There are still tens of thousands of Jewish people in Ukraine. Most are elderly, and holocaust survivors many with serious health problems. Often these elderly Jewish people live on $50 or $100 per month. Many times these elderly folks must decide if they will purchase food or medicine or pay their rent. We have been visiting Ukraine for almost 20 years.
We have been able to bring food, medicine, and furnishings to thousands of these impoverished Jewish people. I have seen the extreme poverty of so many of these people and it is heart breaking. Driving through the Ukrainian countryside is like stepping back in time 100 years. Community wells and out houses are the public works. For the last seven years there has been a war going on in the eastern region of the country with some 14,000 deaths. We have met many refugees from the fighting.
People who have lost everything, and we have been able to help. An example of this was a family of 5 who lives in a borrowed house with nothing but beds. We bought them a refrigerator so they could keep food for their children. We met an elderly couple who lived in a 5 floor walkup. They could not leave their home and lived on the kindness of their neighbors and a handicapped son. The son only had one leg and he would climb these stairs every day to help his parents.
On one visit he fell down and broke an arm. These are the people we must help. We have been able to speak to thousands of people over the years. We have seen many accept the Messiah and go from despair to hope. Pray for the nation of Ukraine that it will turn from its antisemitic history and embrace Israel and the Jewish people. I have been in too many Ukrainian churches that rejected the Jewish people. Pray for revival for the Jewish people in Ukraine. Pray that we are able to do more to help these precious people.
