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From Despair to a Dream

Jeff Thompson September 9, 2020 2 min read

Satenkos took in Sasha(middle), Vitya (R) and two other siblings

Satenkos took in Sasha (middle), Vitya (R) and two other siblings

UKRAINE: As a six-year-old child, Sasha’s father was killed in an auto accident. Her life at home went from bad to worse. The beatings she received from her alcoholic mother intensified. Abused and constantly hungry, she and her older brother Vitya barely survived on rotten food her grandmother salvaged from the garbage.

By the age of 12 she was placed into social care. Her mother’s parental rights were removed. She and her siblings were moved to an orphanage/shelter.

“The next 9 months I spent in a closed social shelter. It was like a prison: we had no rights to go outside, only to walk in the yard. But the yard was tiny with high walls, like a prison cell without ceiling,” Sasha recalls.

A Dream Becomes Reality

Sasha (L) and Margot at college

Somewhere outside the horror of those high walls lived a Christian couple named Olexsiy and Yulia Satenko. They felt that God was calling them to become a foster family.

Sponsor a Family like the Satenko’s, Today

They went to the local social services office and were immediately offered four kids from one family. They agreed on the spot. Without getting to know the kids or even looking at their photos, the Satenkos brought them into their family. And that’s how Sasha found a new family a week before her 13th birthday.

It hasn’t always been easy for her or for her new parents. The Satenkos, however, took a huge step of faith and believed God for a miracle in the lives of Sasha and her siblings. Today, it appears that miracle is happening. Sasha has grown to love her family and she knows that she wants to live a different life.

18-Year Old Sasha Dreams of Becoming A Lawyer

Like in Genesis with Joseph, what the enemy desired for evil, today, we see God working it out for good. Not just for Sasha, however, but also through her desire to become a lawyer. She is now a third year law student and her dream is to help kids like her. God has raised her up to make a difference.

Read the full story from Mercy Projects online at www.mercyprojects.org.

Jeff Thompson

In 1978 at the age of 21, Jeff moved to Vienna, Austria to smuggle bibles behind the Iron Curtain. His book, “Leaving The American Sector” available from www.mercyprojects.org chronicles many stories from that time period. He leads Mercy Projects in Murrieta, CA assisting vulnerable children and families in Ukraine, Kosovo, and Armenia. He enjoys espresso from around the world, and this gives him the energy to tell his grandchildren stories of being banned from Russia twice in his lifetime. Dan Wooding and Jeff have known each other for many years.

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Tags: Mercy Projects Ukraine

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