(Editorial Note: This story originally posted in November of last year, but is referenced in our Summer Newsletter as a prime example of the new focus on advocacy that has become an increased focus of the work.)

We have four Zhenya's at Hope House, the youngest of whom put his trust in Christ last year, and this summer was baptized by our pastor Oleg, in the river just outside Voronezh.  A few months later, Zhenya made a disturbing discovery.  He had two older siblings, a brother and sister, of whom he had known nothing, since they left their orphanage, many years before him.  In the fall he discovered that they were living in a house in the little town of Kontimirovka, bordering Ukraine on the edge of our region which was in such a terrible state of disrepair that the state had given them an ultimatum.

Zhenya's sister Tanya had an infant daughter, less than a year old, and was 4 months pregnant with a second child.  The house she shared with her boyfriend and older brother was typical of most houses provided to orphan children after completing their education.  It was three rooms, no indoor plumbing, and virtually no heat.  They were heating the house with a two-burner hot plate (which had only one functional burner).  Many of the windows were broken out, and winter was settling in our on region.  The state had given Tanya and her brother a deadline to have the house repaired or both of Tanya's babies would be taken and placed in an orphanage. 

When Zhenya brought us the news in mid-November, his heart was heavy.  He had just reunited with his siblings after a long separation, and found immense pride and pleasure in being an uncle.  He knew all-too-well about life in the orphanage, and he couldn't bear the thought of his precious little niece growing up in that place.  The deadline set by the child welfare commission from the state to repair the house or give up the children was less than a week away when Zhenya came to us with the heart-breaking story of the fate that seemed to await Tanya's children. 

Though Zhenya's resources were quite limited in every respect, he knew he could not sit idly by and do nothing, and of course neither could we.  We could not contact the siblings, since they didn't have a phone of any kind, and we couldn't really know for sure what supplies were needed for the repairs, or what, if anything, we would be able to buy in Kontimirovka.  But, we packed up what supplies we could in our car, leaving only enough room for four guys, and at 5am the next morning, Sergei, Maxim, and I, set out with Zhenya on the four-hour drive to the edge of our region, not knowing fully what to expect, or even when we would return home. 

Max & Zhenya install a new window, while Zhenya's older brother supervises.When we arrived at their house about mid-morning, we learned that the child welfare commission had placed Tanya in a hospital with her baby daughter, until the house was repaired and deemed suitable by the commission, or until her parental rights were denied and the children placed in the orphanage. 

Zhenya's older brother quickly became part of our work crew, and together the five of us tackled the task at hand with a vengeance, stopping only for lunch and a quick trip to the hospital to check on Tanya and the baby, and take them food.  By midnight we had completed what we could do, and began our journey back home, arriving at 4am, twenty-three hours after we had left the morning before.

Sergei wallpapers the baby's room.We would get the exciting news a few days later that the commission came and inspected the house, and gave approval for Tanya to return, extending her the parental rights to keep her children. The ranks of future orphans in the Voronezh region just diminished by two.