| The Founding of Jireh Trust |
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It all started back in 1997 when Martin Russell from Market Harborough first went to the Ukraine
to help open up links with Churches in the former Soviet Union. He travelled via Kiev to
eastern Ukraine (in the Chernihev region) and there received a wonderful welcome from people
who had never seen westerners before.
A couple of years later, Martin went back, taking another group in order to cement the developing relationship between the two churches. He had been told of the work that was being done by the Christians in Kiev with street children and on this trip he was able to stay on in Kiev for few days to see the work firsthand, with the help of a couple who were involved in this ministry as well as being translators. Here is Martin’s account of this visit. "Nothing had really prepared me for this encounter. We got to the Hydropark - which is an island in the middle of the Dnipro River. It all looked really beautiful with sandbanks for people to swim in the river and many birch trees. There were cafes and a bandstand and many there simply enjoying a day out. Then the children started to arrive from nowhere. They were just ordinary kids but I looked at their eyes and the clothes that they were wearing. I then started to see a hollowness that was in their faces and eyes. You could see how the big boys dominated the little ones. They were all ages. I suppose the youngest was about 4 and the oldest - well who can tell? They were not supposed to come after they are 17 but they still kept coming along, hoping......Most of the children were about 8 to 12. Boys and girls - brothers and sisters sometimes. The older brothers looking after their younger siblings. 
It was all very disciplined. Yes - Ukrainian children are very disciplined, even those on
the streets. After the initial chaos of our arrival they arranged themselves on seats. They
jostled with each other for the opportunity to serve the food that had been prepared. Before
the eating came a short talk by some of the helpers. Other adults arrived to help, apparently
from a local Baptist Church, and they also spent time trying to get alongside the children.
"What are the children doing there? Why are they here?" I found myself asking. "Oh, you know - various reasons," was my translator’s reply. Some have no parents, some have run away from the state orphanages, some are abused at home and want to get away, some of their mothers cannot afford to feed them. Where do they live? "Oh, you know", he said, "they live where they can.... Some live in the basements under houses..." (Ukrainian houses are built up off the ground to keep away from the frost.) "...Some live in the sewer pipes to keep warm during the Winter, some go home at night." An old man hovered on the sides of the group. He was dressed in tatty clothes..... I say old but who knew his age? It turned out that one of the children, about 8 years old, was his son. The son had been offered a place in a new Christian Orphanage, but the father had refused to allow him to go into that safe place, since he wanted his son to be on the streets to help him beg. He could get more money that way! There was a little girl, no more than 3, who was with her mum on the side of the group. The girl was dressed in such beautiful clothes - but then I saw that they were not matching socks. Her daughter ate every bit of the cabbage salad and bread that was provided. I later spoke to her... "What brings you here?" "We used to have a nice apartment in Kiev" said the Mum, "But my husband drank all our money away on Vodka. Now I have nothing." It turned out that she had 3 other children living with her and that the boys were off cleaning the car windscreens on the streets of Kiev. That was their only source of money. "How can I help?" I said lamely. "I want to go to Israel or Canada" she replied with an expectation in her eyes that saw all that I had. I couldn’t do that and she knew it. There was hopelessness in her expression. I said to my translator friend, "I feel so helpless here. I cannot help them in any way and I cannot even speak to them." It was from these beginnings that God gave Martin a huge compassion for those people who do not have even the basics of human existence and yet who retain the dignity and care that is born in them. He came back determined that he would DO SOMETHING - and that was the start of JIREH TRUST. In conjunction with a few like-minded friends, the charity was formed and registered in 2001 and has continued to grow in size and effectiveness. Four months later, Martin was back in that same city, with 4 friends from his local church and 1.75 tons of clothes, shoes and blankets to give to the street children. He never did see that little girl’s mum again - he wondered if she got to Israel or Canada.
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