Heaven's Family Magazine
March 2022 Issue

Children fleeing Ukraine (A Grandmother’s Story)

David Servant

Image of Ukraine family
Pastor Alexandru (center) trying his very best to bring some joy to a crushed family. The family from left to right: Grandmother Galina, Galea (12), Constantin (2), Bogdan (16), Roceslav (13), Sofia (14), Oleg (12)

Not wanting to let go, the parents tightly embraced their children one final time, knowing this might be the last time they ever see them.

At the urging of her adult children, Galina hurried her six grandchildren into their family car. Their destination? Anywhere but here.

Grandma Galina’s heart was impossibly heavy as she felt she could be abandoning her children to be massacred by Russian soldiers. But she had a new mission: save the lives of her young grandchildren by getting them out of Ukraine.

The children’s parents had no choice but to stay behind. Their father was in the military and was required to stay and fight against the Russian invaders. Their mother, a baker, was also staying to help feed the Ukrainian soldiers.

So the family bravely and obediently piled into the car, each with a few pair of clothes. The oldest of the grandchildren, 16-year-old Bogdan, tried his best to fight off tears so he could see clearly enough to drive his siblings and grandma as fast as he could toward the Ukraine/Moldova border.

But before they could reach the border, their journey came to a halt as a long line of abandoned vehicles was blocking the road.

Even if you have to abandon the car, do whatever it takes to get our children to safety! Grandma Galina remembered the final orders from her adult children. So Galina and her six grandkids got out of the car and carried their clothes in the direction of the border.

After walking the rest of the distance to Moldova, Galina and her grandkids were overcome with grief. They didn’t know where to go next, what to do, or whom to talk to. They were lost and brokenhearted without their parents. They stopped holding the tears back and wept bitterly.

That’s when hope in the form of Pastor Alexandru found them. He had journeyed to the border with the purpose of finding people who needed his help. God had led him to just the right place along the border!

Alexandru is part of a network of trusted Heaven’s Family ministry partners serving in Moldova and Romania. Emergency funds have enabled Alexandru to purchase coats, clothing, food, and mattresses for Galina and her six grandchildren.

Image of relief for Ukraine refugees
Emergency food aid being delivered and distributed to Ukrainian refugees inside Romania

The Ukrainian refugee crisis has quickly spiraled out of control. More than a million people—mostly women and children—have fled for their lives into neighboring countries, often with only the clothes on their backs.

As always, we are driven by Jesus’ words to His sheep in Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me…”

Countless families like Grandma Galina and her six grandchildren are doing all they can just to survive. They’ve left parents, houses and belongings behind to seek refuge.

Your gifts today will continue to provide emergency supplies, such as food, clothing, shelter, fuel and mattresses for these hurting and desperate families who have fled Ukraine.

On behalf of the hurting multitudes,

David Servant
Founder and President, Heaven’s Family

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