Wednesday, June 28, 2006

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June 28, 2006 SAI Team 7's Trip to Zhytomer Villages

Zhytomer—SAI Team 7

The working part of our team is now over. Six intense days of dentistry, hygiene, nursing and ministry are past. Ten team members plus interpreters and numerous other volunteers worked together in unison to care for over 120 patients, teach and play with well over 100 kids, give dental and medical instruction and consultations to numerous other kids and adults, and serve God in many other ways. We were all stretched—some more than others—and through this stretching process we were challenged and changed.

Smile Alliance International, Good Samaritan Ministries, and Youth With a Mission partnered together with local ministries connected to several churches. The amazing thing was how everyone worked together as one body, all parts working together to give glory to the Head, Jesus Christ. It was inspiring to see members from at least eight different denominations worship, pray, work and play together as brothers and sisters, often encouraging and uplifting each other in prayer, serving one another through menial tasks, releasing their own agendas to follow God’s even though it meant doing things outside their comfort zones.

This team was totally put together by a heavenly Administrator. What looked impossible two months ago, turned out to be entirely possible and far beyond what Richard and I as team leaders could ever hope or dream. Two pediatric nurses, Lisa and Rhonda, and a pediatric teacher/therapist, Tanya, from Pennsylvania joined us when their original plans to work in Western Ukraine fell through. They organized and evaluated the patients, discussed health issues with them, taught basic hygiene in a school setting, played with the children, organized crafts, sang, cleaned our living quarters, helped cook meals, and watched constantly for places where they could serve. Their friend and ours, Jeff, who lives in Kyiv, came with them. He recently gave away a very successful business and moved his family, including ten children, to Kyiv because he and his wife felt God calling them to do this. He did not confine his service to being the team photographer but assisted the hygienists, kept everything running smoothly, did a lot of the dirty work, was our electrical wizard and our kid magnet—even the very dirty, behavior problem children. It was amazing to watch God work through these team members.

The three team members from Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, Ivan, a second year dental student, and Candice and Larysa, senior dental hygiene students, were our original team members. Without them, very few patients would have been served nor would this team have existed. The hygienists cleaned calculus, stain, and plaque off teeth which were much more challenging than what they may ever see in practice in the US. They worked with very basic equipment in one lovely location and another where the floor was falling in. They very seldom took breaks, wanting to help as many people as they could, even though it was often a difficult, frustrating and thankless task. They demonstrated oral hygiene methods at a summer program in a school, spent the final day playing with kids, even washing the hair and feet of a filthy little girl. Larysa, originally from Kyiv, was a wonderful help with the language and customs. She arranged a lovely, Ukrainian lunch at the home of her mother’s friend on our last weekend in Kyiv. Candice’s love for the kids was demonstrated the final day by her lack of fear of dirt and lice as she constantly cuddled and played with the children. Each day, Ivan assisted Richard without wavering—standing all day on a bad knee in the often hot dental van, even though his heart desire was to be with the kids. He was able to take out some teeth and roots. And he often helped with cooking and cleaning in the evenings. We had to force him to let others take over for him, and he scored two goals in the soccer game the last day.

Then there were those of us from Kyiv. Svyatoslav joined us because he had always wanted to serve on a mission team. We utilized his Russian, English and Ukraine language skills, but he also assisted the dental personal in many other ways. Richard worked hard for seven days on an amazing number of patients, yet only serving a miniscule amount of those who needed/wanted to see him. It was hot, often frustrating work, but also very, very rewarding. He was able to spend an hour one afternoon making balloon animals and hats for the children—his favorite skill on these trips. His equipment maintenance skills are increasing on a regular basis. I helped wherever I could, answered questions, taught the song Deep and Wide, cleaned some teeth, directed (I believe they called me the Admiral—I hope in a loving way) and had some time to play with the kids.

But we could not have done any of this without Alex from GSM who put together the whole trip, moved his family to his in-law’s house so the women could use his, was available 24/7, and took very good care of all of us. He is a fantastic young man with a heart for God that shows in all he does.

Pastor Paul drove his car daily, interpreted, played tirelessly with the kids, and helped wherever he could. Marina’s interpretation in medical matters was priceless and her quiet ways helped calm us often. Katya, Sergey’s niece, joined us as a volunteer. This bubbly, thirteen year old girl added life to the whole team. She interpreted, played with kids, sang songs, helped wherever she could—constantly giving us all hugs and encouraging us. Sergey, from YWAM, the head of the dental van ministry drove the van, maintained equipment and helped with interpretation.

The team visited three villages outside of Zhytomer. The first three days were spent in Ivanovka where two Methodist Sisters from Germany let us use their beautiful house to serve the people. Their ministry is to alcoholic women and basically the unwanted. I want to share one story from their ministry: A 14 year old girl was raped, became pregnant, was gang raped by a group of boys while pregnant, and was considering suicide when a fisherman who knows Alex from GSM found her wandering by a lake. Her mother had deserted her and she and her brother had spent several winter months sleeping in feeding troughs in neighbor’s barns before their grandmother let them stay with her. Then the grandmother died while this now 15 year old was in the hospital after delivering her baby. GMS found Sisters Anna and Helen who took her and the baby into their facility/home. This young woman is happily living in a loving home. Her baby is lovingly cared for by the “family” and we all had the opportunity of holding and cuddling the baby girl, Dasha, who was saved by this ministry.

