International Teams exists to bring transformation to lives and communities through the power of God. We do this by bringing people together to help the oppressed. Our passion is that no one is invisible and everyone has access to food freedom and forgiveness. Our team in Uzhgorod is focused on four groups of people – Orphans, Roma Communities, University Students, and Casualties of War.
Clinton White leads our Orphan Ministries that include organizing volunteers to hold abandoned babies and visit young orphans. We are currently recruiting and training a team to begin teaching life skills to the older orphans in Chaslivtsi. We are part of the Ukraine Without Orphans movement and want to see orphans reunited with family members first, and placed in healthy foster care second.
Doug Landro leads our Roma Community Outreach. We have primarily been involved in projects benefitting the Uzhansky and Yama Roma Camps of Radvanka. Projects have focused on cleaning up the mountains of trash in the camps, improving life conditions within the camps, providing clean drinking water, repairing roads for ambulance access, installing winter windows in the local Roma school, and providing water to the local polyclinic that serves the 12,000 residents of Radvanka. We partner with local Roma churches in providing food supplements for pensioners and training church members in sharing their faith with the goal of everyone within the camp hearing the Gospel by the end of 2018. We have seen the three local Roma churches in Radvanka double in size over the last two years.
Miroslav Bertan leads our University Student Outreach. His team leads a weekly gathering of Christian young adults as well as a weekly club reaching out to the unchurched young adult. In addition, he leads a ministry to the English-speaking international students, the majority of which are medical students from India.
Anya Ruzhevych leads our ministries to Casualties of War. This includes IDPs (internally displaced peoples) and those who have lost family members in defense of Ukraine during the rebel uprising in Eastern Ukraine over the last three years. Anya represents us on a local alliance of organizations assisting Casualties of War. We also partner with Ruka Dopomogy in providing summer and winter camps for children who have suffered because of the war.