Uzbekistan Orphans

Thanks From Kosova

In December we were able to send $5,000 to Kosova for the Trauma Center. Maureen, the manager, writes, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to helping our Centre. It is a real answer to our prayer because we were beginning to run out of funds. We are now helping over 100 children. We pray for God’s blessings on each one of you.”

Something Special In Central Asia

In response to our letter asking how we might help them, Cindy and Mike Edson, Bethany graduates who are working in Central Asia, wrote the following. For security reasons, they asked us not to identify the country they are working in.

God has done something very special here in Central Asia, where we are working with a government orphanage. The government feeds and houses the children. We clothe, teach, love and care for the 250 children who are the worst off. With God's help we have improved their terrible living conditions. When we first came, it was cold and wet everywhere, there were no toilets, and raw sewage was under the rotten floors the children crawled on.

The children with severe mental and physical disabilities were left to die. With Christian love and care, we have seen children walk and talk for the first time, as well as learn to feed and care for themselves.

The first time we gave them crayons to draw with, they scribbled in black and other dark colors. That was their world–full of death and fear. Now they make colorful drawings of smiling faces, of flowers and animals. Jesus has changed these children. We see Him in them daily.

When Cindy first went to the orphanage, she found the most disabled children crammed into little rooms, naked, and lying in their own waste. So that they wouldn't have to bother cleaning them up, the government workers gave them very little food and water. Several children died every week, some of them very painfully. Some dying children had bedsores to the bone. They spent their short lives lying in urine and feces-soaked bedding. A government worker sat at the door of the rooms with a stick or rubber hose. Children were routinely beaten. When Cindy first attempted to hold them, they ran from her in fear. They had never before experienced love.

Personal Stories

Dilnoza was a bedridden child who never moved or spoke. She appeared to be unaware of what was happening around her. One of our caregivers took her out of bed and got her to sit in a chair. As the woman cared for the other children, the she would play Christian worship music for Dilnoza. One day she noticed that Dilnoza was humming along with the music. Soon she began to sing individual words and then started singing the whole song. A government worker heard her singing and mockingly asked what she was singing about, thinking she would not be able to answer. Dilnoza surprised the worker by saying, "I'm singing about God's love for me and that one day he will take me to be with him."

Born mentally retarded, Nargiza was abandoned by her parents. The government workers called her a terrible curse word, which she thought was her name. Our sisters told her that her name was Nargiza, a special flower. Now when the government workers call her by the curse word, she tells them, "That's not me, I'm Nargiza." Recently, she prayed for a child who was in a terrible rage. She asked Jesus to help her friend and told Satan to leave her friend alone.