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Visiting children in a Chernobyl hospital for sick kids. Increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with cancer every year.
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The Ukrainian Bible Society team have been working with seriously ill children for years. Magnus WingÄrd from the Swedish Bible Society joined the team as they visited a hospital in Kiev. He shared a few thoughts that help us pray:
"Do you remember when the Chernobyl nuclear accident took place? I remember the summer of 1986 very well... Now I have met people of my own age that grew up in the vicinity of the accident itself... These people live with its direct consequences. Their children get cancer.
The old hospital on the outskirts of Kiev is a dirt-grey concrete colossus, built during the Soviet glory days. From here it is only a two-hour drive to Chernobyl. When I enter, I see two four-year-old girls. They are both completely bald and one girl has a drip on a stand, which she maneuvers around.
We play with the children for an hour, share stories from the Bible and give them wrapped gifts. The children laugh and smile. It is obvious that they appreciate the break. It's fun, but I've rarely felt so powerless. I cannot make these kids healthy, but I can give them my attention.
How do you talk about serious illness or death with a child? I do not know. But I know that, aware of my own mortality, I find hope in the Bible. So, we tell the children about hope, and we tell them of a God who gives comfort and rest and always welcomes us." - Magnus.
Please pray for the families and children
who are suffering. Pray for healing and the hope of the Lord. Pray that God would break this pattern of sickness in children. Please also pray for our colleagues who visit the hospitals to spend time with the children and their families, having fun, laughing and chatting but importantly, praying and sharing the hope of Christ.
Christmas is a wonderful time to share gifts with loved ones while focusing on the Greatest Gift of all - our beautiful Saviour, Jesus Christ.
