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CWM Group Returns from Visit to Russian Provinces
CHICAGO, IL (October 17, 2003) - CHICAGO, IL (October 17) – A 14-member group representing Covenant Women
Ministries returned this week from a CWM-sponsored cross-cultural visit
to three different Russian provinces.
The October 1-15 trip, co-led by Executive Minister Ruth Hill and Jenya
Haps, area
director for the Colorado-based Children's HopeChest, included a
three-day rally for women graduates of Russian orphanages. Hill gave the
opening address on the role of family and woman in today's world and
also explained CWM ministries. There were 10 seminars at the event,
which attracted 110 orphanage graduates and 40 others to Vladimir.
Other travelers included former CWM Executive Director Deirdre Banks,
Betty Eddy, Rebecca Hammer, Janelle Johnson, Kimberly Miller, Karin
O'Connor, Grace Pederson, Phyllis Semmes, Lynn Murray Smith, Bonnie Dean
Smith, Sandra Warren, Natasha Westerhoud and Donna Wright.
Along with the rally and visits to four orphanages, a foster family
ministry and two family centers, the team toured Moscow (including the
Kremlin) and attended the Georgian Festival Gala at the famous Bolshoi
Theater. The group brought toiletry items, school supplies, baby clothes
and other basics to Russia and gave gifts to those they met - girls
received a gift bag containing two plates, a cup and a tea towel. The
CWM contingent later paid for dishes that they gave to the girls at the
end of the trip.
CWM's interest in the Russia orphanages grew out of a relationship with
Children's HopeChest, which was founded in 1994 and offers practical
aids to orphans throughout the world. It was the recipient of monies
from CWM's Project 2003: Our Next Step. The CWM project addresses the
needs of those leaving Russian orphanages. Children must leave
orphanages at age 18 and it can be difficult to make a smooth transition
into Russian society. The CWM project will help organizations offer key
life skills training.
Hill and her husband, Brad, were visiting professors at St. James Bible
College in Magadan, Russia, in February 2001. She discovered that a CWM
"My First Bible" project (the distribution of Bibles via International
Bible Society) in 1995 served as a catalyst for the development of
orphanages in the region. Banks was part of the 1995 trip. So was Haps,
a Russian translator for the International Bible Society tour. She now
travels back and forth to Russia from her home in Wheaton, Illinois, as
a U.S.-based staff member for Children's HopeChest.
"The tour enabled the team to appreciate the harsh conditions in which
the orphans live and the difference Children's HopeChest was making,"
said Hill. "It also underscored the necessity to address the needs of
the orphanage graduates so they can live independently and be productive
members of the society."
To learn more about CWM, the Russia trip and other CWM ministries, call
773-907-3332 or visit the Covenant Women Ministries link on the
Evangelical Covenant Church website at www.covchurch.org.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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