Where they come from

The children displaced from Ukraine's broken families are placed by the government in institutions; there they become wards of the state whose guardians are orphanage directors. There are approximately 100,000 orphans in Ukraine, and 4,000 of those are in the Zhytomyr region. Last Bell Ministries works with Orphanage #4, which has about 200 orphans.

Some were abandoned when they were little. Some grew up in abusive or neglectful situations, and their parents lost guardianship. All have emotional difficulties because of the abandonment or abuse.

Relatives

About 90% of orphans in Ukraine are "social orphans." These have one or more parents living who are unable to care for their children. Most children are taken out of their homes because of extreme neglect or physical abuse at the hands of alcoholic parents. Some parents are in prison; it is not unusual for an orphan's parent to be imprisoned for killing his or her spouse. Most children living in an orphanage are never visited even by those parents who live close by. Children are also forgotten by older siblings. They may have siblings in other orphanages that they have no way to see, or siblings may have been adopted and left their brothers and sisters behind. Some are able to visit relatives on weekends, but these situations may be either positive or abusive.

At the Orphanage

Children toddler-age and older are organized into groups that eat, sleep, and play together, overseen by teachers and caregivers. As they grow older, their friends can become a substitute family; but this a family whose social code often mandates promiscuity, prostitution, alcoholism, doing or selling drugs, lying, and stealing. Many become alcoholics and chain smokers. Some begin experimenting with drugs when they are in elementary school. Orphans are sometimes abused physically or sexually by their peers or by orphanage staff.

Education in the orphanage is inferior, and often there is no one who can encourage the students' progress, help them learn occupational skills, or give them good advice and direction. Most destructive to the orphans is the pain of their parents' abandonment and rejection. They develop defense mechanisms and unhealthy behaviors to numb the emptiness and pain.

The Last Bell Ceremony marks the end of the school year for orphans in Ukraine. For 15- and 16-year-old graduates, this ceremony means the end of life in an institution. Unprepared for their new independence, they are unable to transition into an unsympathetic outside world. Most attend trade school for two years and live in poorly-run government dormitories. After trade school, the seventy percent who can't find employment will end up on the street. Few go on to college or university education.

The graduates are disadvantaged by limited education, inadequate life skills, and little or no family support. They also miss the connections with the orphanage and their friends. Rejection, loneliness and hopelessness leave them vulnerable to peer pressure and destructive behavior.

When the orphans at Zhytomyr Orphanage #4 graduate, they are not just unprepared for independent life; many are already dysfunctional alcoholics, with casual and sometimes abusive sexual relationships. Many dream of ending their own lives instead of having to face life alone.

• 30% will become addicted to drugs
• 60% of the girls will become prostitutes
• 70% of the boys will turn to crime
• 10-15% will commit suicide

History

Before 2005, some of Last Bell's board and staff members worked in summer camps for orphans. As they saw the children they knew in Orphanage #4 growing up and graduating, they began to understand the plight of the graduate. An apartment was purchased, and some of the graduate girls began to spend time there.

The six founders came together in the fall of 2005 and created a non-profit organization so they could formulate and control their own program. At that time, a goal of the ministry was to take guardianship of graduate minors so Last Bell could institute a residential program. In July of 2006, the ministry received a personal loan to purchase a home in the city of Zhytomyr. The home is accessible by public transportation to students all over the city. After meeting several challenges with the local government, it was understood that that having guardianship would be impossible. Last Bell's strategy for the home shifted.

Current Ministry

Currently, the home in Zhytomyr is a ministry center called "The Shelter" where the graduates can come when they're not in class. The Shelter is open to graduates on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. As of the winter of 2008, the staff had family relationships with 50-60 graduates, and 15-30 spend the day at the Shelter when it's open. Providing a family model is a priority of the program. The staff live out their salvation before the kids, act as mentors, and disciple the believers. They teach life skills, demonstrate and teach successful relationships, require accountability, and give the kids guidance with their school work. They also invite and encourage church attendance and involvement, and promote good relationships with pastors and lay people.

Because of their high-risk lifestyles, graduates will often be in crisis situations. The staff counsels, provides biblical answers, prays with the graduates, and helps them through each crisis until they're out of danger. They discuss life issues with the kids: How does God see them? What is his plan for them? And they help the graduates form goals—short and long term.

Maintaining relationships with the graduates is of the utmost importance. Because Last Bell wants to continue developing relationships with children still in the orphanage, in the fall of 2007 a weekly Bible club, AWANA, was started with the help of volunteers. Summer camps and other activities generate interest in the Shelter and allow staff to build relationships with graduates and students who will soon be graduating.

At the Shelter, Last Bell houseparents and staff have created a program to meet the specific needs of the orphan graduate in every aspect of life.

Through live-in Christian houseparents, graduates see God's plan for marriage—faithfulness to one's spouse—as well as a healthy family life in which parents provide for their children. Houseparents, staff, and volunteers present the gospel of Christ through their daily walk, Bible studies and day-to-day discussions. Tuesday nights, new believers are discipled by one of the pastors of Loving Community Church. Another pastor helps with counseling graduates. Many of the graduates attend church regularly and are preparing to become members.

