Project Description
CHILDREN’S OUTREACH
Pastor Alexander was a charity worker in Donetsk Region. Due to the war in Eastern Ukraine, Alexander and his family had to leave the area in 2014. He at one time hid for one week in a basement as he was on a hit list of Pastors that would be put in prison. Some Pastors were killed and some wounded.
Many families lived in fear and along with Alexander and his family they escaped in their cars at great personal risk to themselves.
Pastor Alexander first moved to a place called Poltarva, across the border. In the occupied area many people did not receive a pension for 6 months and 16 people died of starvation. Money donated from Door of hope was used at this time to bring food to people in this region. Alexander stayed with them until the pension was reinstated.
Now working in the so called red zone between the occupied and unoccupied areas, Alexander runs the Angel of Light Centre in a village called Zhelannoye, along with a team of church volunteers. This centre provides safety and support to children and young adults who fled the areas where conflict happened. Many of the children lost family members as well as parents because of the violence and the devastation that happened in their home village. With many children fleeing into devastated areas of Ukraine, local councils were picking these children up and placing them into children’s homes where on many occasions were subjected to abuse.
In a small village where there is little to no employment and just one local school, the Angel of Light sits proudly within Zhelannoye, caring for children who have been mentally scarred by the sadness that has happened to them.
With the growing number of children and families now attending the centre, Door of Hope and Link to Hope were delighted to finance the purchase of a larger and more useable Angel of Light Centre, making clubs within the centre easier to run, clubs like:
A LIFE LINE WITHIN THIS COMMUNITY
The Angel of Light Centre is a life line within this community not only offering support and wellbeing for the youngsters but also being involved with outreach work to the elderly and people with disabilities, taking food parcels and aid when needed to people who struggle to leave their homes.
Door of Hope continue’s to support the ongoing work that Pastor Alexander and his volunteers achieve for the lives of these children and families. – Love and Prayers
