Ukraine orphans: ‘A dramatic and terrifying escape’
Iain Taylor
The Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) is a supporter of the Grace Shelter, an orphanage run by Grace Church (Baptist) in Odessa, a port on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, since 2004.
Fifty-three children, aged from about three to 18, and their ‘orphan parents’ lived there. The site also hosted a ‘transition house’, which provided a number of small apartments for young adults for a couple of years whilst learning to become independent.
Moldova and east Ukraine: breakthrough among young?
Slavic Gospel Association & Mission Without Borders
Moldova has suffered particularly badly in the Covid pandemic, coming as it did on the heels of a severe drought and disastrously poor harvests in 2020, which added to the already heavy burdens of the poor and vulnerable.
Poverty is endemic in large sections of the populace, and its consequences are evident not only in material terms but in the realm of relationships, and particularly family life. This scenario is common in a number of East European countries. Families are poor. The parents cannot find work to sustain their children and their homes. They take the decision to go to other countries where work can be found, and children are left in the care of ageing grandparents who themselves find life difficult and challenging. Often this results in children growing up without adequate parental guidance and discipline, and falling prey to many dangers and temptations, including addiction, sexual abuse, and even human trafficking. It is no exaggeration to say that chaos is evident in many family situations.
Why does Trump get things back to front?
One of President Trump’s flaws is that he too often gets things the wrong way round. To put it simply, he seems to want the cake but doesn’t like baking. In fact, he doesn’t really do baking at all, but still expects a perfect cake! And that flaw is all too obvious in this week’s frantic round out activity regarding Ukraine and Russia.
So we’ve had the first meeting between the presidents of the USA and Russia in over four years – but it was arranged at the drop of a hat. Normally months of preparation would precede such an important meeting. First, diplomatic envoys from both sides would thrash out all the details, leaving the two presidents merely to dot the "I"s and cross the "T"s and do the flashy PR bit with the handshakes and the press conference. But before the Alaska summit last Friday, there was no time for preparation.