Having spent my summer on a feverish pace of program building, business development, learning Russian, and training for a half-marathon, the day for me to return to the Motherland has finally come. I'm finally back in Ukraine!
I left for Ukraine on Monday, September 19th with purpose and fearless determination in my heart. My trip, however, was not without its troubles and frustrations. Due to both weather and electrical problems, my flights to Detroit and Amsterdam were late, making me nearly late for my flight to Kiev. After a sprint through the airport terminal and with only a few minutes to spare, I made it to my final flight. My luggage, however, was a different story. Thankfully, my friend Yuliya from Mission to Ukraine who was there to pick me up helped me fill out the necessary paperwork. Finally, after two days of waiting, my bags arrived on the doorstep of MTU.
Since landing in Kiev I have been swept up into a whirlwind of work, meetings, and reunions with friends. At MTU, we have spent the past three days in meetings, furiously working through the details of what is to come. We have completely restructured the disability services, which has created copious room for questions and confusion. We are also battling to achieve a balance between 1. expanding MTU's programming capacity in order to serve more children with disabilities and 2. maintain the quality of services that we offer. It is a difficult balance to maintain. These are the moments that will be the most difficult; however, the staff at MTU are the most agreeable, receptive, and amenable workers that I have ever seen. The Lord has knit together a perfect tapestry of people for the task of serving Ukraine's children with disabilities. I am confident that the barriers and trials ahead will be removed and The Lord will be triumphant!
Next week we will be evaluating the parents and the children with disabilities. For the parents, we are using a questionnaire put together by the World Health Organization that will measure their quality of life. We will also be implementing a clinical evaluation for an estimated 160 children. We have a lot to accomplish!
Prayer Requests for Next Week:
1. The parents (mostly mothers) of children with disabilities are often very skeptical and resistant to changes in MTU's program. They are also very suspicious of evaluations. Pray that these mothers will be accepting of all evaluative and programming changes that will be implemented in the coming weeks.
2. It will be a daunting task to evaluate 160 children and place them in the appropriate service so quickly. Pray that the process of evaluations will go smoothly and that we will have the strength to complete the task.
3. Pray that the staff of MTU's disability program will be open and willing to make changes in their services. Also, pray that I will have the wisdom and discernment to make the most appropriate and fruitful choices for MTU.
до свидания, мои друзья!
Goodbye, my friends!
