Every year, families at PC3 have the incredible opportunity to host a child from Belarus in their home for six weeks in the summer.  These are children who are affected by radiation left in the environment from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986. Belarus, a small country in Europe, experienced 70 percent of the after effect of that disaster. This unique summer hosting program gives these children relief from their unfortunate circumstances—and gives host families the opportunity to reach the world and experience another culture without ever leaving home. It is also a wonderful opportunity for them to convey God’s love in a very relational way.

Below, one host family shares a newsletter of thanks they wrote to friends and family following their experience of hosting a child in the summer of 2011.  Continue reading to learn more about hosting a child from their perspective—and visit belarus.portcitychurch.org for more information on how YOU can participate in the summer of 2012 (applications from new host families being accepted through December 1st, 2011!).

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Looking Back

Hi! We wanted to take the time to write everyone who was a part in helping us host Sveta this past summer. It is difficult to begin to express how grateful we are for the many people who gave in many different ways. As we waited in June for her arrival to America, we did not expect how our eyes would be opened to the saying “it takes a whole village to raise a child,” and we are thankful to be a part of that village with you this past summer. Even now, two months after Sveta returned home to Belarus, we look back and continue to see the many ways God worked in and through her life over the six weeks she stayed with our family.

It is a challenge to capture our six-weeks experience with Sveta and put it all in words, but here is our attempt to show some of the highlights of our summer…

Gifts

Day 1:

After 36 hours of traveling and finally arriving at our house, I think Sveta was tired and ready for bed, but first seemed to have a mission in mind herself.  She opened the one piece of luggage that she brought with her, a small black backpack. As she started carefully handing me one gift after another—chocolate, a fancy tablecloth and napkins, a woven box, towels and a beautiful set of stackable dolls—she repeated something in Russian (“This is a gift for you from Belarus” as I later found out from the translator).  Even though I heard it was typical for the children to travel with very little, words cannot explain how humbling it is to have a guest in your house arrive only with the clothes on their back and a backpack of gifts for you.

The Universal Language?

Day Two:

Haley and Sveta were outside on the swings, and they came in and Haley told me that Sveta likes her music and wants to listen to it.  I asked Haley how she knew that, and she said that Sveta has a nice voice and was singing on the swings.  ”Oh, what was she singing?”  I curiously asked, thinking it would be a sweet Russian song.  To which Haley bursted out in singing, “Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh.”  All I could think of was that Justin Bieber has become the universal language in our house!

Day Three:

“She said Haley!”  Haley came running up to me on the third day Sveta was here and was so excited that Sveta called her by name!  Before that her only English words were “thank you” and “hello.”  Yesterday she told us she can also count to 10 and knows all her colors in English.  We communicate with lots of sign language, and so far we seem to be doing well.

Sandcastles, Spectacles and Santa

July 2nd:

It is easy to forget that God knows everything down to the smallest details. One Saturday we were at the beach enjoying a hot morning, the kind that beckons you into the water to cool off. I was baking on the beach when Haley came running over saying Sveta lost her glasses when she jumped face first into a huge wave while she was out deep with Paul. Oh no, was my first thought. After getting Sveta settled in a chair, I started to wonder if we couldn’t find them what I would say if I had to call the eye doctor on 4th of July weekend? Do eye doctors have spare pairs of glasses, or could I get something from CVS that would work until her new ones came in? I then went out in an earnest attempt to dive under the waves with little kiddie goggles to find her glasses. My hope was that the hunter-green croakies would be visible. After realizing I couldn’t see more than 3 inches in front of my face under the foaming water, I gave up. At some point in all of this it did occur to me that God knew exactly where Sveta’s glasses had fallen off, where the waves had tumbled them and if they were deep out at sea or on the sand. I did pray that if we needed to find those glasses that God would lead us to them.