Last Bell hopes to increase the likelihood of graduates going on to higher education. Computer and English classes, along with personal tutoring, are part of a plan to help students gain useful job skills. Sports activities, movie and game nights, and field trips draw the graduates away from trouble and help them build a constructive social life. Also, because the Shelter provides a safe place to "hang out," graduates can have one-on-one fellowship with each other and the staff, or spend time in a small group. They can learn how to rise above the hardships of their past through the healing love of God, and face their futures with courage.

Graduates are learning the life skills necessary for independent living as they help prepare meals and clean up afterwards, shop with staff for project supplies, assist with house and car repairs, and take care of the Shelter's yard; they are getting a real taste of adult responsibility.

Most importantly, at the Shelter the graduates develop long-term, healthy relationships with believers they can trust.

As the staff of Last Bell get to know each graduate who comes to the Shelter, they learn about the graduates' problems, the stories of their past, and their fears regarding the future. They counsel them through problems in the present, problems at school, with friends and relatives, and in relationships. The staff help them plan realistically for future lives on their own after trade school. They gently teach the graduates how to better behave in society. They love the graduates unconditionally through all their misdirected anger and destructive behavior. They disciple the kids who turn to Jesus Christ, not only taking them to church and discipleship groups, but through one-on-one relationships.

Olga Antonova joined the staff in October of 2008 as an administrative assistant. She is the mother of two boys and the wife of the pastor of First Baptist Church in Zhytomyr. She and her husband dream of planting their own church someday in a village outside Zhytomyr. She currently ministers to that community through weekly Sunday School for the children of that village. She also leads EECO's team of AWANA volunteers on a volunteer basis, heading weekly volunteer meetings and AWANA club at the orphanage each Saturday. Her work for Last Bell includes helping keep financial records, running errands for Liz, and helping Last Bell with business processes such as registering the house and registering Last Bell as an organization in Ukraine. She will also be helping keep the prayer sponsorship program organized on the Ukraine side, and will be translating letters back and forth between kids and sponsors.

Abram Krivoruchko is 26 years old and a member of a Pentecostal church in Zhytomyr. He joined the staff in May of 2007 after three months of volunteering with EECO. He is the assistant housefather at the Shelter, sharing the load of housefathering with Andre Pankyeyev. Together they take care of construction projects, care for the Shelter and property, and teach boys how to take care of a home and property. They are examples to the boys of what godly men are like, how they protect those around them and continually show godly character through actions. Together they learn the needs and problems of the Shelter boys, spend time with them, and work on keeping up with each of them.

Ira Mikityook is 27 years old and a member of Central Baptist Church. She joined the staff on April 1, 2006. She worked at the post office six years before joining ministry, and had prayed and fasted for a year that she would somehow be able to serve in full time ministry. A year to the day she began her prayer and fasting, she met Liz for the first time, having been recommended to Last Bell through acquaintance, and was invited to join the ministry. Someday she wants to study law and become a lawyer who advocates for the defenseless. In the first year with Last Bell she worked at the orphanage, leading clubs for the oldest classes and teaching culinary classes to 5th through 9th grade. Since the opening of the Shelter, she has worked as an assistant houseparent. Oksana and Ira share the load of housemothering, cooking and teaching kids to cook, meeting with girls one-on-one to counsel and get to know them, etc. She still ministers at the orphanage weekly.

Liz Millikan is 26 years old and a member of Loving Community Church. She began to work as the EECO director in 2006, and also worked as a houseparent for the residential program in the spring of 2006. She worked as houseparent through 2007, hosting girls during the day in her apartment. Now that an entire team is gathered, she directs the Shelter staff and other Last Bell ministries and plans ahead for the ministry on the ground. She also works as a houseparent at the Shelter, helping meet the needs of the graduates alongside the rest of the Shelter staff.

Andre and Oksana Pankyeyev came into ministry in August of 2007. They attend Loving Community Church. They are both involved in service at church. They moved their family into the Shelter and live at the shelter. By their examples, they show the kids how a godly marriage works and how to raise small children. Their children are Daniel, three, and Margarita, six. They also love the Shelter kids as their own and work hard to take care of the needs of the graduates. Many of the kids consider them their parents.

Tanya Unguryan is 25 years old and a member of Central Baptist Church. She joined the team in the summer of 2007 as a nanny for the Pankyeyevs' two children, Daniel and Margarita. The first year she spent most of her time with the kids in two of the rooms upstairs in the Shelter, which is the houseparent family living quarters. In the summer of 2008 she coordinated the EECO summer camp at the orphanage. She also went to the Black Sea as a leader for the graduate camp while Oksana stayed home with the children. In 2008, she is working part-time as the nanny, after 6 PM when Daniel and Margarita get home from school, and part-time as a Shelter leader, until 6 PM each Shelter day. Throughout the week she ministers to individual graduates during "off hours."