10 Years of Support!

It was 10 years ago that a lovely lady called Galina was supervising at a drop-in centre for orphans. She told us that funding for the centre had been withdrawn and the building was to be sold. Galina was heartbroken – especially for her teenage orphan girls, many of whom, desperate for real families of their own, were embarking on relationships and having babies that they would be unable to support.

From that funding she would gift each of her young mums £20 each month to help them with essentials – something she could no longer do. Her biggest fear was that with out help these babies would end up in orphanages in the same cycle of abandonment trauma as their mums.

This was when we got involved. In the 10 years that have passed, the cost of living has risen sharply. Today, our funding allows each mum a monthly gift that’s between £50 and £60 – an amount that has enough impact to help meet some basic needs.

The mums who lean on our support, and the groups they are part of, all carry the weight of poverty, trauma, and childhoods spent in orphan institutions. Some have lived through domestic violence, all have deep emotional wounds – and one that we know of tries to hide her addiction.

Whatever their struggles, their support group means they don’t have to go it alone, they can share their struggles with others who ‘get it’. It offers them all a ‘family’ of sorts – something that is deeply important having been abandoned by their own.

Together they are learning life skills and coping strategies and showing strength that will one day filter down and impact their children – living examples of resilience that they themselves were not afforded.

Despite 10 years of support, their needs don’t let up and poverty is still very much a daily struggle.

Mila (left), single mum to nine-year-old Katya, has held a job for over a year - a huge achievement for a young woman who grew up without role models or support. Her current challenge – a broken leg! We pray that in the time it takes for her to get back on her feet her job will still be waiting.

Last summer, Ksusha gave birth to Asanya (below). As a family in poverty, affording the extras a new baby needs is difficult. Thankfully she has guidance and support from Galina, community from the group, and practical support from all of you.

Some of Galina’s mums live in such remote rural locations that they cannot easily join in with group meetings.

Darya is extremely isolated and has learning difficulties. Her daughter, Veronica, now in school, urgently needs speech therapy — something Darya struggles to understand. Pray she accepts Galina’s offer of help before Veronica begins to fall behind.

Sasha quietly struggles with an addiction to alcohol. This means she is the only one of Galina's mums who cannot receive her support in the form of money. Instead, Galina shops for food or buys her two little girls clothes. Outwardly, the girls look well cared for, but beneath the surface things are fragile. It's been five years since Sasha lost her severely disabled son to pneumonia. Years of having to watch him constantly so he wouldn’t choke, followed by grief, trauma, and her own orphaned past, led her into reliance on alcohol — an addiction she still denies.

Galina has known most of her mums since those days in the drop-in centre. They were just teenagers then, left to cope with independence alone having exited the orphanage system. She stood by them then and a decade later, they still know they can rely on her.

Your generosity keeps this group running. It provides these vulnerable mums with support and extra help right when they need it.

SEE OUR SUPPORT GROUPS PAGE