans have lived all or most of their lives in an institution: following strict schedules, making no decisions, being told what to do and how to do it, learning no life skills. Then…final bell. They graduate and are thrown into the world, like birds who are set free but have never learned to fly. Easy prey for the villains of the world. Nine out of 10 face a future of drugs, alcohol, prison, prostitution, or suicide.
I will never forget that day on a muddy playground in northeast Russia, three weeks before final bell. We were visiting one of the internat orphanage schools where our Russian church team has been ministering to children for several years. We enjoyed a lunch of soup and bread with the children, and migrated outside to the still-recovering-from-winter playground. It was a bright and warm spring day, a rarity for early May in this part of Russia. Skies cloudless. Gentle breeze. Coat-quickly-coming-off weather. Within minutes, the playground was alive with running, laughing, tagging, yelling, and games. Children showing off on the one piece of antiquated playground equipment. A soccer ball being kicked back and forth on the gray-brown field.
We sat with a group of the older children on a broken-down bench at one side of the playground. As we watched the amazing show of energy and life, I wanted to freeze-frame the afternoon. It was like a patch of timeless joy in lives headed to an almost certain dead-end. I wanted to keep these children from ever having to hear the final bell.
“Final bell…it’s only three weeks away,” I thought to myself. “I wonder if any of the children sitting with us are graduating.”
I turned and asked: “Are any of you graduating this year?”
Katia smiled and then raised her hand: “Yes….”
“Congratulations Katia! Where will you be living when you leave the school?” (I knew that many of the children who graduate from this internat have to move at least three hours away.)
Katia’s smile melted. She looked down, staring at the stubble of spring grass pushing up through the patch of mud between her feet. Silence. She continued to stare at the ground. The children who sat with us waited politely. Quietness. We waited. And waited.
Finally Katia had to answer: “I don’t know….”
At that point, I should have been wise enough to change the subject, but I really wanted to know what she would be studying in vo-tech school, which is supposed to be the next grade for internat graduates.
So I asked, “What will you be doing when you graduate?”
Katia continued to stare into the ground… arms folded… bent over in a stomach-ache-kind-of position. Her entire posture and countenance said that she wanted to cry, but she held back the tears with the toughness she had acquired from her lifetime within the gray walls of the orphanage.
Again, a long wait until she decided on her answer that came slowly in an apologetic voice: “I don’t know.”
I held back the tears that I wanted to shed with Katia. Quickly, we changed the subject back to the playground, the impromptu soccer match, the beauty of the day, and the excitement and joy of being together and sharing our love with the children that we had grown to know and love.
Unfortunately, Katia’s dilemma is normal. The majority of orphans who graduate from the internat schools of Russia have no hopes and dreams for their future. If there is anything worse than living in an orphanage, it’s living in an internat orphanage. Children whose parents have any kind of social problem are likely to end up in the internat school, where they are routinely diagnosed as slow learners and children with problems. Based on our ministry to children in the internat orphanages, these schools are full of beautiful, talented, kind, and smart children who will never have a chance to develop what God has placed within them. Those who go on to vocation school often have to relocate to a far away community. They usually give up after a month of two in strange and lonely surroundings. They drop out, somehow get back to their town and familiar faces, and try to find their way in an unfamiliar world. Many will live on the streets; some find shelter with other children their age. Most will somehow find enough money for cheap vodka or grain alcohol. They seek temporary solace in the arms of another. Babies are conceived. Babies are born and are given up to the orphanage baby houses. The vicious cycle continues.
When we first started working with Russian orphans, we thought what orphans need is clothing, showers, computers, games, fruit, and ice cream. Time and experience has taught us the only solid answer for orphans is to get them into families. We still minister to children where they are in the orphanages, but we focus on encouraging foster homes, transitional homes, and adoption.
Much prayer is needed. Only God can make the changes necessary to set the orphanage children of Russia into families.
When we think about Katia, we rejoice in knowing that, through our faithful volunteers at the church nearby, she has heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Not just once but on many occasions. Someday the real final bell will sound for Katia and all of us. We pray that on that day Katia will finally know where she is going and what she will be doing: living forever in God’s big family.
Ken Dockery, co-founder, Big Family Mission
http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/
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