One of our host families from this past summer’s Ukraine Hosting Program has written up a brief account of their experience. Names have been changed for privacy reasons.

As this past summer was winding down, we received an e-mail asking us if we would host two Ukrainian orphan sisters — Hanna, 9 and Lilia, 10. We were excited about the opportunity to provide a place to stay and possibly unite them with an adoptive family, so we welcomed them into our home. It was only a very short time into their visit that we realized that their adoptive family was living in our home. We meshed so well from the beginning. Our youngest daughter Ruth was able to quickly share her place in the limelight with her new “twin” sisters. Our older children, who were previously much too cool to be seen with us outside the home, were suddenly swimming with us in the community pool and even walking into and out of the pool area within speaking distance of their parents! These same two teenagers, who can’t be wrestled out of bed with a crowbar and a bucket of ice at ten in the morning, drove with us to a tearful departure with our visitors at three in the morning on a school day. We would gladly participate in this type of program again with or without the intention of adopting our visitors. We are just so thankful for the opportunity and for the joy of those three weeks.

Here are a few photos from our first Ukraine Hosting Tour (summer 2009). To honor the wishes of the Ukrainian government and respect the privacy of the children, we have blurred out portions of the photos. Click on an image for a larger view.

At the end of July, Carolina Hope for Orphans began looking for host families for children who were scheduled to visit the U.S. through another hosting program but for whom no families had been found. We quickly found 4 families for 7 children, and the trips were a great success. The children who visited ranged in age from 9 to 15 years old. Five stayed in South Carolina, and two in North Carolina.

Carolina Hope for Orphans will be hosting children from Ukarine again in December.  We expect to have 7 to 10 children at that time.  We are looking for SC families who would be interested in hosting this new group.

[October 19, 2009 update: See photos from 2009 Summer Hosting]

Carolina Hope for Orphans is pleased to announce the launch of its new website!

This ministry is dedicated to mobilizing Christians to share the love of Jesus with orphans around the world in tangible ways. As time goes on, we’ll introduce you to opportunities to serve orphans through our ministry and other partner ministries.