Hope for Russian Orphans: Ministry Rescues Teens From Trafficking
Nearly nine in 10 teenagers who leave orphanages in Russia and other former Soviet nations end up in prostitution, slavery or organized crime, according to the Slavic Gospel Association. “Unless someone steps in to help them, these lonely teenagers are easy targets for sex traffickers and criminal gangs,” association President Michael Johnson said.
In a report last year, the U.S. State Department corroborated the dangers, stating: “Traffickers lure children from state and municipal orphanages into forced begging, forced criminality, sex trafficking, use by armed groups… and other forms of abuse.”
Years of trauma and abandonment often leave orphans emotionally hardened, making them ripe for exploitation. But local Christians are finding a way to break the hard shell.
Through a ministry called Orphans Reborn, trained volunteers from local churches visit orphanages every week, even in the remotest outposts of Siberia. Their mission is to show the children they are loved, and that there is hope. “The gospel is at the heart of everything,” Johnson said.
In one orphanage, volunteers were teaching Bible stories to children in one room, while just down the hall, gang members trained boys in martial arts and groomed young girls for sex trafficking. “It’s a race against evil,” Johnson said.
More than anything, children in state institutions long to be part of a loving family, said Eric Mock, the ministry’s senior vice president of ministry operations and a frequent visitor to orphanages across the region. Through the orphans ministry, local Christians continue to hold weekly Bible studies, share the gospel, and build relationships with children who have been cast aside and forgotten.
When teens leave the orphanages, local evangelical churches welcome them in, providing the stable, caring family environment they crave and helping them practically with such things as food and finding a job. “They do much more than just minister to these kids,” Mock said. “At long last, they are family.”
The Slavic Gospel Association helps forgotten orphans, widows and families in Ukraine, Russia, the former Soviet countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel.
–Alan Goforth
