Caring for the elderly requires patience, kindness and hard work … work specifically in providing spiritual, emotional and material support.  When the elderly are no longer able to care for themselves, they often become frustrated.  They are not so much worried about dying, but about their inability to do things; they also worry about loneliness.  Recently, two of our Ukrainian coordinators, Volodymyr and Yulia visited 81 year old Lidia D. “When we entered the house she exclaimed, ‘Oh, I’m so glad you are here.  Would you sing for me today?’  She was so excited by our visit that she put her hot meal aside and started talking to us.”   

Lidia lives in a small house in Sarny.  She used to work as a nurse in a local clinic.  She has a married son who lives in Zdolbuniv city, 115 km from Sarny, however, he hardly ever visits her.  Lidia suffers from Parkinson’s disease and finds it increasingly difficult to move her arms and legs.  She needs emotional and spiritual support more than ever now and needs to believe that someone really loves her and cares about her.  Volodymyr and Yulia fulfilled Lidia’s wish and delighted her by singing Christian songs to her. 

“I have worked with the elderly for four years now,” shares Volodymyr. “There are many grandmothers and grandfathers in Sarny  who live alone and are lonely, hopeless and disappointed.  What I have come to realise about them is that they need someone to talk to; to hear an encouraging word and to experience joy”. The emotional, spiritual and material support provided by Mission Without Borders helps these elderly people to feel joy and the love of Jesus Christ.  Each senior citizen has his or her own problems.  Some are unable to forgive their relatives.  Others are angry with their children and some are disappointed by life. “I try to do everything I can to encourage them and tell them that it is better to forgive; to be thankful and make peace with their children or relatives.  It is very important for us to be close to the elderly.  One day we’ll become senior citizens and who knows what difficulties we will face.  Our love and kindness can heal many souls and through us, God can change their hearts,” concluded Volodymyr. 

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.