We spent three days in this village. One young man came to have a tooth pulled (refusing anesthetic) and waited most of the day. The next day he was back with his brother and later his whole family. Another man spent a day waiting for his tooth to be pulled and came back the next day waiting several hours to have another one done because it “didn’t hurt”. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see him because we ran out of time. He still smiled and thanked us when he had to be turned away the second time. We hope to go back in the near future to help again.

The local Orthodox priest has refused to even talk to the sisters during the six months they have lived in the village and has forbidden people to have anything to do with them because they are protestant. (Jeff stood outside his church and prayed for this man.) This outreach helped open many doors for them. People saw what they are doing and came to visit. The local school administrator (at first reluctantly—another story) let us give hygiene and health talks to the kids who were going to a summer program at the school. We also were able to do a craft with them. We have been invited back and the English teacher told Jeff that the kids now see there is hope for a future. She would like an English club to be established and we will see what becomes of this. Then several of their teachers and children came to the clinic on the second afternoon.

Olga—a small girl with an alcoholic mother showed up the second day of clinic. The nurses cleaned up cuts on her feet and body, put barrettes in her hair, gave her hugs and consequently changed her self image. She spent the next couple days hanging out with our team members, doing crafts and feeling loved.

I could go on and on and most of you probably think I have. But where do I stop? There’s so much to tell. This facility was beautiful with clean bathrooms, daily lunch made by the sisters, and tea and coffee breaks. We were spoiled for three days. The dental van parked outside the back door next to the hygiene clinic. Close to 60 patients were treated during our time there. But many more needed treatment. We are invited to return any time we can.

On Monday after a pleasant weekend, we drove for an hour to Andrushovka, a very large “village” with a high unemployment rate after the local sugar and alcohol factories shut down a few years ago. We were instantly on the other end of the spectrum as far as the facility and comfort were concerned. Again, we parked by the back door with the hygiene clinic set up in a large assembly hall. The floor of the hall was caving in—in several areas—so we had to be very careful where we stepped. We found one corner where it was fairly stable and set up the two chairs. (I was a bit nervous when the 350 plus pound woman sat in one of our chairs—I was hoping both the chair and the floor would hold her weight. Praise God, they did!) There were about twenty kids who hung out with the team for both days. Most of them came from alcoholic families and the Pentecostal church works with them on a regular basis. Pastor Sasha is a recovered drug addict/gang leader/former prisoner who loves God with all his heart. He is always smiling, ministering and praying with people. The second day I was feeling very stretched and he put his arms around me and prayed for me. It was beautiful. I saw him pray with several others. Then Rhonda had to make a decision on whether to change her travel plans and accompany a sick child and a family back to the US. It was so fun to watch Pastor Sasha, a reformed drug addict and gang leader from Ukraine counseling this Mennonite young woman from Pennsylvania, asking her questions which would help with her decision, praying for her. In the end, the family who had made the request didn’t call her back and she was able to stay with the team for the rest of the trip.

The bathroom facility here was a hole in the ground inside a tiny outdoor building. It was one of the worst I have seen or smelled in Ukraine. It was filthy. I had a feeling before we went to the village that we should buy a porta potty for team use but I didn’t go with my gut instinct. Next time I will. A dormitory next door had said we could use their toilet but they changed their minds. Then a sports center up the road said we could use their bathrooms. I checked them out and they were clean and okay. Then the head of the facility heard we were going to use them. He is Orthodox so he refused to let the local Evangelical Protestants use the bathrooms. Next a lady from Sasha’s church offered to let us use her house so Alex had to drive those who needed the use of a toilet to her house. It took a lot of our time and really cut into what we accomplished.

It also poured—buckets and buckets of rain—while we were eating lunch out of the back of Alex’s van on the first day. We were all soaked just from running into the building. There were many more patients than what we could see. We had to turn a lot away. We felt very bad about that. The nurses were very professional and a great help to the team. They found a child with active TB that we gave brushing instructions to but could not treat. Also, they recognized that one of the children had chicken pox and was sitting next to a young woman who was pregnant. They took care of that situation immediately—sending the child and mom home with a toothbrush.

We made some good friends with the helpers from the church which was sponsoring us in this village. One dear young woman was wearing a beautiful necklace with a dragonfly on it. I told her how I liked dragonflies and immediately I realized I should not have said that. The next day, she came with the necklace and gave it to me. She told me how much she liked it but that God had told her to give it to me—yet it was hard for her to give it up. She said we were doing so much for the children and adults that she wanted to do something for me and she really wanted me to have it. With tears streaming down my face I tried to refuse but she in turn refused to take No for an answer. I know better than to tell anyone that I like something because these people are so giving. I have Luba’s name and address and I am looking for a different dragonfly necklace to give to her. She hugged me over and over before we left and I know I will see her again. She was a kindred spirit. The hardest part is to leave people we have made friends with. Living here will make that easier because we can see them again.

