LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

In January our tutees were back to school returning from their long Christmas holidays. A lot of them spend their holidays in Italy, some went home while there were those who had to celebrate New Year at the asylum. In our first meeting this year we asked the kids to share about their holidays. For almost every tutee it is a true pride to claim he or she spent this special time of the year with their families – parents and siblings. And the real challenge is to stay awake as long as possible and not fall asleep during the New Year’s night. They were so excited to say when was the latest time they went to bed. Certainly the kids would naturally omit their family traditions to get drunk and raise scandals. For them this all goes together with the notion of celebrating something. So that’s why the kids would remember and tell only about the good time they spent TOGETHER – because the orphanage robbed it from them from early childhood. These simple children stories prove absolute vitality of every human being to have a Home. Not just a house with a rooftop and walls. The government provided they have it. But a Home is first and foremost about relationships, acceptance and genuine care. And this kind of heaven the Lord descended to bring back to this earth. Our prayers go for the Vileyka Orphanage tenants so that through believing in Jesus Christ they would one day retrieve the feeling of acceptance and belongness to their heavenly Home. We arranged a big celebration at the asylum. In cooperation with the youth from Golgotha church we brought a puppet theatre to the kids on January 24th. The kids were in for games, a lot of interactive scenes between the puppets and their excited audience, getting-to-know activities and of course a surprise behind the curtain! The heroes of the puppet show reminded a lot of the kids so the latter could relate to them easily – they could see the puppets who make friends, break up, act naughty and are always excited to get to know new things – just like themselves. The heroes of the staged play were witnesses of the Christmas story, of how Lord Jesus came to this world. And the faraway Palestine became so close while the events were unfolding right before the children’s eyes. No holiday goes without gifts! So at the end of the party each child received a present. Everyone was pleased and happy! A lot of kids would approach the performers and thank them and a lot of them expressed their gratitude for the gifts. And then we had to leave – only to come back again! Until February!