No Translator Needed

 

We’ve been in Uzgharod, Ukraine for three weeks now. It’s been a whirlwind and it feels like we’ve been here much longer than that, but at the same time I can’t believe it’s already almost time to go!! We have a pretty good bearing on the city now; we know where all the good coffee and chocolate shops are (priorities) and know enough Ukrainian to fumble around the city and get a bus or taxi home.

 

(Ukraine)

 

(Uzgharod, Ukraine)

 

(Uzgharod, Ukraine)

 

(Uzgharod, with our favorite coffee/chocolate spot on the corner 🙂 )

 

We’ve been staying at Nehemiah Ministries with Team Aletheia. Their team is working with a children’s camp here at Nehemiah and our team is working with different churches and ministries around Uzgharod that Nehemiah partners with.

 

 

(Nehemiah – Our home for the month)

 

This month has been more of a struggle for me than the first month, mostly due to the language barrier. I’ve never really been anywhere where the majority of the people don’t speak English. It’s sometimes frustrating not being able to order something from a menu that doesn’t have pictures on it or be able to buy something at the store without one of our wonderful translators. Or the time we showed up to help with a camp for Gypsie (Roma) children and had to go through 4 translators (Turkish to Russian to Ukrainian to English) to be able to talk to any of the kids or the Pastor, only to find out they really didn’t need us after all. It’s hard for me to be sitting next to someone on the bus or a nurse at the children’s hospital and not being able to even ask their name or find out their story or share with them what we are doing here and how much Jesus loves them. There are a good number of people here that do know some English but it’s usually not enough to carry on a conversation without the translator that we have to share with at least 6 other people.

 

(Sweet Alla – one of our wonderful translators this month) 

 

 

(Katia and Alla – more of our wonderful translators at Nivitsky Castle for our day off )

 

But then we went to the orphanage camp. It’s a “campâ€� about an hour and a half from where we are staying that 3 orphanages go to for the summer. We realized on the way it would have been nice to have crafts or gifts for the kids but we most certainly hadn’t had room in our packs and with a full week of ministry prior to it, we had had no time to look in the city for anything. We were supposed to have a whole day of activities planned but again, no time. We had no idea what to expect. We had two translators and a former orphan as a guide. But when we arrived, we realized none of that was needed. We stepped off the bus right into the arms of at least 30 orphans who you would have thought had known us forever. We were engulfed in cheers, kisses and the best hugs ever. Their hunger for love was so evident, and it was heart-wrenching. A boy almost as tall as me jumped into my arms, gave me a big kiss on the cheek and climbed up so I could carry him. A little girl grabbed my hand like I was her best friend. I didn’t need a translator to tell me what these kids wanted, and I didn’t need gifts or  anything, all these kids wanted from me was love and attention, and that I could easily do.

 

(Yoseph)

 

Before I knew it I had a kid hugging each side, and I was pulled into the building. We took them upstairs to share Bible stories and two boys instructed me to sit next to them and crawled up to my sides so I could hug them, and they just sat there hugging me tightly as if to soak up as much love as they could. My heart melted. One then proceeded to show me his prized possessions that he carried around in a bag; a box of markers and a notebook and a coloring book, which he invited me to share with him. I noticed a little girl sitting close by me and lifted my arm to invite her for a hug; she couldn’t move fast enough for it. After a few minutes she turned and took off her plastic jewelry and put all of it on me, necklaces and bracelets, then smiled and crawled into my lap for the story.

(Alec)

 

Through the translators, Danielle and Megan tried to share Bible stories. There were a lot of words in the story that neither of the translators knew so there was a lot of confusion, but the kids still enjoyed it all. As soon as it was done though, I was again pulled off in three directions, all three trying to show me their room first. It didn’t even occur to any of us that we couldn’t understand each other as I excitedly looked at their bare rooms, they just were ecstatic to show me. One of the boys had half a package of cookies and was so excited to offer me one and I gave him a big hug for it. Then I watched as the other boy negotiated a deal with him to trade a toy car and a paddle ball set for the package of cookies and then offered me another one. I laughed and hugged him too. Through what little Ukrainian I know I was finally able to get their names, Ariana, Alec, and Yospeh. We went back outside and spent the day just coloring and playing games and making paper airplanes (and lots of them). We rarely ran into a language barrier, most everything we needed to communicate could be done with facial expressions, gestures and hugs. They ate up the attention. Every time I turned around there was another kid wanting another hug. I’ve never had so many amazing hugs in one day. When all the kids went in for lunch, several of them ran right back out with handfuls of plums to give to us, and the translator who frequented the orphanage explained that they loved being able to give gifts, and this was all they had.

 

(Alec and paper airplane #5. He would play this game all day every day if he could.)

 

It was really expensive to travel out to the orphanage and we are about out of travel money so our team decided to split the cost ourselves and take taxis so we could go out to the camp again a second day. As I stepped out of the taxi my eyes met Yospeh’s who lit up like a Christmas tree and darted through the crowd into my arms, quickly followed by Alec. Ariana came out shortly after and checked to make sure I still had her necklaces and bracelets, then jumped in my arms, gleaming. We quickly resumed coloring and paper airplane making and just spending the day together. It never mattered that we couldn’t communicate; hugs and smiles said it all.

 

 

 

As the day wound down to the end, Ariana again crawled in my lap. I noticed her clothes were on backwards and shoes were on the wrong feet and realized she didn’t have anyone to care to teach her how the tag goes in the back and the difference in the left and right shoe. Alec and several other kids were still wearing the same dirty clothes from the day before, nobody had told them to change. Another boy was beaten up by some bigger kids and Allison rescued him and sat next to us, just holding him as he cried. No staff had come out to rescue him or look after him, and we realized if she hadn’t been there probably nobody would have. I’d been fighting tears since we arrived the first day but when I saw the look on those kids faces when we answered “noâ€� when they asked if we were coming back I started to lose it.

 

I want to just take them all home. Now.

 

But I can’t take these kids home now. And that breaks my heart. I’ve felt since I was a young teenager that God would someday call me to adoption, and maybe to work in an orphanage, or both, and this month in Ukraine has just confirmed that even more. The only difference now is, He’s calmed my fears about adopting older children and not just babies. These older kids just dream and yearn for love all the time. Yes, they might have difficulties because of what they’ve been through, but they’re totally worth it. I’ve been working with the abandoned babies at the hospital all month as well and I’m sad when I realize how difficult and expensive adoption is. Why can’t I just say, “I have room for that one� and take them? Why do I have to leave them here? Why are so few kids adopted? I heard once that if every Christian family adopted one child, there would no longer be need for orphanages. Why can’t we do that??

 

But God promises in John 14 “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you�. God hasn’t abandoned these children, he knows each one of their names, he knows how many hairs are on their heads, and he loves each of them and has a great plan for their lives. All I can do right now is remind them of that amazing love while I’m here, know that God will be with them every step of the way, and pray for each child as I hold them close that they will hold onto that love and will trust and follow His plan for them.

 

James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress.â€� This is what God is called me to do, and I will do that every chance I get. And someday hopefully I will get to give one of these precious children a forever home. I can’t wait for that day.