I've been on the World Without Orphans team for over ten years. Along with my wife, Tanya, and our 2 young sons, I chose to stay home in our eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, feeling a strong calling from God to help and serve those in our community. Shortly after the start of the invasion, we opened our home to a family of four who needed a safer place to stay. At that moment, eight to eleven people were finding refuge in our apartment and making use of our building's bomb shelter when sirens blare. Tanya cooked food for our guests and helped with coordinating volunteer efforts in evacuations from all over Ukraine. I continued to perform important tasks as the logistics lead for WWO’s online events worldwide as well as working on the evacuation efforts across Ukraine.
We love showing God’s love to our neighbors and serving them during this difficult time. Thanks to your help, we've been able to equip the bomb shelter with food and basic necessities to accommodate 30+ people. Providing people with psychosocial support has been our next step after the first months of fear and uncertainty were over.
This is still a scary time after almost a year and a half, and at least the children need to be protected and feel as safe as possible. The massive missile attacks on Dnipro have scarred many souls, and providing access to the support program called "Hope Groups" has been crucial for emotional survival and building resiliency.
God is giving us strength and the ability to serve as we face this battle in our nation.
I invite you to partner with us as we continue to serve the vulnerable in our community and beyond.
Dmytro