The large family of Igor and Tamara Gavriluk used to have a calm, quiet and happy life in their home town of Alchevsk, Luhansk region before the war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
There are ten children in the family – the two older daughters have already left the home, while 8 younger children aged 9 to 18 still live with their parents. Their eldest daughter of Lisa is the only biological child in the family; other 9 children have been adopted and they all feel loved and needed.

Igor and Tamara created their foster family in 2007. They took the kids into their family when the kids were still very young, and now they grew up into happy teenagers. The couple’s main goal of fostering these kids was to bright them up to become good people with caring hearts.

In Alchevsk, the Gavriliuk family used to have a big house. However, chaos and negative changes came to their home with the beginning of the war in 2014. For two years the family stayed in their home town, hoping that peace would soon come. However, the situation was getting increasingly worse. Igor and Tamara realized that staying in the town was dangerous for their children, so they began to pack their belongings.

The family moved to the town of Slavyansk where a church helped them buy a house under construction with some land, closer to nature – just like Igor and Tamara always wanted. They say that working in the garden is very helpful for their two younger sons who have certain problems with mental development. The boys study in a boarding school, and the parents take them home every day. One of their older sons had the same problem with the mental development delays. However, today the boy is the best pupil of the class, according to Tamara.

After moving to Slavyansk, the family heard about CBN-Emmanuel and the help that the organization had been providing those in need. Thanks to the financial support of  CBN-Emmanuel, the family was able to build a well next to their new house. Without this help, the family would have to leave the house and return to the dangerous zone of military operations, because it is impossible to construct a house without having an access to water!

Since last winter, the family has been successfully using the well for the construction needs and for watering trees in their garden. Tamara shares that she wants to plant many fruit trees on the site, so that the children could enjoy some fresh fruit during the summer. Due to the availability of running water, the family does not have to worry that the trees will wither.

Tamara and Igor want to finish building their house as soon as possible – the whole family of ten people in now living in a 4-room apartment. Thankfully, the construction works are moving forward and we hope to see the happy family soon moving to their comfortable and cozy home.

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