Alyona - Good Shepherd Shelter - Ukraine

 

One Girl’s Story

Her name is Alyona and she has lived at the Good Shepherd Shelter in Ukraine for only a few months. She is ten years old and is in the third grade.  Alyona has blue eyes and is a very lively, active girl. It sometimes seems that her energy and optimism have no limit.

Alyona has only a mother, who has HIV, is unemployed, and drinks.  They lived in a rented house without electricity and heat—where winter temperatures average 10 – 44 degrees Farenheit and there’s no one to buy coal.   Alyona rarely went to school and when she did, she was dirty and had lice.

Alyona’s mother brought her to Good Shepherd Shelter because she was unable to care for her anymore.  She easily joined in with the group of children and became friends with other girls. The teachers are working with Alyona in order to get her up to par for school. She is also studying games and piano.  

Every parent can make a mistake and sometimes these mistakes are irreparable. Every adult can give in to his perpetual troubles and despair. And while the adult looks for a way out, the child suffers—and it falls upon the child to pay for others’ mistakes and resolve adult problems. Praise the Lord that in the life of this little girl, something changed.  She doesn’t have lice, someone is caring for her health and development, she can go to school, learn to play piano, and most importantly simply be joyful and know that she is loved.

The Good Shepherd Shelter (supported by Guidelines), in Makeyevka, Ukraine gives these children a chance in life that their parents couldn’t provide.  They have picked children off the streets, railway stations, markets, dragged out from underground, attics and heating pipelines.  Some of the children are abandoned, some are neglected and abused and all of them are in desperate need of food, clothing and love.

The children that are fortunate enough to come to the shelter are provided medical help, schooling, somewhere to live and are introduced to the unconditional love of Jesus. 

Please pray for:

  1. the spiritual condition of the children and staff
  2. relations between the children and staff, that the Lord will give understanding of one another
  3. the health of the children and staff of the Good Shepherd Shelter. Right now in Ukraine the flu virus is spreading. Schools and public places are closed to visitors and it is recommended to go out on the streets wearing a mask. Please pray that the Lord will protect our children from illness.
  4. the children’s education, their effort, wisdom, and desire to overcome difficulties

Material needs:

  1. food for the children
  2. purchase of medical supplies
  3. auto maintenance
  4. staff salaries
  5. renovation of the shower rooms and bathrooms for the boys and girls
  6. carpeting for the hallway
  7. carpeting for the stairway
  8. payment for the children’s lessons in piano, English, Physics, and Math
  9. carpet washer/vacuum cleaner
  10. 5 electric hand dryers

 

To give to the Good Shepherd Children’s Shelter, click here.  One hundred percent of your donation will be received by this ministry.