Christian Social & Cultural Alliance

 

With living parents, Vladimir was left an orphan. His parents left him and his brother in a children's orphanage when they were quite small. For this reason, he does not remember his parents. Vladimir was blind from birth. He lived in a special orphanage for blind children and then, later in life, went to a boarding school from which he graduated and received a one bedroom apartment. Vladimir suffered a serious operation at one point in his life: a portion of his stomach was removed because of ulcers. A lack of money, blindness and persistent pain in the abdomen due to the inability to eat, all led him to being in despair. The only person who regularly helped him was a neighbor in the communal apartment, an elderly woman Nadia, who had almost her entire intestine cut out. She cooked food for him, supported him, advised what to do in any given situation. When we met Vladimir, he was 35 years old and he weighed only 50 kg (110 pounds). We began to visit him and help him with food. And then, we felt a deep urge from the Lord to take him to the hospital to find out if doctors could do surgery on his eyes. We were so captured by this idea that we spent months taking Vladimir to doctors' offices, trying to find a way to at least partially restore his eyesight. But everything seemed to be against us. Once, a physician asked Alexander Karakyts, who always accompanied Vladimir, to stop encouraging Vladimir and giving him hope and to finally give up the attempt to surgically restore Vladimir's vision. "Nothing will help him", said the physician. After visiting many doctors and spending many hours in hospitals, such words and the authority of the physician seemed to be convincing. However, we did not tell anything to Vladimir but began praying even harder to the Lord, knowing that for Him, nothing is impossible. And the Lord brought us to one professor, Josef, who was the head of the Experimental Eye Surgery Institute. The story about Vladimir's fate deeply touched the professor and he said, "If the church takes care of these people, then we have to do everything in our power. His condition is almost helpless, but with God's help we will try to do something." During the surgery, Josef called another professor to assist him and within two hours, they created a real miracle. According to Vladimir, he was afraid to take off the bandage from his eyes. But when he finally decided, Vladimir slowly lifted the bandage from his eyes and saw the houses outside the window. He became so full of fear that he quickly placed the bandage back over his eyes. Later, he stood for a very long time looking out the window. Now, Vladimir's life has dramatically changed. After the surgey, he was given a new apartment in a new in a new building near the center. He leads an independent lifestyle in his new apartment, trying to do everything with his own hands: he helps the blind in the Association of the Blind and also rides a bicycle, which he repaired himself. Vladimir attends a church in Moscow for the blind, "Insight". He was baptized and promised to serve God with a good conscience.

 

 

 

Elena was the wife of a crime boss. She had things in life that most of us only dream of: money, social status, a personal driver, etc. But suddenly, everything collapsed - her husband was shot and Elena had a grenade thrown at her feet. She miraculously survived, but the blast blew out both of her eyes. Elena was left without money, without a husband, and with a sick young child in her arms. But having gone through all of these terrible trials, Elena found the most important thing in this life - Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Now, Elena thanks God for everything. She says that if this tragedy had not happened to her, she would have never come to the Lord. She is now one of the most active members in the church "Insight". She beautifully reads poets and always testifies about her faith to others at opportunity she gets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrey is completely blind. At first he experienced pain in one eye but because of improper treatement, Andrey lost total eyesight in one eye. While his mother was dying of cancer, some hooligans gathered in Andrey's yard and began making lots of noise and trouble. In order for them to not disturb his dying mother, Andrey went out into the yard to calm them down. But one of them rushed at Andrey, attacked him and kicked him in his eye - the only good one. After this incident, Andrey become completely blind. Later, his mother died and his wife left him. Now, he lives all alone and occasionally visits his daughter. Andrey almost never leaves his apartment. Since there is no one who can help him in his apartment, he often gets into trouble. One time, he was cooking soup and accidentally hit his hand against the pot which caused the  boiling water to fall on him. He received a very severe burn. After some time, Andrey slipped in the bathroom and broke his thigh. He spent several months in the hospital. We often visit Andrey in his apartment and bring him food, but that's not all we bring - we gave him a new mp3 recorder and audio books.

