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Last week Dad, Steven and I went to Uzhgorod with a team of other YWAMers for our annual Christmas program in the orphanage. I really feel like this year went even better than last. You see, last year the orphans where just that to me: “The Orphans”. But a year later, after multiple visits to the orphanage and our week long summer camp, they aren’t “The Orphans” anymore… they’re Sasha, Evan, Aurthur and Joseph. Oh, there are more then four of them, but my point is now they are individuals. We have relationships, we can communicate much better, I know them and they know me.

Here’s a sort of travel diary of our time in Uzhgorod.

Day 1 - Traveling By Train

Our trip started, as so many do, at the Kyiv train station. Even though the ride is mostly uncomfortable, and in many ways a hassle, I am always surprised when I feel a bit of excitement at the beginning of a train ride. (Mind you, the excitement is all gone by the end of the ride.)

The Kyiv Train Station

The train ride from Kyiv to Uzhgorod is about 18 hours long, it leaves Kyiv in the early evening and arrives in Uzhgorod the next morning. Due to the lovely temperature (min. 80 deg.) it’s very difficult for me to sleep. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one unable to sleep and we were able to play nerts during the trip.

Nerts in the train

Day 2 - Sorting, Hanging & Running

We arrived in Uzhgorod in the morning and got some taxis to our hotel. Our rooms weren’t ready yet so the staff graciously let us use the conference room to begin sorting out all the gifts for the children. The particular orphanage we work with near Uzhgorod houses about 100 kids, only 18 of whom are girls. We always do our best to give the girls special “girly gifts” as well as to give the big kids big kid things.

Sorting gifts

Eventually our rooms were available, we moved our things into the rooms, had showers, ate lunch and headed to the orphanage.

On the way to the orphanage

When we got to the orphanage, our first stop was the director’s office were we met and explained our plans: “For today, we’d just like some time to hang out, play and talk with the kids. Some time to reconnect…” All of our plans sounded fine to Mr. Director and he spoke very highly of YWAM and the work that’s been done in the orphanage for the past 15 years by various YWAM teams.

Playing freeze tag outside

We all had a good time visiting with the kids in an unstructured setting. I looked for Peter and couldn’t find him so I asked some of the other kids where he was and none of them really knew. (You may remember Peter from my previous posts or emails.) Please pray for him wherever he is. I’m not sure but he may be in the care of some Christian German missionaries. I’m going to try to find out where he is.

Day 3 - Shows, Stories and Singing

For our next day with the kids we decided to show pictures from our time together and the videos from camp. We got a projector set up, the lights darkened and started the show. It’s amazing to me how much the kids enjoy the photo slideshows. When I was putting it together I tried to keep it under 5 minutes because I doubted it would hold their attention… boy, was I wrong! They love seeing pictures of themselves and their friends.

Next Markus, our team leader, told the Christmas story with the help of the kids who were to act it out. They had lots of fun preforming in front of their friends and us. I was happily surprised to see how many of them had a good grasp of the story.

Acting out the Christmas Story

After the slideshows we sang Christmas songs in 5 languages. When we were finished the kids got up on their own and sang Christmas songs for us! It was so neat. Last year, their music teacher organized a production for us, this year they did it themselves. It was awesome.

Singing Christmas songs for us

Watching the show with my buddy Aurthur

We wrapped up the day by all joining in and singing Silent Night together in Ukrainian. (Okay, so I can’t really sing or even speak much Ukrainian but I tried.)

Day 4 - Gift-giving and Goodbyes

In an effort to keep everything as organized as possible we had the kids divided into their classrooms, the gift bags sorted out and prepared for each class and ourselves loosely divided into groups. The first group would go into a classroom do a craft, tie it to the Christmas story and open the door for…. Santa! Who would enter laughing “Ho! ho! HO!” and with the help of a couple others hand out presents. Meanwhile the craft/story team would move onto the next class. It was a great plan and worked very well, although Santa (Markus) had some difficulty with crowds in the hallways.

Santa lamenting his lack of belly

Our craft was a paper star, involving one type of fold, three pieces of paper and three pieces of tape. It was pretty basic but it was challenging for most of the kids. They were up to it though and made some beautiful stars to remind them of the star that led the wise men to baby Jesus.

Tanya folding her star

Showing off their paper stars

The gifts this year included juice, fruit, candy, stuffed animals, notebooks, pens, pencils, puzzles, Christian music CDs and a new hit: Deodorant. Yes, that’s right, we gave all the older kids deodorant… and you wouldn’t believe how excited they were. You see, in Ukraine deodorant is a luxury due to it’s comparatively high cost. (Deodorant: $3.50 Loaf of bread: $0.35) Something many many “normal” Ukrainians don’t have let alone orphans in an orphanage far from Kyiv. Other items the kids loved were juice and fruit, things they rarely get.

Santa giving presents

Loving his new bear

When all the gift-giving and crafts were over it was time to say goodbye, my least favorite part of the trip. This is where it always hits me… I’m going home but they’re still stuck there. That is their home. As hard as it is to experience the contrasts between the little girls at the orphanage like Tanya and my own little sisters, I thank God that I get to be here and bring some Joy and Light to the dark place they call “home”. I’m so thankful to all of you who support us and made this trip possible. Whether in prayer, financially or by giving gifts for the kids, without you we couldn’t have done it. I couldn’t have been there.

View selected photos from the trip here or you can view all of the pictures here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Christianity, Prayer, Travel, Ukraine, YWAM, Ministry, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.