A Brighter Life and A Hopeful Future

Education in the Roma communities is often sparse. Children rarely get any education, and even those who do, don’t often get a full one. Things are no different for 12-year-old Aslan, living in Khurst, Western Ukraine. Read on to hear how our partners enabled CBN’s Orphan’s Promise to help Aslan and an entire Roma community find hope and practical help.

Breaking the poverty cycle

Aslan’s father, Zabar, shares how difficult things can be for these communities. He says, “My childhood was hard. I didn’t go to school, and my mum and dad were not around. There was no one to teach me right from wrong and to show me how to live.” Though Aslan had a loving family, the cycle of no education was his reality too.

Nataliya, OP’s Director of Operations, says, “the Roma communities all over the world are in very disadvantaged positions to any other population.” “They don’t have access to basic stuff; they don’t have normal living conditions. They don’t have bathrooms – places to wash their hands. They don’t eat nutritious meals. Many of them go and look for it in dump places.”

Entire families are living together in these conditions. Yet, something can be and has been done.

Thanks to our partners of CBN’s Orphan’s Promise, these communities are experiencing a brighter life and a hopeful future.

Nataliya expresses, “We decided we need a school because these children had no opportunities without it.” “These children needed to be taught how to wash their hands. I’m not even talking about reading and writing, that was the higher skill. Really, these children had been born into those conditions, but they are not doomed to it.”

“These children had been born into those conditions but they are not doomed to it.”

When people work together

“The parents of these children saw the hope, and they saw the future that their children can have, so they came, and they’ve helped us build this beautiful building,” says Nataliya.

Amazing things can happen when communities come together and overcome hurdles. Though the building project was not easy, they opened this new school. Over 250 children study every day. They’ve broken the belief that anything different would be impossible.

Aslan now has an education his father could never have imagined possible. The children even have access to good quality food every day! The school provides clean water, bathrooms, and playgrounds. Even a mini quail farm that provides food and income.

One of the greatest blessings this school provides is the opportunity to talk about God. They hear about who God is and what He’s done throughout the Bible.

Aslan shares, “Thank you for the school you’ve built here. For giving money to build all of this for the children, so that we can learn about God, and learn to read, write, and draw.”

We want to thank our partners who have stood with us on behalf of those who can’t stand for themselves. The love of Jesus Christ is transforming entire communities and helping them to thrive.

“Aslan now has an education his father could never have imagined possible.”