Written by Julie Ann Walton

Bertrand Russell once said, “war does not reveal who is right, but who is left.”

Left.

Left behind.

As the headlines rage with the horrors in Ukraine today, there is a story underneath those words that is unlikely to be seen. Like many of you, we’ve seen the pictures and the footage of families huddling together in subway stations. The scenes are reminiscent of world wars. They’re heartbreaking. Today, I saw a picture of a man with his cat cuddled close. Another with an elderly woman, properly attired with a headscarf on her perfectly curled hair, clutching a large suitcase.

So who was left this time?

Approximately 100,000 children currently in institutions or orphanages throughout the country.

Like many former Soviet Union countries, Ukraine has what experts would call an “over-saturation” of institutionalized children. This means they have more children who have been abandoned into orphanages per capita than the majority of nation states throughout the world. The reasons for this are complicated and difficult, and yet they reveal something really simple and horribly brutal.

Sons and daughters were rushed with their families into subway stations today. Even cats made the rescue boats.

Yet most of these children were left behind.

It’s likely that some of them receive adequate care. They were probably fed yesterday and likely have a bed to sleep in. But their care is often dependent upon an employee. Someone who likely has his or her own family to snatch up when war comes knocking.

Who comes to fetch these kids and bring them to safety?

Here at GCA, we know this sorrow firsthand.

We have a little boy in our care at GCA. He’s one of the funniest, smartest, brightest boys you could ever meet. The local government in Thailand remanded him to our emergency shelter several years ago. Our emergency shelter houses children whom no one else is willing to take. Their cases are long and difficult, but each child is infinitely worth the work involved. It is our joy and honor to be a safe place for these children. We have been praying and reaching to find him a family since the day he arrived. The recent conflict in Myanmar has made this more difficult and frankly, we just have not found him a good fit yet. We’re not willing to rush it, so it’s taking time.

Recently our team faced an unexpected crisis and in the aftermath, a staff member noticed this same little boy standing alone, still waiting for someone to grab his hand to reassure him. Our staff quickly went to comfort him, but in that moment what he really needed was a mom…he needed a dad.

Here at GCA, we are convinced that kids don’t merely need to be fed and clothed and housed. They need to be sons and daughters. This little boy regularly asks us for the one thing we’ve not been able to replicate or find: a family.

So today, we don’t have to reach to imagine how many similar prayers are being prayed across Ukraine.

How many beautiful boys and strong girls are lying awake keenly aware of not being scooped up?

And these aren’t just “some kids.” Each of them is uniquely crafted in the very image of God. There will never again be a repeat of any of these children. They have never existed before and never will again. Each and every one is precious. We simply cannot afford to lose them.

This is why we fight.

This is what your support and continued generosity allows us to do every single day!

With it, we’ve found and strengthened families for thousands of children over the years. And it keeps us searching the community in Thailand for the right family for this young boy in our care. This year, it is even sending us to Sri Lanka and Tanzania where kids there also need more than their basic needs met: they need to be scooped up.

Their permanence cannot rest on the backs of an employee. It must rest on the shoulders of a mother and a father…a family.

We can do this, friends. We must.