We remain grateful for your support of our UKRAINE: FAMILY EMERGENCY FUND. Because of your generosity, we have been able to continue helping families who have had to leave their homes by finding them a place to stay, medical help, money for evacuation travel, clothes and other essentials.
FAMILY UPDATE
Our Co-Founder, Yuri Yakovlyev, continues to stay in contact with our HopeHouse Families. Every family is accounted for, and no one that we are aware of to date has been a casualty of war. Some are taking shelter in Europe temporarily until they can return; some have stayed in their communities and sheltered others in their homes; some have gone to live with other HopeHouse Families in safer regions; and some have had the most agonizing experience of separating from their loved ones just to survive.
While it seems calmer in Ukraine because this conflict is no longer on the front page, the lives of the Ukrainian people are anything but calm.
HOMES
Since the start of the war, five million Ukrainians have fled to Europe, and twelve million have been displaced inside Ukraine and long to return to their homes and communities. To date, only one HopeHouse home has been damaged, which is a miracle and an answer to prayer! But despite the fact that our other HopeHouse homes remain intact, many of our families will be unable to return home for some time to come. For example, they don’t feel safe in Kiev and its outskirts because there are landmines all over the region and towards the east. Also, many roads, bridges, power plants, schools, hospitals, grocery stores, and other infrastructure will need to be rebuilt across the central and eastern parts of the country.
INVISIBLE BATTLE
When our families can return safely, the reality we now face is that they will not be the same. Because even as we witness the atrocities of a physical war, another invisible battle is occurring. It is unseen but just as damaging. It is a battle that attacks people’s mental health, nervous systems, physical bodies, spiritual well-being, relationships, and emotional stability. It is the pain experienced by families who have had to be separated. It is the devastation of personal security, livelihoods, inner peace, and hope. This conflict, plagued by trauma, fear, and uncertainty, has resulted in widespread anxiety and depression, affecting family relationships and damaging children in a number of ways.
Since the start of the war, Yuri and I have had extensive daily conversations regarding our families, the hardships they are suffering, and how HopeHouse International can meet their needs while remaining true to our core mission. We, along with our Board of Directors, recognize that the effects of this war are far-reaching, and while we are grateful that only one HopeHouse home was harmed, we all understand that much more harm has been done in the lives of our families. The destination of HopeHouse has never been about a physical house. Instead, it has always been about what was inside the house: the family, the children, their souls, and the generational impact of their lives.
NEXT STEPS
One of our key goals as a ministry has been to develop a plan that would offer a transitional strategy for HopeHouse Families who are not yet able to return to their homes while also ministering to their emotional, physical, and spiritual needs.
The following are the consistent needs that have emerged from conversations with numerous families:
- An interim transitional shelter that is safe, secure, and restorative
- Medical services
- Trauma and PTSD counseling for parents and children
- Income opportunities and/or vocational training for those who have lost jobs
- Private tutoring for children whose education has been interrupted
- Therapeutic opportunities for children to process their trauma
In these last few months, God has given fresh vision and direction and has guided us through the evaluation of many possibilities. As a result, He has provided us with an all-inclusive opportunity that expands our capacity to meet the critical needs now, as described above, and in the future, as the number of war-orphaned children continues to grow and HopeHouse International’s mission remains vital.
I look forward to providing more detailed information in early July.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please continue to pray for our HopeHouse Families as they face the visible and invisible battles brought on each day as a result of this war. And please pray for us as we continue to seek God’s wisdom in all aspects of this ministry.
With much appreciation,
Deneen Turner
Co-Founder
