Joni and Friends is continuing to work alongside our partners in Ukraine to evacuate people with disabilities. Unfortunately, family members often must be left behind. Join us in praying for these “orphans and widows” who are separated from their loved ones.
Visit Joni's Facebook page for updates on our work in Ukraine.
JONI: Hi, everyone, and oh, I’m so excited – I’ve got my husband Ken in studio!
KEN: I’m excited, too, Joni!
JONI: It’s always great having you here, sweetheart.
KEN: Thank you.
JONI: And you know, we’ve had some interesting discussions around the dinner table over the last four or five weeks, haven’t we?
KEN: Oh, absolutely. Especially after we watch what’s happening in the news
JONI: Yeah, in Ukraine. You and I were looking at some photos, listening to some reports about people drinking salt water in some of those lower coastal towns that have been obliterated.
KEN: Yeah, Mariupol.
JONI: Thankfully, though, we’re able to do something, aren’t we, Ken?
KEN: It’s so interesting to note that the disabled are the ones that seem to be the most in need and yet are the last to be helped.
JONI: Right. It’s always in times of war where the vulnerable and the weak are forgotten, neglected, lost, left behind, and kicked off the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder.
KEN: But you’re right, Joni; we are doing something. As we have people in Ukraine who are helping to evacuate people with disabilities and their caregivers.
JONI: All the way from the hotspots in the east where the rocket strikes have been most intense. I have just read that we have evacuated some people from Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula. That is amazing. These people come across the border, though – these people with disabilities – and they have to leave behind some loved ones don’t they?
KEN: Oh, absolutely. And it’s interesting because a portion of Scripture that I’ve memorized is from James 1, and it says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” You know, as you watch those disabled people coming across and realizing what they’re leaving behind, we’re looking at orphans and widows in distress.
JONI: That’s right. They’re not able to bring their entire family. They have to leave behind family members. And they’re separating themselves from family members. And their families – whether it’s their mothers, fathers, siblings – encourage them to escape, leave, go to the border; find safety in the west. What heartbreaking divisions in families. So these really are indeed widows and orphans. Ken, describe for our friends listening what happens to these Ukrainians with disabilities who we evacuate across the border.
KEN: There are probably about 2.7 million people in Ukraine that are disabled. And it just seems heartbreaking that we can’t get them all out of there, but through our ministry through Joni and Friends, and representatives that we have in Ukraine, we’re making an effort to get the ones that we can out of there. And one woman that comes to mind, who is our representative, is Galyna. And what a heroine she is.
JONI: Yep, from her basement, she is operating a network of team members who are going out into the streets and the alleys and the highways and the byways, knocking on doors, finding the disabled who are abandoned on the sixth or seventh floor of an apartment building. ’Cause those people can’t escape can they.
KEN: Somebody in a wheelchair on the seventh or eighth floor – they hear the air raid sirens, and they’re supposed to get down to the basement. How does that happen?
JONI: And they can’t make a rush to the border for safety either. I’m pretty impressed, though, with our in-country coordinators in Europe – in Poland, Germany, Netherlands.
KEN: It’s one thing to get the disabled across the border from Ukraine but then think about the housing. Once the Ukrainian disabled are crossing the borders, it’s our in-country partners that are helping to find housing for these same disabled people.
JONI: And that’s not easy. You gotta find accessible housing, accommodations that are reasonable for people with disabilities.
KEN: Well, Joni, I think the most important thing we can do right now is to be praying for our disabled friends from James 1:27. We want to look after our orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
JONI: Please visit my Facebook page where we’ve got the latest updates. We’ll tell you about the next evacuations that you can be praying about. Ken, thank you for that verse because indeed, these Ukrainians with disabilities separated from their families – they need our prayer, right?
KEN: Absolutely.
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