Kyiv, Ukraine – Mercy Projects recently met up with Andrey Kolbovskiy in Kyiv and we visited the Snowdrop Shelter where he mentors orphans and abandoned kids. Andrey is a Ukrainian believer and a missionary to young people in his country. Mercy Projects supports him but he must still drive for Uber and do other small jobs to survive. He is a faithful Christ follower serving at-risk kids and families.
Andrey picks us up in a sweatshirt and jeans. His English is almost perfect. He looks like someone kids would love. We stop at a gas station for hot dogs and coffee on the way to the Snowdrop Shelter two hours away.
Q. Andrey, why do you work with orphans?
“Well, I understand them. I lived in a village not far from Chernobyl. I know what village life is like and how kids think. After the explosion, my dad got cancer and died when I was five years old. The government moved our family to an apartment in Kyiv for Chernobyl people. So I grow up without a father. I became a troublemaker. There was no dad in my life and I made lots of mistakes. I can relate to these guys.
“God got a hold of me and I met Him personally at age of 17. He was always there to protect me while growing up. I realized that kids like me need a lot of help. I decided that I wanted to be a tool in His hands to reach at-risk kids like me. The kids there in the shelter are sad. At our MP camps kids are happy to be there, but at the orphanage, it is different. Camps are like Christmas. They happen once or twice per year. But, what is really important is that all year long we are there for these kids.”
Andrey tells us more about the ministry at Snowdrop, about the new well Mercy Projects sponsored, and the new director that is very open to the ministry.
Read the full story from Jeff Thompson and the Mercy Projects newsletter at MercyProjects.org.
