Salvation!

The morning session on Friday was particularly powerful.  Misha was our special speaker all week, and emcee.  He is a car mechanic by trade, and a preacher in his church.  Misha had laid the foundation all week for the gospel.  On Friday morning the he gave the campers and parents an opportunity to respond.  Alyosha, one of the boys from Romaniv was the first to come forward.  He got up immediately and walked boldly to the front of the worship hall.  13 others came forward.  2 more from Romaniv, 4 parents, and the rest campers.  Their faces clearly showed they knew what they were doing. 

One of the moms, Valya, came forward.  She has two severely disabled children.  She has had 2 abortions.  Her husband is disabled from working at Chernobyl and being exposed to radiation.  He is antagonistic against the gospel and will be very angry when he learns what his wife did.  And she is pregnant, and worried that her child will be disabled as well.  Natasha came forward.  Her daughter Nastia is precious.  Natasha is a university professor, as is her husband.  Before the camp the Bible was shelved in their library with the other fiction books.  She has searched out many religions and philosophies, but none of them have given her peace.  After many conversations this week, she came forward because she believes that Jesus is the answer to her many questions. 

Later that morning we had our last moms’ group.  At the end of the time, a babushka (grandmother) came forward with tears running down her cheeks.  She told me she wanted to confess her sins and receive Jesus.  Her name in English is Hope, and she takes care of her granddaughter, Anya, who became severely disabled as a reaction to an immunization she had at the age of 1.  It turns out that the Ukrainian government had purchased a cheap and faulty batch of drugs.  Hope decided to follow Jesus, and again there was no mistaking her decision regardless of the language barrier.

Impressions from Camp II

Here are some impressions of the disabled children’s camp this week. 

• Horseback riding . . . many of the campers were fearful and crying as their turn came up to ride the horse.  They very tentatively approached the horse.  Some of them were dragged kicking and screaming to the horse as they were placed on the horse.  In the first few steps they began to hide a grin.  By the first time around the track they were smiling and waving.  By the second time around they were crying because they did not want to get off the horse.
• The slide . . . just like the first camp this year, MTU rented a giant slide and bounce house for the campers.  One afternoon we spent laughing and screaming as camper after camper jumped down the slide with their arms waving high.  One side note – the young adult leaders had a monster workout.  Many of the campers needed to be carried up the ladder to the top of the slide.  Take it from me after carrying only a couple of campers in the hot sun, yikes!
• Special Olympics . . . the torch was carried in, Olympic President Ken declared the games officially open, and the campers were divided up into 4 teams.  We had 4 events that the teams rotated through: volleyball, baseball, water balloon launch, and dodgeball.  Steve, Caroline, and I were running the baseball game.  The campers had so much fun.  Perhaps the biggest surprise though were the moms and dads.  We had time at the end of each rotation, so the moms and dads then had a chance to hit the ball and run the bases.  And they did it with much gusto, let me tell you!  I thought they were going to rip the old leather off the rawhide.  The absolute best part of the Olympics were the closing ceremony by far.  Each camper’s name was announced, the crowd went wild, and they did a victory lap in front of the fans.  And then the “Olympic officials” put the gold medals over their heads and around their necks, along with a bracelet.  You would think the medals were actually made of gold.
• Mornings were special.  Every morning was a joyful reunion when the campers came out of their dorm rooms for the first time.

The Moms

As we have spent time with the moms of the campers this week, invariably we are astounded at the level of grace in their lives.  Let me just give you a sampling of examples:

• Most of the moms were told by their doctor upon the birth of their disabled child to give the child up.  Don’t bother even trying to take care of the child.  There is no hope.  They will never amount to anything.  They are not worth putting any effort into because they will never be “normal.”  They will never be able to walk, talk, play, laugh, learn . . . you name it.
• At least half of the moms were abandoned by their husbands upon the discovery that their child was disabled.  The stories ranged from: “he lost interest in me” to “he found other girls and drugs” to “he left when I paid too much attention to our child”  to “he didn’t love me anymore.”  Over and over again the women were abandoned in their time of need, and their child(ren) have grown up without a father.
• None of these moms have found any support in society (outside of Mission to Ukraine) for help and guidance with their disabled child.  Every improvement, therapy, or idea they have had to search out on their own and discover.  Everyone tells them there is no hope for their child and the message is always, “you can’t.” 
• None of these moms have the advantage of wealth and resources.  They are poor and barely can feed their family.  They have to do everything themselves without the help of any modern conveniences or support network. 
• If they ever want to go anywhere with their child, they have to figure out how to navigate a world using all public transportation, no ramps or accessible buildings, and oftentimes in bitter cold.
• And yet, when we were talking about their situation yesteray in the moms’ group, the prevailing sentiment was feeling sympathy for people who have it worse than they do, for diabled children who do not have families.
  

  Anya and her grandmother, Nadeerna, Veronica and her mom Liana

Here are some of the quotes from them this week:

• “Camp makes me feel like I am living.”
• “At camp I can leave all of my problems behind me.”
• “We have to live, believe, survive, and share God with those around us.”
• “This is completely differernt than my life back home.”
• “This supports and sustains me.”
• “She (my daughter) needs to live!”
• “When my mom died the heavens fell down to earth.  Within two months I had a visit from an MTU nurse.  This was a sign from above.  I needed help.  She talked and I opened up and this was the beginning of our life.  MTU gave me attention noone else did.”
• “I came here with many questions.  I have found the answers to my questions.”

