Dima Ostrovsky enjoys strolling around Kiev. But until recently, he couldn’t even walk. 6 years ago, Dima fell off a roof and broke his back. Dima lived without hope for nearly five years, but when Operation Blessing brought a medical outreach to his hometown, his life drastically changed.
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Ever since he was a little boy, Sasha Kurysin wanted to be left alone. The other children made fun of him because he had crossed eyes. Sasha hated how he looked, and rarely let anyone take a picture of him. A simple surgery was all he needed, but Sasha was an orphan, and had no money to pay for it. Sasha shares his memories, “They called me names like “sharpshooter.” It was hard to ignore them. I prayed to God every day and asked Him to help me!”
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Aliena, a six-year-old Ukrainian girl, had suffered with a double hernia since birth. Without surgery, doctors told her parents that she could die. But her mother simply couldn’t afford for the operation. Luckily, Operation Blessing helped this family and today, after a successful surgery, Aliena can enjoy the life of a normal six-year-old, and she can now run, jump and play with her five brothers.
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Valentine’s Day has typically been a holiday celebrated in the west, but as time has passed, this day of celebrating love has picked up popularity in places like Ukraine. So with the theme of love in mind, a team of volunteers working with the Operation Blessing staff in Kiev, put together a special day for the children of the Borzna orphanage in Ukraine. In order to celebrate Valentines day and teach the youth a deeper meaning of love, our volunteers prepared a special 2 hour program of games and skits illustrating the points about love found in 1 Corinthians 13.
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7-year-old Anzhela Borodina became a victim of tragic circumstances. When she was born, the midwife accidentally dropped her on the floor and this cased a grave form of cerebral palsy in her body. At the age of seven she doesn’t hold her head, can’t walk or sit and can’t live without taking medicines. Operation Blessing Ukraine was able to provide her with a special table that will help her sit firm and will disburden the everyday life of Anzhela’s family.
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It’s not a secret for anyone that medical situation in Ukraine is very far from being perfect. On one hand, the medical treatment is Ukraine is considered to be free, but in reality you have to pay for every medical service and every pill that you have to take. This situation becomes especially difficult for the families with children suffering from grave diseases like cerebral palsy, leukemia, cancer, Hepatitis, etc. Not only do the parents have to watch their child day and night, but they also need to think of the ways to provide for the medical services and medicines that are unbelievably expensive! Luckily, there are people whose heart is open to help people like that. In situations where you either pay enormous amounts or lose your child, the gratitude of parents is just indescribable. Vlad Zabrodsky is one of the people who has been continually helping families and children in need.
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In September 2007, CBN Partners from different parts of the United States had a chance to come to Ukraine on a vision trip and see all of the work that has been done here due to their generous donations. They were able to meet the Ukrainian CBN team and participate many of the projects that Operation Blessing International has been supporting in Ukraine. One of CBN Partners shared her heart at the closing dinner, "I have been able to see the sacrifices that are being made. Writing the check from home, that's the easy part. We appreciate what you are doing so much!"
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A young family, constant need, continuous unemployment and no hope for a better future… Unfortunately, this situations has been well known to too many people in Ukraine, especially to those living in the remote villages. But the most terrible this situation will seem to the people having a baby in their hands, when they have to wake up every morning without knowing whether or not they will have enough food for the baby. Operation Blessing has helped one of the families like that - Vladimir and Nataliya residing in Bashtanka village, Nickolayev region. For the money provided by Operation Blessing they were able to start a small family business - purchase four cows and a watering system for their garden. Now they are able to provide for themselves and for their little daughter.
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In 15 years of Operation Blessing’s activity in Ukraine, many thousands of Ukrainians were able to receive some help either food, clothes, medicines or other vital things. The aid mostly came from the US office of Operation Blessing. Since September 2004, about 400 people – our Partners of mercy - both from Ukraine and from other countries have expressed their desire to donate money on regular basis to help orphans, elder people and others Ukrainians in need.
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The children of Rogatyn boarding school received 50 new and comfortable mattresses for their new beds that were purchased with the help of our International Partners are were given to the orphanage by Terry Meeuwsen – a woman whose heart is with Ukrainian children. The students and teachers of this school are very thankful for the donation given and also for the sound sleep of the children on the new mattresses. The kids are sure to have sweet dreams!

Christmas time became a real holiday for the orphans of the Zhukin orphanage. Their American friend John Delphino came to visit them and brought wonderful Christmas presents to the children. 23 boys and girls received packages with various sweets and fruit. Besides the Zhukin orphanage, John Delphino visited the Petrivtsy boarding school for orphans where 17 boys and girls received sweets, fruits, toys and clothes.
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When her husband found out that his son had cerebral palsy, he told Valentina that he didn’t need a wife who gives birth to sick children and left the family. The husband’s betrayal was only the first trial for Valentina. But it was her little son Kolya who inspired her to keep going, as he couldn’t survive without her care and help. Today Kolya is eight years old and thanks to our Partners he was able to undergo treatment that helped him feel much better and is now able to move about without a wheelchair!
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In the winter of 2006, through the social work of Operation Blessing Ukraine, the OB staff met a family who was in desperate need of help. Tamara and Alexey Demenchucks were older people, pensioners who had been taking care of their invalid daughter for 43 years. A poorly done surgery caused their daughter Elena to be confined to bed. For many years Elena has been dreaming of a washing machine for her elderly parents, which would help them to take care of her every day needs. Thanks to our Partners her dream has come true!
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In the summer of 2006, OB staff heard the story of the Koretsky family, how four children had been left homeless after their mother’s death. Although, the children still had a father, he lived in an old, rundown house and couldn’t afford to buy a new one where his children would be safe and warm. Thus, the children had to live in an orphanage in winter and go to summer camps in summer. After we shared this need with our Partners, the children soon were able to move into a wonderful, new house.
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Almost a year ago, the grandmother of 4-year-old Boyko Eliza came to “Operation Blessing” for help. The little girl urgently needed finances to pay for the course of chemotherapy after removal of a malignant tumor. Today Eliza is already at home and is feeling great! Eliza’s grandmother has expressed her gratitude to all of the Partners who have helped Eliza. She said, “We are very grateful to you for your assistance. It’s impossible to describe in words what this help meant for our family. Anyone who has children will understand me. You have given Eliza the gift of life!” During her visit to Ukraine in October 2006, Terry Meuwseen, the co-host of 700 Club, met with Eliza and her family.
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In December 2005 we received an e-mail from a private person from USA. The e-mail said: “I would like to come to Ukraine for my Christmas vacation and I would really want to help the orphanages. I want the children at the orphanages to have a real Christmas this year”. We couldn’t leave such a request unanswered and decided to visit three orphanages in Kiev area and give the children real Christmas gifts.
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