Lena is a young girl who attends our education center in Kiev, Ukraine. She’s a beautiful girl with a great voice and a joy for life. She often sings on the praise and worship team in Kiev and really enjoys the life skills classes. She is a great student and has a bright future, but not long ago, Lena’s life lacked direction and purpose.
Lena comes from a difficult home, where her father is an alcoholic, and her mother is forced to work overtime to try and provide for the family on one income. Her parents hadn’t spoken to eachother in months, when a homework assignment from the OP center began to change everything.
Lena was asked to trace and cutout her hand and then she and her family were to write kind words to one another on each of the five fingers. Lena wasn’t sure her family would even participate, but she was determined to complete the task.
Lena wrote loving and kind words to her mother, her father, and her younger brother on the fingers of the cutout, and she asked her mother to do the same.
Frustrated, but willing to try for her daughter, Lena’s mother wrote that she was thankful for the children her husband had given her and that she hoped the family’s situation would change so they could find joy again.
Touched by his wife’s loving words, Lena’s father then wrote that he loved his wife and was so thankful for her patience. He apologized for everything he’d put the family through.
As Lena shared the news with her classmates, everyone was anxious to hear how her story would end:
“Praise the Lord! My parents began talking and laughing the whole evening! It was the first time they’d spoken in months, despite living in the same home.”
When we teach children from difficult situations about love, they return home and share that love with those around them, and soon we see entire families begin to change!
Even a small thing like a homework assignment can make a tremendous impact on a family because what the children are really learning is love, and love softens even the hardest of hearts.