Photo: This is the family of Eugene & Lada. They have TWENTY-ONE children! They have four of their naturally born children and then started giving a home to children whose parents were killed in the war. The most recent is 3-year-old Sophia (blue t-shirt in the middle). Sophia was left in Kharkov and Eugene and Lada travelled to get her. The family is full of smiles and activity!
Today has been a day of amazing visits and actions. Today underscores the enormous scope of our activities in shipping benevolent aid.
One disconcerting fact of the war is the ever-present but unanswered question—“What happens to the children whose parents are killed?” The immediate answer is, these will go into orphanages. However, I am becoming acquainted with a number of families who do not want these children to go into an orphanage. These are adopting the newly orphaned children. Today I met three families that have been helped with items from our shipments. These are categorized as “Families with many children.” Nicholi was able to drive us to meet these families that have been displaced by the war.
Anatoly and Ira had adopted three children in addition to their own three. In the photo you see three of the children and three more were in school classes. So at this point they have six children. They lived in one of the Regions that first suffered from Russia’s invasion and occupation. Thankfully they had left. They are currently living in an apartment that belongs to someone else who has left Ukraine. They have to pay utilities and food. They have tried to find jobs and Ira has found a job but it pays very little. She was unable to meet today because she was working. Anatoly’s mom has been with them since their departure from home. They are currently working on the documents that will permit them to adopt a 3-month old and a 3-year-old. These are siblings whose parents were serving in the military and were killed. They will be getting these new additions soon so they will have eight children and three adults living in a small apartment—but they are very happy. Nicholi had bought food and one bucket that we gave to them. Nicholi said that he was trying to raise funds to help pay the utility bill and I gave some cash to help that need.
The next family lived in Bucha. This is the city that became synonymous with Russia’s savagery and brutality (however the horrible actions of Bucha have been eclipsed now by even greater atrocities discovered in liberated towns).
The mother’s name was Galyna. Her husband died just before Russia invaded in 2022. They had adopted children orphaned by the 2014 invasion and subsequent fighting. After her husband died, Galyna continued taking children whose families had been erased. By the time of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, she had 14 children! She described the terror of the night Russia invaded. The citizens were being directed to evacuation centers but with her large family, there was no vehicle large enough to transport them. She said she decided to divide the family in hope that some would find a way out. She put the eldest boys in charge of one group and she took the younger children. The older ones were able to evacuate and were dispersed—some went to Germany, some to France, and some to still unknown locations.
Galyna was left in Bucha and gathered with about 150 in the basement of a church building. Her voice was emotional as she described living in the basement for 32 days as the war was fought in heated battles all around them. Then, one morning seven Russian troops burst into the basement saying those living there were spies and soldiers were under orders to kill all. Galyna and other women pleaded with the Russians saying they had family in various places in Russia and Crimea. They said the Russian troops were young enough to be their grandchildren. Galyna talked with the commander of the unit and said that Russians and Ukrainians were kin. After an agonizing silence the commander told his unit it was time to go. He told Galyna and the other women that the store in Bucha had been bombed but maybe they could find something to eat there. He advised them to walk and not go in cars because Russians were shooting cars.
After 32 days Galyna and a few left the basement and went to forage food at the destroyed stores. They had to navigate carefully as mines had been laid and Galyna said they could hear the artillery shells going over their heads.
They were finally able to evacuate when the Russians put a “green corridor” into force. This was a route where safe passage was guaranteed for citizens—but such guaranteed passages in many locations were lies. Thankfully all were evacuated and Galyna was the last person to leave Bucha. They were taken to IDP camps scattered through western Ukraine and eventually ended up in Germany. Currently they are back in Ukraine. They live in a garden home that is offered to them. She does not know where all of her children are. She has eight with her now and is trying to locate the others.
She did receive word that as soon as she and the children left their house, a Russian mortar hit their house and it was burned. All she had was a bag of things that she and her eldest son had hurried gathered. Eyes brimming with tears she emotionally said, “Everything. Everything is gone.”
Eugene and Lada host a home that is amazing. They have TWENTY-ONE children!! They have recently welcomed 3-year-old Sophia who was orphaned in Kharkov when a missile stuck an apartment complex and killed her momma—her daddy had already been killed. When Nicholi’s wife (Galina) told Lada that I had sent the buckets, Lada’s face beamed. She said, “Oh you do not know how important these buckets are. And the things inside the buckets are things we can only imagine holding in our hands!” I wish all could have heard her words and appreciate just how much these Family Buckets mean in the distribution.
As the family continues to struggle with the war’s consequences…evacuation, schools, food, etc., they grow stronger as a unit. The older children are trying to find some kind of work so they can help bring money to the family.
Eugene and I were having a very good Bible discussion. He said he thinks it is very important for the children to know the Bible. He said that he told one of the older boys to read and study James chapter 1. He told him there were three points in that chapter that he wanted the boy to find. Two hours later the boy had found the points! Open doors!!
In a family this large, every child has a duty. When I walked in 3-year-old Sophia was washing dishes and stood only tall enough for her armpits to sit on the counter, but she was washing pots and pans. She would scrub then take the pot out and look to see if it was clean. The family is living in a place that has an old dishwashing machine and Sophia loaded it after washing the pots and pans—remember this is a 3-year-old!
Continue praying for our efforts! “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way that I ought to proclaim it.” (Colossians 4:2-4)
John L. Kachelman, Jr. Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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