Safe Haven has been working with the orphanage in Khanev for over 10 years. Every Spring and Fall break they put on a camp for the kids who don’t spend the break with family. So last week, Janna and I got to go with them and a group of American who came to help put on the camp. We aren’t allowed into the orphanage in Komarivka, so we thought this would be a great opportunity to see what Safe Haven does and try to learn from them.
Anya and Bogdon, house parents at Safe Haven, have told us that camp is when they develop relationships with the kids that eventually come and live at Safe Haven when they finish school. So I expected Anya and Bogdon to be in the middle of everything all week long. But they weren’t. Bogdon emceed during the talent show, and Anya said something to the group the very first day and the very last day. Other than that, they stayed out of the spotlight. (Except when Anya played the beautiful girl in a skit with 5 guys and they were all fighting for her hand … but she didn’t actually say anything there.)
That isn’t to say that they didn’t interact with the kids. They were always with kids. Every time I saw Anya, she was off in the corner talking to one or two of the older girls or boys. That's what they did all week, they connected with the kids. It took a few days for it to dawn on me. They bring teams from the US, and others to play with the kids and keep the group occupied, while they are focusing on the individual. In a lot of ways we were the distractions so that they could do the real work.
Anya shared with us a little bit about what she talks to the kids about. She asks them their plans for the next year. What do they want to study, where do they want to go to school? She asks them if they are scared. If they have anyone who will help them. Family to turn to. She digs and tries to understand their real situation.
And the kids are scared, the kids who come to the camps are the ones who don’t or can’t go home to family during school breaks. They don’t have people who will look after them. They may have plans for school, but its going to be them verses the world, and the world isn’t very nice to kids from the orphanage. For many kids, graduation day is a day of fear and dread. No longer will the government watch over them and take care of them.
And so Anya shares some of her wisdom. She talks about Safe Haven and offers that they maybe could come and live with them. She says that no matter what she would like to keep in touch, and they can always call her. And she prays with them. She’s living out her faith in front of these kids. She’s showing them that when she faces problems, she turns to God.
This is just one step in the journey. Its how discipleship begins. Meeting someone where they are, and pointing them to Christ. Next comes walking through life and all its problems together and learning to not just look at Christ and talk to him, but to actually follow him. That’s what Anya and Bogdon do with the kids who get to live in their homes.
The week of camp it became clearer than ever to me that Safe Haven is a Great Commission ministry. Their number one goal is making disciples. The focus isn’t the games, the preaching, the music, the camps, providing a bed for a kid, or any of a number of things. Its being with these kids where they are and helping them to become disciples of Christ, encouraging them to tell the world that they are followers of Christ by being baptized (they take this very seriously) and teaching them to obey all that he has commanded. In case you didn’t know, that’s what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 28:19-20. And we’ve seen that their work is spreading out into the wider world from Kiev as students who have lived in Safe Haven move out and follow their example.
At camp we did a lot of different things. We sang praise songs, played games, listened to messages, did crafts, had a costume party, swapped snowballs at tremendous rates of speed, snuggled, prayed, had small group Bible studies, told jokes, told the kids we would see them again and even roasted delicious, imported marshmallows. But the way I see it, the heart of the week was Anya and Bogdon and their entourage trying to let the kids know we want to share in your lives and we want to share what Christ has done in ours.
And it was cool, because we all caught on that it was important to spend one on one time and try to really connect with the kids.
When Janna and I were in the US telling people about Safe Haven and what they do, many people asked us the blunt question, “Do the transition homes work?” And we honestly didn’t know. Now, I’ve been here for two years, I’ve watched the kids, I’ve seen some of them move out of Safe Haven and start living on their own. Next month I hope to sit down with Anya and Bogdon to come up with statistics for what happens to the kids after they leave the home, but I can say for now with certainty that Safe Haven does work. And I believe that is it because they obey Christ and focus not on the program, but on discipleship.
Sunday morning at church, I tried to help Ira with the little kids. We had 3 four-year-olds, and I got to watch Ira, who moved out of Safe Haven last year when she got married, teach a short lesson on the Ten Commandments. It was such a fantastic time, as she patiently explained why God wants us to follow these simple rules, and then she led the kids in prayer. For the hundredth time, watching her, I knew that Anya and Bogdon are doing a great job, cause the kids they have worked with are great followers of Christ.
This should be a challenge to all of us. We are all called to make disciples. We all have people in our lives who need to see us talking to, listening to and obeying Christ day in and day out. But that first step is learning about someone, and praying with them like Anya does. We need to show them that when we face life, we always try to do it with God, seeking his guidance.
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