A few people started to look up and down the beach. A friend’s hat floated up 20 minutes after he lost it when he was boogie boarding—maybe Sveta’s glasses would wash up on shore, too? A while later, another friend we were with realized what was going on and mentioned that earlier a guy that looked like Santa Claus with white hair and blue pants came up to him with a pair of glasses with green croakies, and asked if he had lost them. Off Paul went down the beach now in search of Santa. Two lifeguard stands down, there was Santa with Sveta’s glasses in front of his beach chair on the sand. Just when the rest of us had pretty much given up hope, we saw Paul running up the beach with Sveta’s glasses in his hand. “Look Sveta!” I yelled and pointed while cheering, totally forgetting that she couldn’t see at all. As Paul got closer and gave Sveta her glasses, we all sighed a huge relief. Later that night as she was getting ready for bed, Sveta took of her glasses and held them close to her face and started to pet them affectionately and said, “Oh glasses, glasses, ocean, ocean.” I could tell she was so excited to have them back. I told her I prayed God would help us find them, and I only hope she begins to understand that God knows every little detail and can even send Santa to help us out.

Little Sister Love!

At home in Belarus, Sveta lives in a one-bedroom “flat,” which is like an apartment, with her mom who is almost blind and works as a “fitter” (probably factory shift worker) and her 14-year-old sister.  In our home Sveta became the instant big sister to three girls, which I’m sure was a big adjustment for her. Some of my favorite moments were hearing the girls giggle and be silly, and see our girls instantly love having Sveta around as the biggest sister. They were so quick to show her lots of love!

The Gift of Sight

Part of Sveta’s stay in America was for her to receive routine medical care through a pediatrician, dentist, and eye doctor (all who graciously donated their time and expertise). It was through these appointments that we found out through the translator and e-mails back from Sveta’s family that she was diagnosed with Marfan’s Syndrome (a hereditary connective tissue disorder that her father passed away from three years ago). It can affect her heart, but it also caused lens dislocation in both of her eyes. This resulted in surgery in Belarus to remove her lenses last September, and she had two pairs of glasses: one for reading and the other for distance. Whenever the girls colored, read, or I translated something on the computer, Sveta always “disappeared” for a bit and came back with her reading glasses so she could see. Unfortunately her reading glasses broke when she dropped them on our carpet a few days after she was here, but we found that they weren’t even the right prescription anyway.

During her eye exam the doctor was asking her through the translator if she has ever tried bifocals, to which she replied, “They do not exist.” So we tried to re-explain glasses that you use for both near and far, and again she said, “They do not have those.” With a huge smile the doctor replied that those kinds of glasses (bifocals) DO exist, we have them here, and you will get a new pair today. The sweet smile on her face was priceless.

The End…

August 2nd:

We packed up Sveta and said goodbye this morning. I think she was more concerned with being so hot waiting in the parking lot and the long trip ahead of her than being upset. She did say “Goodbye, America” with a sigh of sadness and gave us big hugs, but I can tell she is also excited to see her mom, sister and cat.

I’ve learned so much these past few weeks/months about God’s provision. It started with a car that will fit all of us in, then money for Sveta’s plane ticket and extra to do fun things while she was here, and continued with: Food-meals for our family, bananas at our doorstep, gift cards to Harris Teeter, chicken, lunch at the pool; clothes, both designer clothes for her stay here and a suitcase of winter clothing to take back; medical treatment/prevention, such as a pediatrician, echo at the hospital, eye doctor, brand-new designer bifocals, dental work; and then all the little things like croakies for her glasses, a bed, haircut, babysitters, barbecues, picnics, a fishing trip, Annie, boardwalk/Britts, family pictures, lots and lots and lots of summer fun and swimming.