 

 

 

 

 

Konstantin, or Kostya, is in the 1st group of disability. In Russia, disabled individuals in this group are in need of assistance because of an ill health and have disorders of body functions that are caused by disease or trauma. Kostya has only 1% of his vision remaining. But despite his disability, he tries to live an active lifestyle: he moves independently, he is learning to use a computer for the blind and he earns money by tuning pianos. Kostya had problems with his vision since childhood. He studied at a special boarding school which was also a music school for the blind. Kostya sings beautifully. Doctors tell Kostya that with his illness, medicine cannot help him. Kostya's mother Tamara is also blind and lives in Vishney Volochyok. We were struck by their life stories and especially how Kostya sends his entire pension to his mother in order to support her. We wanted to know if we could help Kosty's mother Tamara. After having a check up on her eyes, it was revealed that there is a possibility to restore Tamara's vision in one eye. After that, we invited her to Moscow and arranged for a surgery in the Institute which was very successful. We strongly prayed for the doctors and for the surgery and God created a miracle! Kostya's mother Tamara now sees 100% in one eye. There were a lot of tears after Tamara's surgery, when she and her blind son gave their testimonies about their experience in our church "Insight".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to his diabetes, not only did Stephen become blind but he also lost both of his legs. He lives on the 12th floor in an apartment building and hasn't been outside for a very long time. Recently, his wife died and now he is all alone in the apartment. We have long wanted to give Stephen an electric wheelchair but because of problems with his right arm and because Stephen has great difficulty moving about in a normal wheelchair, it will be difficult for him to use an electric wheelchair. However, we still decided to give him one so we spent several months raising money for a new electric wheelchair for Stephen. It was not simple because an electric wheelchair costs approximately 84,000 rubles ($1,545.00). With his new wheelchair, Stephen is filled with joy and gratitude to God. He now spends a lot of time outside of the apartment and in the local park. "You have no idea what you have done for me! I have started a new life", often says Stephen. He often wakes up at night and begins to look for his stroller with his hands just to assure himself that he's not dreaming. In the summer of 2008, Stephen was baptized. Since then his life has dramatically changed. He no longer feels alone, he no longer curses with bad words and he is more calm. He does all his housework alone and loves working on different projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leo Nikolayevich Galkin is a member of our Church. Due to diabetes, he is blind in both eyes, has gangrene on his foot and he was taken to the hospital. The doctors told Leo that they had to cut his leg because he will die of the gangrene on his foot. However, if they do do the surgery, he would still die because his heart would not be able to undergo the surgery. His family was faced with a not easy choice. They called the Pastor to the hospital to pray over Leo and help them make the right decision. Alexander Viktorovich began to pray in the hospital room and to him came an idea from God that Leo will live. God performed a miracle: the doctors went through with the surgery and Leo began to get better and he was soon released from the hospital. But he remained blind in both eyes. When we visited him at home, it was sad to see how he does everything to the touch. We began to pray for his healing. The doctors said that it is possible to have an operation on his eyes, but at best it will see 10%. Our church began praying for the success of the operation, which was done in the same place that returned Vladimir Belikov his vision. And again the Lord performed a miracle using the hands of the doctors at Sechenov Institute. After the first operation, one eye was able to see 100% and the second eye, after the next operation was able to see 40%. This success was not expected! And now his wife, from whom Leo once was totally dependent, asks him to read something, because she sees worse than he does. Unfortunately, Leo was left without one leg, and like other older persons with disabilities, it is difficult for him to move on a normal wheelchair. We would like to return one more joy to his life: the ability to walk down the street and breathe fresh air. So we began raising funds to purchase a wheelchair with an electric drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anisia Andropov lived very poorly in an apartment with her drinking and unemployed son and grandson. Always pray for them. Once, when she walked out of the church and was crossing the road, suddenly, a young man ran up to her, pushed her and ran on. She even thought that he climbed into her pocket. But what could he steal? Anisa wanted to shout it out of habit something offensive, but then she thought that after all she is going out of the church, and there, she was taught to forgive her abusers. And she said to him: "God bless you." And then she put her hand in her pocket and found 1,000 rubles! For her it is a big amount. For Anisia it was particularly surprising that this happened after she blessed the young man that pushed her. It turned out that it was not an bad young man, but someone who wished to do good and to remain anonymous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Maksimovna Abramkina is in need of assistance. In 1990, because of the events in Nagorno-Karabakh, she was taken as a refugee from Baku without property and without a livelihood. Her and her family were brought on a ferry to Krasnovodsk (Turkmenistan), and then by plane to Moscow. They received temporary accommodation (a room in a communal apartment). In 1994 in Moscow, Anna's husband died from cancer, and in 2001, in the line of duty, her son died. After obtaining Russian citizenship, she was given the status of a displaced person. For many years, she lives alone in a house which is subject to demolition, and she has only a temporary registration in Moscow, which she needs to renew annually. For her, an elderly woman, being disabled and visually impaired is not easy. In 2007, an employee who was supposed to issue her documents on another temporary registration went on vacation and as a result, Anna stayed for two months without registering, and accordingly: no pension, no free ride in Moscow and no  opportunity to receive help from her clinic. After numerous appeals to the courts and letters to various authorities, there is still no result. Anna said that without permanent registration in Moscow, she is not eligible for public housing, and she cannot get a permanent record of citizenship because she has no property. Here turns out to be a vicious circle.