Over this past year, believers in Belorussia have been taking 
big strides in caring for their own orphans. Last week, Home For Every Orphan Partners from Ukraine and Russia were able to travel to Belarus and encourage believers there to care for orphans, particularly through national adoption and foster care. Our national partner Janna Danilova (Project Coordinator for Risknetwork) sent us the following report on the conference in Belorus. Please be encouraged through reading her report, and join us in praying that God would expand this exciting movement in Belarus!
Update from Belarus:
The conferences took place in Minsk in July, 16 and united about 300 people from different regions of Belarus. The conference was motivation for those who minister or would like to minister orphans to be united and move forward in area of adoption and other forms of getting orphans into families. The RiskNetwork/The Comission helped in the process of organizing the conference with some advices, the mailer and orphan care resources distribution during the conference. Different ministry groups and church leaders from Belarus got together to participate in the conference. The delegates heard information on why it is important to work with orphans and find families for them.
Some great highlights from the conference:
Presentation by Zavertneva Anna (family relationship psychologist, Minsk):
Caregivers often are judged as they don't love children as they were supposed. First of all: they are responsible to feed children, to watch a lot of kids, to get a big amount of orphans to bed etc... They don't have such a responsibility to love children but they do as they can with a big amount of orphans. It is PARENTS' responsibility to love children. Anna gave a great example: there is a gardener (a caregiver), who plants and water but the sun (a mother and a father) helps to grow. So it is important for every orphan to have parents.
Presentation by Ruslan Malyuta (President of Ukraine Without Orphans)
Ruslan Malyuta shared the church call from God to help orphans. Government is able to solve the orphanhood problem in the countries of CIS later as it was done in the European countries. The government will disembody orphanages. But the church can miss its role to help orphans. The church has a great opportunity to influence today. Why the church? Because of the spiritual issue.
And wanted to encourage you and say thank you for all your work and prayers - it is obvious how God connects the key leaders across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to share experience to be united and to help orphans to find families through the churches in CIS.
Blessings,
janna