Even after seeing God provide in so many big and small ways, there are still so many questions going through my head. Will her suitcase make it to Belarus with everything in it? Will her mom like the perfume we sent? What will her sister think of all the clothes we sent her back with? How long will they fit her for? Will it be helpful to her mom that we sent toiletries with her as well? What will it be like for her to sleep on the couch in her flat again? How will she see her life differently after being here? Has she gained any lasting confidence from her adventures in Wilmington? Will she continue to come out of her shy shell the same way we saw her grow as part of our family the past six weeks? Is she going to be hungry, and will there be enough food to fill and nourish her? What will school be like for her this year now that she has glasses that she can see with? How is she going to explain her experiences to her mom and sister? What were the highlights of her time here? What frustrated her, and what does she think about Americans? Does she clearly understand who Jesus is, and was she able to see Christ in and through our lives?

Looking back it is easy to think of all the things we could have or should have done differently and for ways that we could have poured into her more. Two lines from songs we sang in church yesterday keep running through my head: “The riches of Your love will always be ENOUGH” and “Your grace is ENOUGH for me.” I think it is amazing to see and know and trust that Christ is enough, and as I abide in Him, He promises to take care of all the things that I want to control myself, but can’t. I need to take care of my part, which is mostly trusting Him and taking the next step that He leads me to. This past year I saw more of God’s heart for the needy and oppressed when studying Isaiah and felt overwhelmed wondering how I should respond with the same heart for orphans, widows, and those who are weak in the eyes of the world. As Sveta’s story unfolded in our lives, I can’t help but think of the e-mail from one of the leaders in Belarus who wrote about Sveta’s (Svetlana) family: “Life situation of this family is really difficult… see how God bring Svetlana to us and we put her into Wilmington group on regular base. Mama so thankful to Svetlana’s host family, look like Svetlalana become much more open person compare with time when we met her at her flat. Mama told me she prayed about us, who visited her, in Orthodox church every week. On my eyes was tears…” To know that God hears and answers the prayers of a widow in Belarus makes me just stand back in awe and thankfulness that even though His grace and love are always enough, He is able to do such much more! We are just so glad to be able to be a part of it! The story continues…

—Submitted by Megan Klouse

This summer PC3 families participated in hosting a total of 17 children and a translator from Belarus.  They provided loving homes to kids whose bodies need respite from the harmful effects of the radiation left in their country from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Not only did the children receive physical care, they were shown God’s love through the kindness and compassion of these families.  Others – thought not directly hosting the children – organized and activities such as ‘art day’ and a deep sea fishing excursion for the kids.  These were enjoyed by all.  One of our host families shared from their experience:

From Holly -
We really enjoyed our experience this summer with Venya!  We were definitely stretched through this experience.  I remember the first night Venya arrived and how strange I felt when I crawled into bed.  We had just picked him up, so it was sort of like having a total stranger in the house.  How do you rest?  I feel like I slept the first few nights with one eye open.  I was just nervous about him wandering through the house, or needing something and not being able to communicate that to us.  He actually did just fine and we settled in pretty quickly.

Having a new child in the house took some getting used to…while he was easy to love, I just worried about him.  Is he homesick?  Does he feel okay?  Does he need anything?  How is he going to get along with our daughter, Sydney? Is he bored?  I tend to over think things sometimes, so again, I was just constantly stressed at first.  During those times I was especially thankful for Don and Yasmin and the group.  Just being with other host families and getting the support of just being in their company helped us a great deal.  We also were fortunate in that our entire neighborhood wanted to meet him, help with him, try to communicate with him.  We saw such a sweet side to many of our neighbors who gave us clothes…toys…play date invitations, etc.  I’d say after the first week, we were much more comfortable.

We were surprised at how little he seemed to have and yet how content he seemed to be.  He arrived with one small backpack and one set of clothes…the ones that were on his back.  The first morning we sat down for breakfast, we were surprised to learn that the only things in his backpack were gifts for us and one small photo album of his family.  It was pretty touching…he brought Bobby some chocolates and he wanted him to have one that morning with his breakfast…so we did. J  While he didn’t have much, he seemed quite generous throughout the stay which really was a lesson to us.  He smiled A LOT and was really thoughtful.  When I would play a game with him, he would always insist that I go first.  He often looked out for Sydney and he was quick to say the words, “thank you.”  For having so little, he seemed so content…again, a big lesson for us.

