Dave

People have started eating dogs in occupied Eastern Ukraine: no food has been delivered to the city since May. People are saying, “There is actually nothing to eat there”. This is happening in the Odessa region too, and the villages around the House of Hope. The shops and markets are being systematically being bombed. The situation is worsening not just every day, but every hour. There is no chance of rescue. People have two options: either die of starvation or be hit by a drone. There is no third option.” Thanks to your kindness the House of Hope has [...]

The area where the House of Hope is located, is taking a real pounding from Russian missiles day after day. In past years, before the war against Ukraine started, I had access to visit Ukraine many times, to conduct seminars and share the Gospel at colleges, universities, sporting bodies and the Ukrainian military (under military escort), as well as visit orphanages in the Chernobyl Radiation Zone (northwest of Kiev). The House of Hope was the base from 2012 when it was a two -storey old farmhouse converted into an orphanage. Over a period of a few years, including the [...]

Please pray for the House of Hope and all the poor single-mother families and orphans living there. The House continues to stand, but our manager says that life there has become pure survival. Everyone is utterly exhausted, worn down physically, emotionally, and mentally after endless days and sleepless nights under the constant threat of sirens and drone attacks. Every alarm sends fear through the building, and the sound of drones overhead has become part of daily life. They are living in constant tension without rest, carrying deep fatigue, fear, and uncertainty, yet still holding on with remarkable courage and [...]

We have just received a message from our team in Ukraine that a Russian missile has exploded in a field right next to the House of Hope – apparently just one degree out at the launch. The problem is that the fire is so huge that the wind is driving the fire into other people’s properties nearby. The thought at present is that it was aimed at the Ukrainian Military Base just one kilometre away but went off course. It missed our artesian well providing the only fresh water in the region. Remember that we discovered this well of [...]

The war in Ukraine is still raging, often hot, sometimes cooling as the word “truce” is whispered, and hope, in its fuller sense, has become rare. Not entirely gone – but distant, uncertain, and difficult to grasp. Even for those who have left, that war persists just as powerfully, echoing within their hearts. It is the war of memory, of loss, of dislocation. Over Easter, almost a hundred people gathered in Trondheim, and quickly it became clear that this would not be an ordinary evening. One after another, people started to open up. What began as simple exchanges [...]

When the warning sirens begin to blast out over Odesa and the coastline, the people and children in the House of Hope run into the “bomb-proof basements” and begin to worship God and praise Him for His protection. It’s like the church bells of old – when they began to ring out across the countryside, people began to head to church to worship God. During these times of worship, our leaders tell us that the looks of fear and anxiety turn to smiles of hope and joy as they sense the presence of God around them. This happened [...]

Christmas has come and gone, and I am grateful for another year with all its promises and challenges. One of the Bible verses that I am very aware of in all that I do is: “Train up a child (or teenager) in the way they should go, and when they are older, they will NOT depart from it.” This past weekend I was thinking about how, at age 18, I received Jesus into my life. I clearly remember sitting in a little church in Durban, South Africa, and at the end of the service, an invitation was given to raise [...]

Our Dear Friends, Christmas has come around once again, following another year of war and uncertainty. Thanks to God’s grace, your prayers and your giving, the House of Hope is still standing, a beacon of light and love to those escaping from the horrors of the war in Ukraine. Likewise, the refugees who have left the country have been touched and changed by God’s people reaching out to them. The Few talking and the Many trying to survive While the superpowers discuss the future of Ukraine and try to sort out an “international solution” to this war, the [...]

Our Dear Friends, Thank you for your powerful prayers and kind support for the orphans and families living in the House of Hope. They battle against the fear of constant bombing and the discouragement that their beloved country is being devastated. They realise that the peaceful, happy lives they once lived will not be back in their lifetime, and possibly not their children’s lifetimes. Many thousands of young Ukrainian children who were kidnapped by Russian forces from summer camps have not seen their families for more than 4 years. I can only imagine the grief and hopelessness in their [...]

Our Dear Friends, Thank you for your kind prayers and gifts to help the orphans and single-mother families in the House of Hope, and so many Ukrainian People whom we are helping to flee to the borders to escape at this time. Bless you for your care for the health of the sick for whom we are caring for in the House of Hope. Bless you for your encouragement to us, and thousands of needy people through us. Please continue to stand with us in prayer and support for these needs. This is the busiest and most exhausting [...]