Ukraine Pictures -

We arrived In Ukraine on Sat after almost 20 hours of travel. Our hotel in Kiev was not the best, but thankfully we were only there one night. Here is a picture of us arriving in the Ukraine airport in Kiev.


THat evening we took a taxi into the downtown area to sight see - Here we are in front of St. Sophia's cathedral ( I think - I was braindead at that point from lack of sleep) The next day, we left for what was supposed to be a 5 hour bus ride to Rivne where we would be working that week. Well, as you can see from the picture below, that trip turned out to be much longer due to a blowout - but we did eventually make it there.

During the week, one group (including Jamey) spent the days demolishing an old pavillion at the orphanage and then rebuilding it again so that the weight of the snow in winter would not damage it again. They worked so hard all week with minimal tools and terrible heat.
Jamey and Chris in front of the hardware store in Rivne. My team spent the mornings at an orphanage for ages birth through about age 7. We told Bible stories, sang songs, made crafts and played games. We had a great time. As you can see, clothing for the children consists only of underwear usually. No child "owns" anything - they share clothes from a communal basket.



It is Ukrainian custom for children to ALWAYS have on a hat or some type of head covering when outside. Each afternoon, our group spent time with the children from an Intake Center. These are children from the streets who are waiting to be processed to either a group orphanage, a relative or maybe even return to their parents. These children were ages 3 - 18.

Here is Jamey playing playing football (soccer) with the older boys. He succeeded in throughouly jamming his finger, but had a great time. Here is our group from Mobile in front of one of the fountains near out hotel.


Here is a picture of the city from our hotel.
The whole trip was such a great experience. The children were well taken care of at the orphanage, but it was obvious that individual attention was what each one craved. They wanted to be touched, held, tickled, and chased. We had the best translators, but really what the kids wanted required no language other than love.
I will share more when I can, (and London pictures are coming soon!)