Tuesday, March 11, 2014

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews - Ukrainian Jews




Dear Friend of Israel,

I landed today in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, and was greeted with many sobering scenes. The main street of Ukraine’s capital and largest city is heavily damaged and lined with thousands of flowers and memorial candles. A strong sense of fear, mingled with the acrid smell of burning tires, is everywhere.
From the airport we went to a Fellowship-funded kindergarten. The police force has resigned, so the Jewish community has hired private guards to protect the children. A community official explained to me that a third of the city’s Jewish children aren’t coming to school because they are afraid to leave their homes. In one of the plazas that we passed youths shouted anti-Semitic slogans filled with hate. 

The collapse of the authorities has left citizens without paychecks and pensions. Many, who were already struggling, now have no money to buy food, and some parents have decided to send their children to relatives in villages outside of town — it’s calmer there, and for the moment fruits and vegetables are still available. My visit reinforces what I already knew: the “quiet” that we hear about in the news is misleading and doesn’t represent the distress, fear, and hardship that the Jewish community in Ukraine is dealing with.

My friends, I ask that you continue to keep the people of Ukraine in your prayers, and that you continue to pray for me and other Fellowship staff here in Ukraine as we bring hope and comfort, and assess the needs firsthand in this troubled region.
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