Mobile Medical Clinics in Ukraine
With an invitation from partner, Hungarian Baptist Aid, Kristy led a team of four health care professionals in early December 2022. The team served in the border regions of Ukraine to help meet the needs of orphans, internally displaces persons (IDP’s) and, the Roma population. More than 220 people were seen over five days of clinics and they began to understand the challenges facing all Ukrainians. I will apologize ahead of time for the length of this newsletter…I feel like I could write a book about our time serving in Ukraine! |
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| Henri Nouwen writes:
‘Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.’ |
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| (The above two pictures share a glimpse of the ministry that our team was privileged to help with, through Hungarian Baptist Aid (HBAid). In the picture on the left, we had just finished a very long, cold, dark day of medical consultations at an orphanage that had been moved from bombed areas of eastern Ukraine. Our team of four is interspersed with the HBAid team, translators, and a few children (faces covered on purpose) and workers from the orphanage. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but it is about 9pm and we had seen 90 patients in a facility without electricity, running water, or heat. Our smiles attest to the spirit of joy that was a part of each clinic, despite any situation.
The second picture is at the same orphanage where the director and her staff cooked a meal to serve to our team…and we ate by candlelight because there wasn’t electricity. I’m really not sure HOW they cooked the meal, but it was done with love and gratitude and we gladly received their generosity. Prior to our team visiting, no other team had been allowed in to visit the children or care for them. The leaders of the orphanage were very worried about human trafficking and so limited any group coming into the orphanage. And you can understand their hesitation. They had just been rushed out of their homes and had to care for 60 orphans and make sure they were getting settled. All they knew is that their previous home was under attack and the safety of the kids was a priority. So they didn’t trust many people.
HBAid’s team leader, pastor Csaba (pronounced Chaba), had been in contact with the orphanage leadership for months and tried to relieve their concerns. He offered to bring medical teams, food, clothing…anything they needed. But, each time he asked, they refused help. Finally, he had convinced them to accept a food donation. He loaded a van with food and we put our medical supplies in another van with our team. Csaba told us that we may not be allowed to see the children but to just pray. As he gave the food to the director of the orphanage, he mentioned we also had a medical team willing to see both the adult supervisors and the children. The director finally agreed!
Csaba hurried over to our van and told us to move quickly in case she changed her mind. What we found inside the building, where the orphanage had relocated, broke our hearts. No electricity. Dark hallways. No running water, so no flushing toilets, bathing, or cooking. No heat.
This was an orphanage. Children who had lost their families or had been removed from parents unable to care for them now had to live in a cold, dark, strange building and make it normal. The orphanage workers had also abandoned everything to move with the children. Their own families were living with them in this dark building.
How could anyone allow this to happen to innocent children? That was the question heavy on my heart throughout the day. I also sat in awe of the generous love poured out onto the kids. Life was really hard, but the adults caring for these kids did all that they could and it was done with kindness and compassion. It made me want to be a better person every day. |
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| This picture is of a Ukrainian dentist and his wife who had to race from an area of heavy bombing in eastern Ukraine and relocate to a school that was being used to house Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s). I was excited to learn that there was a trained dentist who might be able to help in our clinics, but then learned he spent most of his time caring for his wife who had a medical condition that made it necessary for him to remain at her side. It may be hard to see, but I was fighting back tears in this photo because their situation broke my heart. They had nothing more than what they could carry as they raced out of their comfortable home when the bombing started. They were trying to set up a new life, starting from scratch, when they should be enjoying a life of retirement. And still, they were humble, thankful, and kind. How many of us would share that same spirit if we had just lost everything, our country was at war, and we faced an unknown future? |
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Are you now wondering what you can do to help the people in these stories? There are two REALLY great ways you can help:
- Pray specifically (for peace, health, appropriation of resources, endurance, discernment for Kristy as she prepares to continue work with HBAid)
- Give generously (to relief funds, support of partners, and support of Kristy in her ministry and her work funds that allow her to serve)
I know that this may seem too simple, but I can attest to seeing God’s hand cover our trip and supply for all of our needs. It was due to the generosity of many donors but also because people were praying for this work. I ask you to continue praying. Make them specific to cover those ministering to IDP’s, orphans, marginalized communities and their own churches but also that those who have the means to give, will give generously.
The blue link above that says, HELP UKRAINE NOW, will take you to a giving page for Ukraine Relief through International Ministries. If you would prefer to directly support Kristy’s ministry or the ministry funds that provide for supplies and travel, click one of these two links:
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Thank you, for all you do to help make this ministry possible, in places like Ukraine, and through our partners around the world, like Hungarian Baptist Aid. I am excited and inspired by what is possible in the future, and I’m working to continue serving the needs of IDP’s affected by the war in Ukraine. Thank you for your prayers and for the generous support. I expect to return to Hungary very soon and to continue working with Hungarian Baptist Aid and their work with IDP’s in the border areas of Ukraine.
I am grateful for you! |
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