I Will Not Leave You as Orphans By Nikki White | Ukraine
When Maxym and Anya Oliferovski first met John and Evelyn Wiens, missionaries with Multiply, they knew that they shared with them a calling to serve the brokenhearted. It was out of this calling that together they founded the New Hope Center in Zaporozhye. “That was ten years ago,” said Max. “Today we are celebrating ten years of God’s faithfulness.” “Our first burden was for the orphans,” Max went on. “Children in the public orphanages age out of the system as teenagers. There is nothing for them to do, no future but the streets. We started a drop-in center in downtown Zaporozhye to give them a place where they could find community and hope.”
For two years, the Oliferovski and Wiens families provided a safe space for youth at risk. Teenagers would come for the hot meal, only to find themselves unexpectedly among friends. As this ministry grew, so did the vision. In 2012, the two couples launched a licensed dairy farm in the village of Nikolay Pole, and opened two group homes for aged-out orphans in Zaporozhye. Their goal was that these children would learn life skills and a means of supporting themselves. “But it was we who learned the most,” Max said. “We learned about the incredible hardships faced by children who have not known the love of a mother or father. We learned how vital it was to provide a sense of family and belonging. We learned the importance of helping children in government orphanages to have good Christian friends.” They learned what it was like to be orphans. Then, they themselves became orphaned.
Jesus told his disciples, “I will be with you and will not leave you as orphans.” John 14:18 When John Wiens passed away in 2014, Max and Anya felt like children who had lost their father. There was comfort to be found in applying to themselves some of the very words of Scripture that had inspired them to care for orphans in the first place. Maxym (left) with John Wiens at the New Hope Center in 2013
10 | witness
Jesus told his disciples, “I will be with you and will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18). The team at New Hope Center held strongly to that promise and kept going.
