N&S DOMa: January 2016

Friday, January 8, 2016

CONSRUCTION TEAMS COMING TO KHERSON in 2016
If you are interested in participating in one of the 4 teams that are forming to come to Kherson, Ukraine to build Stephen's home this coming spring and fall 2016, please contact Lori, Murwin with questions or to apply today:
lmurwin@nmsi.org or 513.545.9117

Team 1: May 8th - 23rd 2016

Skilled construction workers needed to put a partial basement for this home

for disabled young men.

Cost: $3600

2 spot still available

Team 2: May 23rd - June 5th 2016

Skilled construction workers needed to dig and pour the house foundation.

The handicapped accessible house is 470 sq meters

Cost: $3300

Team 3: Potentially September 4th - 18th 2016

This is a church team that has begun to form, so spots for them will take precedence, but you are welcome to join.

Cost: $2910

Team 4: No dates set yet, but the need is for skilled workers to help put up the roof

before winter sets in. Timing would most likely be late October.

10 potential team members could join

Continued clearing and preparation for the building of

Stephen's home this coming May, 2016

Sasha preparing the fruit trees for winter

Clearing the plot for Stephen's home, getting the roots of a downed tree cleared out.

Making progress/behind the church property

About

Loving on disable children in a small town, state run orphanage.

THEIR FUTURE

Most kids in Ukraine have to leave the orphanage at 18 years of age. A normal, healthy orphan has a rather bleak future if they don't have the encouragement of others. Most have few life skills and a poor education, and they are left to fend for themselves.

But for handicapped orphans, those labeled mentally disabled, their future is miserable. At 18 they are uprooted from the only home they have ever known, the orphanage, and sent to live in a psychological "internat" (government run institute) or an old-age home for the rest of their lives. They have no rights… no formal education and no understanding of life outside the orphanage. Desperate for freedom and longing to be loved, they are isolated from society.

Throughout their life in Ukraine, nothing for these disabled children comes easily. The world here is not handicap accessible. The stigma and cultural perspective remains in many people’s minds that these kids are not kids and need to be shut away. That is what has been done, having been placed in institutes they are not allowed to leave. The mentality of some who work in the homes is that the children don’t have feelings because they cannot respond or interact as a typical child. The children are not expected to live. That changes the whole outlook on care, feeding, nurturing, health, and every aspect of life.

But what about their hearts?

Necessities are covered by a small stipend from the local government for families who keep their disabled children in their homes. Many homes are single moms, and if she is at home with her disabled child, she cannot work to put food on the table or provide a roof over her family’s head. The government’s stipend does not begin to cover these needs. In many ways, out of a pure lack of resources, it is easier for the family to allow the government to provide, which means giving up their parental rights and letting someone else take care of their children.

The government will step in and remove a disabled child from the home if there is alcohol abuse, drug, and/or physical abuse. These addictions often result in the child having epilepsy. This is one of the biggest problems in the orphanage.

For all the children, no matter if their disability is physical, mental, or both, between 18 and 19 years of age, they will be moved to an asylum referred to as a psycho-neurological “internat” for adults or to a facility comparable in nature to an old folk’s homes.

This is the future for these young adults.

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Friday, January 8, 2016