Healing Trauma Keeps Vulnerable Families Together in Ukraine
Though air raid sirens, shelling, and missile attacks continue, we are alive, and not only alive, but standing together, serving the One Who’s got the whole world in His hands. The day for ministry is today and now!
Even during the war, the children we serve are experiencing joy. As we provide trauma-informed care, rehabilitation, education, and discipleship, vulnerable children and single parents are learning more about Jesus and God’s design for family.
Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support for orphaned and vulnerable children in Ukraine and Poland. May your home be filled with peace, love, and God’s blessings as you follow Him.
—Ukraine & Poland Team
At Day Centers, Christian camps, and our Trauma Care Center in Western Ukraine,
orphaned and vulnerable children are becoming leaders, growing in faith, and experiencing joy and community in the middle of a war. Vulnerable families are being preserved, and single parents are building healthy habits during difficult times.
Many good things have come as God uses His people in Ukraine to show the love of Jesus.
Top: Alena and her two children gather for a family photo in their safe home.
But with war, also comes destruction.
In March, a Lifesong Day Center just 12 miles from the Russian border was struck and destroyed by an explosive drone. The structure was demolished, yet we praise God no children or team members were present at the time of the bombing. Everyone is safe, and they continue to meet at a new location. These events remind us to keep praying for protection and for our team’s faith to be strengthened.
A ministry leader shares—
“It is heartbreaking to think a small church building in a small village would be targeted. May the Lord be merciful and bring this dreadful war to an end soon.”
Meanwhile, our team is helping orphaned and vulnerable children heal from the effects of trauma at our Trauma Care Center in Western Ukraine.
Many children arrive with a single mother who wouldn’t be able to care for her children without the services we provide. Her husband may be at war or have passed away, and she no longer has the means to care for her kids. Under great stress, many single parents in Ukraine turn to alcohol and drugs, struggling to raise their children.
But our team at the Trauma Care Center is equipped to help.
They make it possible for families to stay afloat so children can remain with their parents instead of becoming orphaned, neglected, or abused. Because of the Gospel-centered, trauma-informed care our team in Ukraine provides, families can grow together.
Vulnerable families may stay at the Trauma Care Center for one or two weeks. Others stay in our safe homes for several weeks to six months at a time.
Alena is one of the single mothers we serve who lives in a safe home with her daughter and son. She and her children fled their home in occupied territory and miraculously passed through Russian checkpoints. In Alena’s words—
“Some people thought we were lucky, but I felt God’s hand in this. Half a year ago a missile hit our house, but I thank God we had already left.”
Alena is thankful to God for the care she and her children receive.
She goes on to say—
“Because of Lifesong, I realized that only with God’s help could I survive. Now, my desire is to support people who are struggling with similar life circumstances.”
Another single mother named Maria has two daughters, one 10-year-old and one 16-year-old. Her husband left her after the birth of their second child. She shares—
“It was a difficult time and still is. I had to work two jobs to provide for my two daughters and myself. With the onset of war, I lost all my jobs, and if it weren’t for the support of Lifesong, I don’t know what would have happened.”
Before Maria and her children were invited to live in a Lifesong safe home, they lived with their extended family in a one-bedroom apartment. Now, Maria has a new job and plans to rent her own place after completing the safe housing program.
Throughout our ministry in Ukraine and Poland, our team experiences both beauty and brokenness. Though the war continues, they persist in their fight for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Pray for Ukraine & Poland
- Praise God no children or teammates were present when an explosive drone hit a Day Center.
- Praise God for times of fellowship that help encourage our team in Ukraine.
- Praise God for many new volunteers who are being led by God to help orphaned and vulnerable children in Ukraine and Poland.
- Pray for families like Alena’s and Maria’s to be preserved so that their children can continue to live with their parents.
- Pray for the war in Ukraine to end and for restoration and peace in the lives of many in Ukraine.
Join our prayer team to receive monthly prayer requests & praises from across our ministry.
Will you help orphaned and vulnerable children in Ukraine & Poland experience the hope of the Gospel?
When you give to Lifesong, you show orphaned and vulnerable children they are seen, known, and loved through Gospel-centered holistic care. Thanks to TMG Foundation, 100% of your gift goes directly to helping orphaned and vulnerable children.