The horrendous attack on this hospital serves as a dark background against which the Ternopil camp* for special needs children and youth shines all the more brightly. Twenty-eight youngsters with a variety of needs attended, and Volodia and Oksana tell of the joy on their faces as they played games in the countryside and swam giggling in a pool, far away from the sirens that alarm them.  They so enjoyed spending time in the company of others who, like them, can often feel isolated. Ukraine, Volodia explains, is trying to improve its care for such children, but the shadow of Soviet-era institutionalising of disabled people still hangs over the country, and in wartime there are fewer resources available to devote to bettering the welfare of these young citizens.

This is an area in which Volodia and Oksana’s experience of giving 24/7 care to their elder son is so valuable. The parents who attend this camp know that when our EMF missionaries give advice and show love to their children, they are totally empathetic, knowledgeable and caring. The organising team counts on their guidance in planning activities, and especially in putting together the Bible-centred teaching throughout the week. This year the content was based on the book of Psalms. The children were taught how comforting the psalmists’ words could be to them. They memorised whole psalms, and those who could not say the words out loud conveyed their meaning with all the non-verbal language they were capable of using. Seeds of the gospel were planted in their hearts and in those of their parents.

When Zechariah was born, the doctors encouraged his parents to place him in a care home. ‘You are young,’ they were told. ‘Go and live your lives and be useful to society’. Volodia and Oksana chose instead to care for Zechariah themselves, sacrificing much as they did so. Nineteen years later, at a simple little camp for children and young people with all kinds of learning difficulty, they are able to reach out in love with the gospel. Parents, even atheistic and Orthodox parents, listen to them: parents who one day learnt that their child was to have severe limitations in life; parents who must have felt that their life was as much in ruins as the Kyiv children’s hospital devastated by the Russian attack in July 2024. Volodia and Oksana are, you see, ‘useful to society’, truly useful, because they have special access to people in Ukrainian society who would otherwise never hear the gospel.

*The camp was subsidised by gifts from local churches and donations from a group of believers in the US. A few years ago, EMF supporters raised money for a minibus and sensory room for the ‘Happy Wheels’ ministry to children with special needs, founded by Volodia and Oksana. Even in wartime the ministry continues, though it has limitations at the moment.

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