Moscow is a booming metropolis. There are beautiful buildings - ancient and modern. There are high-end restaurants and shopping. There are as many Bentleys, Range Rovers, and BMWs as you'll see in any city in the world.
Yesterday, President Medvedev was sworn in to replace the not-so-much departing Putin (he will become Prime Minister and remain head of the controlling political party). All eyes are on Russia right now as has been the case for much of the last century.
Here are a few quotes from a story on NPR's Morning Edition (follow the link to read the transcript and listen to the report).
'Medvedev assumes authority over a country with a booming oil economy, a repressive, authoritarian government and rotten relations with the West... Rural Russia is dying out as jobs in the countryside disappear. Alcoholism and disease are growing. And double-digit inflation is making Russia's vast number of poor even poorer... Ties between Russia and the West have deteriorated so much, some are even talking about a new Cold War...'
Corruption, a shrinking population due to death and disease, poverty, and a crumbling infrastructure lead some to claim that Russia is a Third World country. Those who suffer the most at times like these are children.
I remember in May 2004 driving through the Russian countryside with one Fund Nadezhda's staff (they are Children's HopeChest's Russian partner). She said, 'In Soviet times, this factory employed 8,000 in a town of 40,000. Now it employs only 800. You tell me what the problem is.' This is why families crumble. Violence and Substance abuse move in and children are moved out and grow up alone, homeless, or institutionalized.
Yes, Russia is sitting on immense oil and gas reserves, there are more billionaires in Moscow than any other city in the world, and the Ruble is ever strong. But at the same time, the poor become poorer and children are orphaned. Be a part of the change needed in this big, beautiful country by giving hope and help to its most vulnerable citizens.
Children's HopeChest has contracts with the Department of Education in Vladimir, Kostroma, Kirov, and Ryazan, and with the Department of Social Services in Ivanovo. This allows us to bring the holistic, long-term, and redemptive program of church sponsorship to children in need of the blessing of family. This gives us access to nearly 3,000 children in 65 orphanages and boarding schools. Of these, only 7 in kirov and Ivanovo remain in need of a church to sponsor them. They range in size from 50 to 185 children. A church would extend its reach by sponsoring the individual children, taking yearly mission trips, praying daily, and writing letters of encouragement and friendship monthly. Will your church get involved? We are also leading the way in caring for children in a family setting. Right now, there are 5 Family Centers in Kostroma and Vladimir housing between 2 and 7 children in need of a church to sponsor them. This would take between 10 and 35 sponsors at each of the centers.
We can reverse the curse of orphanhood. We can rescue children from being victims of corruption and circumstance, abandonment and rejection.
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