Summertime brings a new pace to ministry in Ukraine. When summer break began for the public schools, the English teaching club took a hiatus.  The orphanage we have been visiting weekly sent the kids to Spain to spend several weeks in a facility maintained by a charitable organization.  Many orphanages send their children away to camp throughout the country during the summer to allow for much needed maintenance to be performed on their facility. We will be working at some of these camps this summer and will let you know about those experiences.
 
Another interesting aspect to summer in Kiev is the weekend when many city dwellers, like our landlords, take off for their family “farm” in a neighboring village. They spend the weekend with family and friends living a very different life than that in the big city! The village gardens are in full production with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and there is much harvest work to be done.  Everyone in the family helps out. I so admire the desire families have to come together to work and play.

Most of the orphanages are more than fifty years old and even in their Soviet prime, they were not well constructed. They have failing heating systems, electrical wiring that would scare even the bravest electrician, and plumbing that well… Iet’s just say it’s really bad! The walls are often crumbling and appear to be supported only by dozens of coats of what I imagine is heavy lead based paint...

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