We also had the treat of having Ira (the translator) spend the day with us during their visit.  She too seemed to have very little.  She kept saying she wanted to go shopping.  I asked her what she wanted to go shopping for and that’s when she let us know that she really would love to have a pair of blue jeans.  I told her that Bobby and I would treat her to a pair, so she and I jumped in the car and went to purchase her some jeans.  She was extremely grateful and again, I learned a little something about myself and the things I take for granted.  At one point in the day, I told her I could probably pull some clothes out of my closet that she could have because, “I didn’t wear them.”  She said, “Why do you have clothes in your closet that you don’t wear?”  I learned that I have SO much to be thankful for.  I definitely have all I need and really need to be more grateful for the all of the comforts I have…blue jeans and all. J

I think God showed me that if I lean on him, he can give me peace and that if I lean on him, he can do more than I can even imagine.  Who would think that it could actually be possible to love a total stranger for 6 weeks and then send him home and actually feel really good about it?  I mean, both aspects of the visit are hard…the “hello” when you know nothing about the child and the “goodbye” when you realize your time with them is through and they must return to their home which is halfway around the world.  I’ve learned that God can really stretch your heart and when that happens it really is a pretty remarkable experience.  You feel love that you never knew you could feel and I know that’s God revealing himself.

I’ll never forget the last day.  We had Venya all packed up and ready to go the night before.  We found him in his room that morning with the light on…he must have woken up sometime in the night, but he was back to sleep in the morning.  We took him to meet the bus and that was such a bittersweet experience.  We loaded his suitcase onto the bus and gave him some BIG hugs before watching him climb the steps and take a seat.  I’ll never forget the scene.  We went around the bus to his window and held up our hands to the glass…our hands on one side…his hand on the other.  Before long the bus started up and began to move.  We continued to wave (and cry) until the bus was out of sight.  It was like a scene from a movie as many of the host families continued to stand there in the heavy silence.  We were grateful for our experience with Venya and hope that we made a difference in his life…he made one in ours.

From Bobby -
For me, I learned that it is not as hard as I thought it would be to love a total stranger.  At first, it was difficult for me to hug him or really feel love for him…I kind of felt like a chaperone on a school trip for about two weeks or so.  I also felt that we needed to be responsible for his entertainment.  I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t bored, which did “stress” us a little bit.  But I feel like this experience showed me that I shouldn’t be fearful or hesitant to extend myself to a stranger.

Two things happened early on, that as I reflect on the experience, had an impact on our relationship.  The first day Venya was here, I had to jump into our pool, clothes on and all, and essentially save him from the depths of the deep end.  The second thing that happened occurred on about the third night he was here.  At about 1:00 am, I awoke to find Venya standing in the doorway of our bedroom.  I figured out that he must have had a nightmare and was too scared to go back to sleep by himself in his bedroom.  I ended up lying in bed with him and both of us fell back to sleep.  Again, at this point, he was still a “stranger” to me.  I feel like these two events helped us to “bond” and I wonder if that was GOD working on me.  GOD knew I needed a little help with the concept of having a stranger “interrupt” our summer fun, and these two events helped me to see the bigger picture of this mission.   I learned that there was something inside me, on a basic instinct level, that overrode the feelings of being “inconvenienced” with ruining a pair of shoes in the pool or sacrificing a good night’s sleep in my own bed.  I feel that all humans possess this instinct to care for others, but unfortunately our own comforts and conveniences and sense of materialism get in the way of helping others and expressing GOD’s love to the world.  It’s still hard for me to put my comforts and conveniences aside for the sake of GOD’s kingdom, but this experience helped me to realize the importance of doing just that and the sense of fulfillment that comes along with it.

— Submitted by Bobby and Holly Campbell