The last village, Vigoda, was another totally different experience. This is where Good Samaritan Ministries has a drug rehab home. When they take in addicts they tell them that only God can help them. Only prayer is used to help them get over their addictions. Each “Lazarus” has a mentor who is available 24/7. The other men pray around the clock for the man who is detoxing and it takes usually about two weeks to break the habit. They stay on for at least 6 months, learn basic skills of cooking, gardening, cleaning, personal hygiene, etc.. They also have started a metal shop where they make metal fences and gates to sell. The men have started a small church and they have about a 85% success rate with this program. Richard worked on the men, with Ivan assisting, until I finally took over so Ivan could play with the kids. We did not set up a hygiene clinic here since our team was worn out and also because we knew that several of the men were HIV positive. We did not want to have our young people working on them at this point in their careers.

Just after we arrived the children started coming. There were about 15 kids sitting on a bench while the YWAM dental van was being set up. Our two hygiene students went immediately to an extremely dirty little girl—probably about 7 years old. She had on heavy black shoes with no socks and I watched Larysa take off the shoes and look at the sores on her feet. Soon the nurses and hygienists were washing her feet and eventually washed her hair. Several of the kids had lice. I silently prayed for our team members and for the kids. (Everyone took hot, long showers that night.) A couple of team members gave me money and Pastor Paul along with Tanya, his wife, took me into Zhytomer where we purchased clothing for this family of four kids. Alex told me that the dad had committed suicide, that another man had taken them in and the mom wasn’t always home. Another story I heard was that they were just neglected. The director of the GSM center there said they often give these children clothing and the parents sell it. So he was going to make sure it was given to them and their old clothes thrown away. We couldn’t give them the clothes right then because it would have caused problems with the other children. Our team spent the day playing soccer (another team member gave money for me to purchase a couple of balls), basketball, and other very active games. Team members hugged these kids, held them on their laps, played with them. All of our younger team members were very dirty by the end of the day.

Little Ilona—the very dirty girl—her once dirty, stringy hair washed and fashioned into French braids was transformed from a meek and mild child who would not look at anyone to an annoying, aggressive kid after receiving attention and being told she was loved. The girls felt they had almost created a monster but truth be told, I think they would do it again if given the chance. I was very proud of everyone.

We had to tell the mothers who came that we were not treating the children, but we did some programs and taught them to brush. (We only had time to treat some of the former drug addicts who desperately needed work done.) All the kids received toothbrushes. Yet a couple mothers stayed the whole day for a “consultation”. Ivan did a quick check in their children’s mouths at the end of the day and consulted with them. One little girl had a primary tooth that needed pulling but we had put most of the equipment away by then. They tried to give her topical anesthetic and have her work on it but finally Ivan and Larysa put her in the dental chair and Ivan removed the tooth. They just could not leave without helping this little girl.

Sometimes it appears to our dentists and hygienists that people don’t appreciate what they are doing. They give and give of themselves with very little thanks. Other team members get to give hugs and play games and do crafts and make smiles while they have to sit hunched over removing heavy stain and calculus and teeth. We just have to remember that Jesus says that what we do to the least of them is as if we are doing it for Him. Yet our nurses told me that they saw so many people who went in with frowns come out with smiles. An older man had two teeth pulled, and as he left he shook everyone’s hands and thanked them. Teens, kids, and adults came out smiling after treatment and told them thank you.

Just as we were leaving the village, we distributed Grandma Rosa Project blankets to thirty children. They were so excited and happy to receive them.

On our last day in Zhytomer, we visited Mission to Ukraine, a ministry that counsels young pregnant women who are thinking about having an abortion. Over 260 babies have been saved since this ministry started. They also work with disabled children and have programs to teach abstinence in the schools. Richard and I hope to join them at a camp later this summer.

So. . . . .My final impressions:

I watched Jeff and his son Greg (who joined us the last two days) hold children on their laps, let them use their cameras, patiently show them pictures on their computers and just pour love on the kids. I saw Candice walking around with a dirty little boy entwined around her—and she was almost as dirty as the little boy by that time. I saw Rhonda, Tanya and Lisa helping adults and kids, hugging them, teaching them, and cleaning sores. I observed Richard and Ivan patiently working in a hot dental van without a break, showing love through their profession. (And during the one hour we gave him, Richard made many balloon hats and animals for numerous kids clustered around him.) I watched Ivan play soccer and be a role model to the young men he played with, Larysa clean dirty feet, and Svyvatoslav translating in the dental van although he had a real aversion to dentistry and blood. I remember Alex, Pastor Paul, Tanya, Marina and Sergey playing many games with the kids as well as ministering to our team. I saw God at work—day after day—at work through each one of the team and each one of the support staff at every place we served. And I can say with confidence that each person will never look at life the same way they did before. Slava Boga! Praise God!