Christmas break ended this Monday (the 13th) for the kids at the orphanage. Originally, our plan was to go up on Wednesday and give out our gifts of photo albums, flashlights and some candy. But at the last minute we changed our plans. We are going to wait to give out the presents.
The Christmas story was told and at the end a guy got up and shared about the meaning of Christmas. It was all in Ukrainian so I didn’t understand everything, but later Kolya told me that they did a really good job.
And then came the presents (Operation Christmas Child boxes), then the group photo, and then the team left.
The kids with their presents
This is common, many church groups and youth groups will put together a Christmas play or program and go around to different orphanages and perform for them during December-January. During this time there are probably two church groups a week that share the Christmas story with the kids. The groups rarely have a relationship with any of the children. There isn’t any follow-up or discipleship. Best case scenario, they will be back in a year to do another program.
Our first year in Ukraine we saw this and it made us rethink the presents we give the kids. They don’t need an impersonal box pulled out of a pile, or the exact same present as every other kid in the orphanage. These kids already are already being neglected on an individual level. So we changed the presents that we give the kids. We give photo albums and this year we are giving out flashlights because it is dark on the orphanage campus in the winter, and staff specifically requested flashlights. But, in general, we give less and less presents to the kids, and all the Ukrainian Christians we work with agree that this is for the better.
A few days after the program, I talked to Kolya and Halya about the presents and how to most effectively minister to the kids when we can only be around them a limited amount. Both Kolya and Halya lived in orphanages themselves, so they have unique wisdom. They said that when they were in the orphanage, they just expected presents around Christmas time, but that it was never special because of that. So, I asked them what we could do about that, and Kolya suggested not giving them a present around Christmas time, but instead waiting and giving it to them at a time they don’t expect. Kolya also pointed out without discipleship, simply telling and retelling the Christmas story makes it seem like a fairy-tale, and not something that really matters.
This week, I have been reflecting about what our goal should be in the orphanage, and I think one of our biggest ones is working towards teaching and showing the kids a Biblical worldview. Giving them presents at some random time and not when they expect it or think they deserve it, is a good way to show them about grace, a gift from God that we don’t deserve and can’t earn. My prayer is that giving these photo albums will be a perfect opportunity to share about God’s grace and the fact that He sees us and loves us even when we don’t love Him.
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The week before all the kids came back, I went up to Komarivka with a few friends. It was still the holiday so there were only about 25-30 kids there. It was a great time to reconnect with some of the kids that I had missed so much while we were in the US. Near the end of the day, a youth group came up from a church in Kiev. They were putting on a Christmas program for the kids. This program consisted of a few puppet songs (Mom and Dad trained me how to do puppets, so that part was a bit painful to watch because they weren’t very good, but this is beside the point), a little play about an angel finding her way to the stable where Jesus was born (I think), and the Santa Claus came out and talked to some of the kids and everyone got presents. The Christmas story was told and at the end a guy got up and shared about the meaning of Christmas. It was all in Ukrainian so I didn’t understand everything, but later Kolya told me that they did a really good job.
And then came the presents (Operation Christmas Child boxes), then the group photo, and then the team left.
Our first year in Ukraine we saw this and it made us rethink the presents we give the kids. They don’t need an impersonal box pulled out of a pile, or the exact same present as every other kid in the orphanage. These kids already are already being neglected on an individual level. So we changed the presents that we give the kids. We give photo albums and this year we are giving out flashlights because it is dark on the orphanage campus in the winter, and staff specifically requested flashlights. But, in general, we give less and less presents to the kids, and all the Ukrainian Christians we work with agree that this is for the better.
Presents always complicate things in ministry. I know this typically sounds strange to people back in the States, but we've found it to be true everywhere.*****
A few days after the program, I talked to Kolya and Halya about the presents and how to most effectively minister to the kids when we can only be around them a limited amount. Both Kolya and Halya lived in orphanages themselves, so they have unique wisdom. They said that when they were in the orphanage, they just expected presents around Christmas time, but that it was never special because of that. So, I asked them what we could do about that, and Kolya suggested not giving them a present around Christmas time, but instead waiting and giving it to them at a time they don’t expect. Kolya also pointed out without discipleship, simply telling and retelling the Christmas story makes it seem like a fairy-tale, and not something that really matters.
This week, I have been reflecting about what our goal should be in the orphanage, and I think one of our biggest ones is working towards teaching and showing the kids a Biblical worldview. Giving them presents at some random time and not when they expect it or think they deserve it, is a good way to show them about grace, a gift from God that we don’t deserve and can’t earn. My prayer is that giving these photo albums will be a perfect opportunity to share about God’s grace and the fact that He sees us and loves us even when we don’t love Him.
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