The HOPE Project
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
-Jeremiah 29:11
Orphan’s Promise recently embarked on a new God-adventure to bring hope to a seemingly forgotten people in the war-torn nation of Ukraine. Some of the most vulnerable children on earth can be found in the villages of the Roma people, a gypsy population mired in a vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and public shame.
The hopelessness found in the hearts of these precious people sticks with you for a long time. Working with them, we’ve come to realize that this hopelessness is directly tied to how they view themselves. All they have ever known is shame and rejection, so they’ve come to accept that they have no value, and therefore, no hope. It became clear early on, that if we were going to change the future of these people, it had to begin with changing how they viewed themselves. They needed to see and believe that they were valuable.
Our hearts broke for these people whom no one seemed to love, so Orphan’s Promise prayerfully developed a long-term plan to change the future of the Roma gypsies. Over the last seven years, with your help, OP has invested heavily, establishing an agricultural program, building a public bathhouse — the first running water in village history — and launching school programs, which allow the gypsy children to overcome the shame of illiteracy, and give them hope of a better life.
While the farms, the bathhouse and the school were making a lasting impact in the villages, as social outcasts, many of the children had never been truly valued by anyone. They were born to believe they had nothing of worth to offer society, but God has a different message for these precious ones. Through The HOPE Project, Orphan’s Promise is giving a voice to the voiceless in Ukraine. We sent a team over to the gypsy villages to write, record and produce a CD featuring the Roma children singing and worshipping the Lord.
This extraordinary act of creating, and the pride that accompanied it, transformed the hearts of the Roma children. For the first time in their lives, they had something of worth to give. Each and every one had reason to believe they were valuable. When we take at-risk children and help them, we often provide food, shelter, and an education, but it is when we can give hope and rebuild broken identities that we begin to see them truly thrive!
GET YOUR COPY OF THE HOPE PROJECT TODAY, and stay tuned in the months ahead for our next exciting adventure, The FREEDOM Project. Orphan’s Promise is headed to Africa to give the children of Kenya a voice!
