It seems sometimes that something has gotten mixed up in heaven. This little princess Katya had to be born in a royal family. But she was born in a small remote village of Zaitsevo finding herself at the firing line these days. We heard about the girl from the army men and out team went to look for her. It wasn’t easy, but here is what happened.

Every single day we receive dozens of requests for help from people suffering from diseases, needing surgeries, lacking food, waiting for urgent evacuation and so on… Without the help of hundreds of caring people we would have given up a long time ago.

I had a very special day yesterday. At the morning prayer in the Good News Church of Slavyansk where dozens of volunteers meet every morning to coordinate their work in the war zone, I desperately prayed, “Lord, help us serve these people. We may not have the needed resources, but I ask You to give us the understanding how we should move in helping people. Help us to stop worrying for the situations, where we have a need and have no finances to cover that need! If the projects are really Yours, please, bless them with finances, find the needed people and talk to them. May there open new opportunities and may Your name be glorified in that, My God!»

And a new need came right away. It was our “Princess from the village of Zaitsevo!”

The village of Zaitsevo near Gorlovka has been living under violent shelling every single day. In the early hours of April 20, over 150 152-mm projectiles fell in the village, killing 3 Ukrainian soldiers; three more soldiers were severely wounded.

Why am I writing all of this? To make it clear that the it is impossible for civilians to live there. Most of them had to leave, escaping the terrors of war a long time ago and there are very few who are still living there in terror, unable to leave. By chance we heard about the family with a 6-year-old childr who are still living there on the firing line (only a couple weeks ago we were able to evacuate the Gaidash family with 3 boys).

We urgenly went to Zaitsevo to find the house. When did find the family, we could understand why the parents could not leave the village. Both of the parents who are in their 50th moved to Gorlovka from Moscow. 6 years ago they moved to Zaitsevo village and the father was working as a shepherd and making 20 UAH (less than $1) per day. Little Katya was born in Zaitsevo. She was growing up in poverty but surrounded by sincere love of her caring parents. But then the war came so closed and their life literally stopped. Even the most steel hearted neighbors left the village trying to save their lives.

Katya’s family just couldn’t leave. The father shared with us with tears in his eyes, “I understand that we will all die one day, and we, as adults, are ready for that. But our little Katya is so small, and I, as her father, just cannot protect her” He said that he had been crying, praying to God and begging for help and waiting! It appeared that Katya’s parents, Tatyana and Vlad, were brought up in an orphanage.

As we started thinking how to help this family, many questions araised. We could take them to the peaceful territory but what would be the next step? Where would they be living? We figured that we needed to purchase a small house in some village to be able to keep the child as very good and caring parents.
We have already found a small village house for them. It costs $7000. It is much or not so much? Everything has its cost in this world. For this family, this is an unbelievable amount of money they will never be able to possibly raise. But there are no limits and no price for human generosity and kindness! I believe that with your help we can not only save the lives of 3 people, but also give them a start for a better future. They are so worth it!

You can also make your own contribution into saving Katya’s life by sharing this information with your friends. Who knows where the solution can come from? I don’t know the answer to this question, but I do believe that the Lord will provide for little Katya and many more other people in need He will show us in the future.!

We remind you that the staff of Association of Mercy «Emmanuel» continue helping the people living in the southeast of Ukraine. You can participate by brining the bags with warm clothes and food to our Kyiv office at 131-A Krasnoarmeyskaya St. and leave them with the guards. You can also help the internally displaced people by providing financial help. You can make a donation here