We’ve struggled a little bit this year trying to understand what exactly God wants us to be doing here in the village. When we moved to Ivanivka, we knew there was a huge need for outreach for families, kids, alcoholics, orphans… We thought the cafe was going to be the answer to a lot of those needs. But this month, after a lot of effort, prayer and discussion, we closed the cafe. We had next to no one coming in and were spending a lot to keep it open. We were all a little let down at having to let it go since it had been a long-time dream of ours. And we kind of felt like, what are we supposed to be doing here now? We’ve got new things getting re-started at the orphanage, continue to support Dusya and other families. Some days it feels like we’re not doing much other than just living life.
We’ve been working consistently on fixing up the old things in our house since we moved here. Almost a year ago, Sasha built a new fence and gate while the rest of us were in the US. When he sent us a picture of the finished product, our eyes were all but blinded by a screamingly bright orange fence. Fences are commonly colorful in Ukraine, but our orange fence is anything but common. Initially we weren’t huge fans of our orange fence, but it’s grown on us for many reasons…
Whenever giving directions to our house, Sasha always tells people, “…past the bridge, turn right and then go till you see the orange fence. You can’t miss it.” And it’s very true. We don’t even have our actual house number on the fence, but people always find us by our orange fence. And they know the people who live there, specifically Sasha.
Between running the cafe, waiving to literally everyone he sees as he drives around, his bright orange fence, and just in general being a charismatic and generous human being, people know him. And they know he’s a man you can count on to help. We realized recently that the orange fence is becoming a thing… From early in the morning, till late at night, from little kids to old men, people come to the orange fence looking for help. When they’re too drunk to get themselves home. When they’re sick. When they need a ride to work. When they need food. When they need to get to the hospital. When they want a safe place to play and laugh. Sasha has unintentionally founded the Orange Fence Outreach that is having an impact in many lives.
Without realizing it, we have some big outreach going on thanks to the orange fence. Thanks to team members, we’re building connections to do more social work in the village. Our relationship with the orphanage director has never been better which opens doors for us there. And we were so encouraged today, having passions reignited at our team meeting to share ideas. We can’t wait to tell you more about it all after we get back from getting our visas in Prague!
(P.S. Melissa went outside with Sasha to take pictures in front of his orange fence… and as they were out there this man walked by, the very same dedushka he’s already helped home more than once, even earlier today!)