Transition Home Graduate, Nik, Shares His Story, Part 2

Nik's story, part 2 
from "troubled" orphan to husband and father...
to humanitarian aid worker 

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to Nik, an orphan who spent four years at Mel's House in Ukraine. He has since gone on to become a husband and father who works with orphans in the very same orphanage he once called home. Since the war broke out in Ukraine, however, Nik has began to offer humanitarian aid – and hope – to those who need it most. Keep reading for part two of his powerful story and how you can be a part of it. 

"When the war started last February, many people from our church left town. Only two families were left – mine and our Pastor’s. The fighting took place only 5 km away. There were big battles with a lot of explosions.

On March 4 at 11:30pm, we were sleeping at home when the Russians began to take over our city. Missiles were flying and shelling went on until about 3:40am. It was scary! That night a shell landed 70 meters from our house and shrapnel flew into our windows. In the morning, Pastor and I decided to take our families to the orphanage basement, because neither of us had a basement.

The place was empty because the children were taken out of the country as soon as the war started. But when we got there, we were shocked to see over 150 people from all over the city there! They were terrified and did not understand what was happening. We knew that we needed to help them. We prayed and sang Christian songs with them. We also fed them with what we had. We stayed there for two terrible weeks. Every day they bombed. Most of the town was destroyed. Finally we realized that we had to go to a safer place, so we took our families to western Ukraine. Two weeks later the Russians began to bomb exactly where we had been in the basement. 

After we left, we began to worry about the people who stayed in our town. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to deliver humanitarian aid with him to our town and all the nearest villages. I agreed. His friends helped with finances for fuel and the churches gave food – that’s how our first trip took place. Initially we planned to go just once, but God blessed us. Since then, we have had  11 trips to 17 villages and delivered 165 tons of humanitarian aid in total.

These trips are very difficult. We go for a whole week and deliver food, clothes, hygiene items and water to people. It’s so hard to leave my family when my country is at war – especially when I see death all around me. For several months there has only been one day when our town was not bombed! We know that God has protected us and our families. 

Many of the people we help have lost everything. They have lost their homes. They have lost their families. Their hearts are broken. We want to tell them the most important thing: that God loves them. He hasn’t forgotten them. And when they repent and give their heart to Christ, his Holy Spirit will live within their heart. He has a place for them in His kingdom."