Day 3 & 4 Update from Ukraine

Day 3

Day 3 was spent cleaning and planning for the camp. The interns that will work with us returned today. They worked with Andrew and Jenny to put on the first two camps here and took a few days off vacationing in another city in Ukraine. These are college students that plan to become missionaries. There are 4 interns and 4 members of our team. We will be joined later by another missionary family.

We visited the pediatric ward at the local hospital in Ivankiv. This is tradition for us now. There is no orphanage for kids 2 and under so they are dropped off at the hospital where they live until they are old enough to be sent to an orphanage. They spend all of their time in one small room. There is no budget for these kids. The hospital pretty much relies on Jenny and Andrew’s ministry to bring them supplies. Our Creekside team was the first to bring supplies for the kids that live there when we came 2 years ago. This is always a heart wrenching experience.

We took a walk in the evening and began to interact with the local residence. They seem very anxious to talk to us, tell about them selves, and learn about us. These people lead very simple lives as subsistence farmers. The very first camp this year was held for the children in this community. It was the first time these children used flushing toilets and took showers. The showers were a bit of a problem because once the kids got in them it was difficult to get them out. It was also the first time many of them saw a movie or rode in an automobile. Ukraine has a very rich history as the breadbasket of Europe. The land is very fertile here. Taking a few steps outside our camp is like taking a time machine into the past to see what life was like several hundred years ago in Ukraine.

Day 4

Not much to report. We spent the day preparing for the kids. We are now ready and the kids will arrive at 12:30 this afternoon (I am writing this on the morning of day 5).