A Day in the Life of an MTU Camp

For those of you who have never been to camp before, especially of the Mission To Ukraine disabled children variety, here is our daily schedule:

6:00 am                Most mornings Keith, Ken, Emily Luke, and Betsy go for a run through the forest.  We encounter everything from cows to mushroom pickers.  One morning Luke made the mistake of trying to beat Betsy in a sprint finish . . . and promptly puked.  And he lost.  But he was the only one brave enough to try to beat her!

7:15 am                Staff devotions.  The Ukrainian, American, and Dutch staff gather together for a couple of songs, a devotion, and prayer

7:45 am                Campers awake!

8:30 am                Morning exercises.  We all do stretches and exercises to some great music in the courtyard.

9:00 am                Breakfast.  Usually consists of mashed potatoes, meat, and beets.

9:45 am                Morning session (music, skits, teaching)

10:40 am              Small groups (the whole camp is divided up into age groups, about 7-9 kids campers per group).  Our team is split up between the groups.  There are also 3 other parent small groups that meet at the same time.

12:00 pm              Interest groups for the kids – beading, board games, drawing, play-doh

1:00 pm                Lunch.  Usually consists of mashed potatoes, meat, and beets.

2:00 pm                Quiet time.  I never have really napped much in my life, until this week. 

4:00 pm                Snacks

4:20 pm                Crafts for both adults and kids – they’ve been making some great crafts all week!

5:20 pm                Sports/games – all of the campers gather for anything from a big parachute to relays

6:30 pm                Dinner.  Usually consists of mashed potatoes, meat, and beets.

7:30 pm                Evening session (music, skits, and teaching)

8:20 pm                Evening snacks

9:00 pm                All staff meeting to review the day

9:30 pm                Senior leader meeting to review the day

10:00 pm              Team debrief (for the American team)

11:30 pm or so       Bed!

Interspersed throughout the schedule are surprises, such as the therapeutic horse back riding on Sunday, Spa day for the moms on Monday, the Big Slide on Wednesday . . . etc.

 All in all, it’s a ton of fun, but also sort of tiring as you can imagine.  So far the team is doing great!

Romaniv Rock Stars

The last people to arrive at camp on Friday were 6 boys from the Romaniv Boys’ Orphanage.  Romaniv is an orphanage for disabled boys that Mission to Ukraine discovered hidden deep in the countryside a little over 3 years ago.  Due to restrictive ideas and regulations from the government, these boys had been very neglected: locked in spartan rooms all day, some even chained to beds or chairs, very little human interaction except for each other (read World Next Door for more). 

Inside the Orphanage

Fortunately that is slowly changing.  After discovering the orphanage and its shocking conditions, MTU started visiting weekly, playing with the boys, loving them, teaching them, giving them therapy.  And under the current director of the orphanage and MTU’s weekly visits, the conditions have drastically improved (although the conditions are still fairly deplorable compared to what they could be some day).  And 6 of them were invited to camp. 

During Friday’s check-in procedures for the first day of camp, every camper arrival was either a joyful reunion (those who had been before) or a quiet, expectant observation (with perhaps a bit of wonder and amazement mixed in with some fear of the unknown).  But nothing compared with the arrival of the rock stars.

The Beatles?! Nyet, it's the Romaniv 6!

When the 6 boys arrived, it was sheer pandemonium.  Joy, laughter, shouts, high fives, hugs, cheers.  It might as well have been Bono arriving.  Just about the only thing that didn’t happen were autographs and a red carpet.  I think there were even some paparazzi hiding in the bushes.  The whole place lit up.

Snapping Photos

4 days later that same contagious enthusiasm follows the rock stars wherever they go in camp.  Making tie-dye hats . . . joyful!  Eating borscht for breakfast . . . happy!  Doing morning exercises . . . exuberant!  Running relay races . . . ecstatic!  Swinging on the swing . . . laughing!  Passing them on the walkway . . . high fives!  Making sock puppets . . . jubilant!  Singing camp songs . . . elated!  Eating more borscht . . . thrilled!  Dancing to music . . . electrifyied!  Giggles, laughter, smiles.  Everywhere they go they leave joy in their wake. 

Relay Races!

I sat behind them today during the morning session in the main hall.  We were singing a song with fairly complex hand motions.  I was watching them follow along and exuberantly and very forcefully doing the hand motions, usually about 1/2 beat behind!  No matter, they love the music and leap to their feet the second it starts.

One of them can’t speak.   One of them is deaf.  One of them has a crippled hand.  One of them has had multiple seizures since they arrived.  None of them have parents.  They’ve never known what it’s like to have a family, or a home.  They are all very short for their age.  They’ve never been to school.  They have been discarded by society as irrelevant, or worse. 

But for 8 consecutive days they are the bomb, the cat’s meow, the baddest of the bad, the hippest of the hip, the center of all attention.  And boy, do they deserve it.