Chernovtsy, Ukraine – The children’s faces light up each time the young volunteers come to visit them at the Aquila Foundation ministry to children with disabilities.

In Chernovtsy, in the southwest of Ukraine, half an hour from the border with Romania, is the town where Vera Kushner, a Nazarene whose heart and ministry is for people with disabilities, started the Aquila Foundation nearly nine years ago. Today, with the partnership of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) child sponsorship, and the visits from monthly teams from Kiev 1st Church of the Nazarene, this ministry to children with special needs and their mothers is meeting a significant need.

In Ukraine, due to lingering Soviet influence, there is still discrimination against people with disabilities, said Trino Jara, Eurasia Region NCM coordinator. Most of the children touched through Aquila live only with their mothers, because many of their fathers abandoned them when the children were born with physical or mental limitations.

Recently, a team including Mission Corps missionaries Joe and Ree Sumi, missionary Linda Russell and Jara visited the ministry, accompanied by Iryna Galisevich, CIS Field Child Development Coordinator for NCM. It was an incredible experience to find a team of young people from different churches in Chernovtsy, most of them students or recent graduates, investing their weekends to minister to the kids and their mothers.

When the volunteers arrive, they lead Christian songs, teach a Bible lesson and help the children learn a Bible verse. The moms spend some time in another room learning how to make a craft, and listen to a biblical reflection.

“When I began this ministry it was like the sense of living in a bubble of happiness, joy and God’s love, like in Heaven,” said Ruslan, a young family doctor and leader of the ministry volunteer team. We could spend our Saturdays in many other ways but we don’t because we want to give our time on Saturday to invest in these families, we also gather together on  Thursday and Friday to prepare everything for Saturday to minister to these families.”

Malivina, a university student, said, “Once you enter the lives of the children and see their inner person, not just their bodies with their limitations, you discover they are smart and loving kids, you discover they live in a cage where they can not escape.”

These young men and women could be spending their time with friends and enjoying typical recreation; instead they choose to invest their lives visiting and ministering to these families and leading the Kids Club on Saturdays, said Jara.

Nazarene Child Development ministry operates in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova and other countries of the CIS Field which are closed to the Gospel. Currently there are 27 Children’s clubs in the CIS. More than 350 children receive monthly support from individual sponsors. Children’s clubs extend care to more than 1,000 children each week.

The goal is to provide holistic development for children and nurture the gifts and talents that God has placed in them. The mission is to identify and release the God-given potential in every child on the CIS field. Child Development exists to support ministries to children among Nazarene churches in the countries of the former Soviet Union, helping local churches to multiply their care for children. 

To learn more about Child Development ministries in CIS visit: http://ncm.org/projects/acm1731