Change is Possible!

Back in October 2025, we briefly mentioned a young mum called Vika. She’d been at the Women’s Crisis Centre for two weeks and we hoped that one day we could share her story and answer the question - has being at the Centre changed her life?

Vika’s Past was a Long Succession of Challenges

As one of six children, when her parents lost ‘parental rights’, she was placed in an orphanage. Aged five, she was adopted. As she grew up it became apparent her new dad had a drink problem and her new mum was dating other people. The home was dysfunctional - but despite this, Vika worked hard at school and went on to teacher training college.

Her studies were cut short when her biological sister, whom she'd resumed contact with as a young teenager, was diagnosed with cancer. Vika went to care for her young nephew but this home was filled with drug use. Vika began using too, and during this time, she became pregnant.

Like her own parents, she also lost her rights to this child, and her adoptive mum began raising the baby. Vika was trapped in addiction and spent years going in and out of rehab clinics.

During the most successful attempt to rebuild her life, she was drug-free for five years and regained the right to raise her son and her nephew. She also had a steady job and she married. Hope had returned, but only briefly.

There was domestic violence within the marriage. She left, met someone new, and in this situation - all her efforts unravelled.

This new love turned out to be an addict and an abuser and meant her old habits swiftly returned to the surface - and Vika's son was returned to her mum. With a newborn baby girl, the authorities gave her a choice, 'get help from the Women’s Crisis Centre or lose your baby daughter too'. Unable to face more tragedy, she agreed to try.

'The Best Decision of my Life'

She arrived believing her three-month-old daughter would be better off with her grandmother. Instead, God showed her that this little girl would become the very reason to fight for a different future. Right at the beginning she said:

“Coming here was the best decision of my life… most importantly, my daughter is with me. I would move mountains for her. And now I have God, and I know for sure that together we will get through this."

One year later, Vika and her daughter are still at the Centre and their lives have been transformed.

Here, Vika received her very first Bible and was introduced to Jesus. She says it was at the Centre that God set her free from addiction, restored her relationship with her now teenage son, and her mum, and healed wounds that once seemed overwhelming.

Today, she is no longer the one needing constant support. She actively helps new mums and their children to settle into life at the Centre. She loves singing, takes part in caring for the elderly at the Centre, and assists with organising celebrations and events. She is also active in looking for people who are willing to support the ministry that changed her life.

Her little girl, Zoeta, celebrated her first birthday in March and is thriving. Vika also shared another answer to prayer:

"God has miraculously healed Zoeta from kidney disease and hepatitis".

Looking at this mother and daughter today, it is hard to imagine the dark days Vika has lived through.

Without the Women's Crisis Centre, Zoeta may have grown up without the love of her own mother - just like Vika did all those years ago.

Instead, because of God's grace, the faithful work of Alina, Roman and the team, and the generosity and prayers of supporters like you, this family has been given a second chance.

Thank you for helping make transformation stories like Vika's a possibility. Your support has provided far more than a roof over her head and food on the table. It has surrounded her with people who demonstrate the love of Christ every single day - and through that love, this mother and daughter have a second chance.