Give Christmas to a Child
Gathering Kids at Christmas Celebrations
Of all those suffering in Ukraine today, it is the plight of innocent children that is the most heartbreaking. How can they look forward to Christmas? When kids live in poverty, their childhood is often stolen. Because of the circumstances in Ukraine today, kids have lost so much. They deserve to receive joy at Christmas and to hear the story of Jesus' birth
How about those who have left everything behind to start over in a new community without home and family? Where is their comfort and joy?
Let me share a story about Ivan. Ivan's story is not uncommon. There are millions of children in Ukraine in similar circumstances today.
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"My name’s Ivan. I’m twelve years old. I don’t want to talk to you. Why should I? I don’t even know you. How could you possibly understand how I feel? What can you do to help anyway?
Do you know that we had to leave Kharkiv because our house was bombed? It’s gone. Now we’re here, living a thousand kilomteres from home in some village I don’t even know. Any hope I had for my future died the day we had to run away. This place isn’t home. I don’t even know anybody except my family.
I have two younger sisters and two little brothers. Dad’s not here with us, so I have to be the man of the family now. It’s my job to protect them. Mom is worried. I can tell. I’m so angry about what happened. It’s just not fair.
It’s almost Christmas now. Back home we used to have our own Christmas traditions. It wasn’t much but it was special. Now my Mom can barely afford to feed us. Christmas? Forget about Christmas. I just need to help my family survive."
