Project Odessa
Grace Baptist Church in Odessa,
Ukraine, has a shelter which currently houses around 30 children. These
children are given shelter, food, clothing and, most importantly, love. Now,
the Church are building a Transition House for the children to move into when
they are older, thus allowing more children to be adopted into the shelter. Once
complete, this Transition House will house around 70 young people as they seek employment
and their own accommodation.
In 2008, some men from Gwersyllt
Congregational Church, Wales sought to put their faith into action and organised
a practical work project to help with the construction of the Transition House.
Since then, teams of men have gone out to help with the building work and have
taken finances for the building materials.
In September 2011 a team of men from
Woodgreen Evangelical Church went to Odessa with men from Gwersyllt
Congregational Church to carry out building works at Transition House.
A very diverse group of men have gone
out to Odessa so far, including a plumber, two preachers, a software engineer,
a retired police officer, mechanics, civil servants, a student and a BT
engineer to name just a few. The age ranges from early 20's to (early?) 60's.
No building experience or knowledge is required as everything is
learned on site.
The next trip is planned for the end
of May 2012. More men from both churches are going out again to continue the
work on Transition House.