Many of you will have seen that a couple of weeks ago I travelled with Operation Christmas Child (OCC) to deliver shoe box gifts to needy children in Belarus. In my recent post I promised to come back and update the BritMums (and Dads) and here I am….
My trip to Belarus turned out to be so much more than I expected, it was brilliant and I would recommend that anyone who gets the opportunity to travel with OCC does so. This campaign is really accessible and an excellent way to be able to talk to our children about how fortunate they are, in my opinion children are shielded too much in our country and that is why we have some very selfish adults. My children and I have been making shoebox gifts for about ten years now and each year I find myself doing just one more box. I can’t resist knowing that we have put an extra smile on a child’s face at Christmas time.
Yes I understand that some people object to Operation Christmas Child being a Christian charity but surely Christ is what Christmas is about? I can honestly say that I observed no teachings any more intense than our own children would be exposed to here in the UK in a secular school teaching the nativity. There is no brain washing, conditions or forcing children to read the bible. Free-will is a fundamental part of the Christian faith and my experience is that Samaritans Purse (the charity that runs OCC) are supporting that.
I have posted quite a number of times about Operation Christmas Child on my blog and also specifically about my trip to Belarus, so if you want to read more, then do head over and have a nosey. I also published a post exposing the truth of what I found in regard to the way OCC operate their shoebox distributions, it was really enlightening to speak to a well-established photographer who happens to be an atheist and has worked as a freelancer for Samaritans Purse at least 60 times. He was able to confirm for me that in all his trips abroad with both UK and USA based staff (and even Graham Franklin himself) that he has never heard nor observed anything that has made him question working with OCC.
During my six days in Belarus I heard so many stories from children who are now in need. Many of the problems seem to have come about through alcohol misuse and that is heart-breaking as it seems so unnecessary but when you hear more of the country’s history and troubles you start to understand how a lack of education about alcohol has led to a legacy of uncared for children. The kind of stories I heard time and time again are like those of four year old Daniel who is currently in a social shelter whilst his mum tries to break her addiction and become sober. To help the government have ‘coded’ her, which means she has an implant in her stomach and the implanted drug will make her extremely sick if she has alcohol. This of course seems very alien to us but it is common practise in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet countries. We just have to pray it helps Daniel’s mother to make the necessary changes and gain a job so she can look after her son and love him as a mother should.
Credit: Jonty Wilde
Probably one of the children whose smile will stay with me forever is Arian, for years he travelled with his mother and father across Afghanistan where his father is from. When they finally settled in a small town a war broke out and Arian witnessed things that no small child should have to see. A charity helped them to leave Afghanistan and travel to Belarus where the mother was born and the family thought their life would change. Sadly Arian’s mother followed in the path of her own father and developed serious mental health problems and is now sectioned and in an institution. This led to Arian coming to the social shelter, the director described him as a soft boy who loves to help everyone and in the two visits we made to the shelter he was always near the front smiling at us and wishing to interact. It is amazing that Arian has this beautiful temperament when he regularly used to witness shootings and death in Afghanistan.
Arian was in the hospital before he came to the shelter and the staff there had told the director that whilst he was a kind child he would entail a lot of work for the shelter as he did not speak Russian, was at least three years behind with his school work and constantly wet the bed. Not to be deterred the director took him in to her shelter and found within the first week that the bed wetting completely stopped. He knew he was in a supportive home and it just warms my heart to hear how settled he became in a short time.
Whilst I was at the shelter the director asked Arian what his dreams were and he said number one was to see his Mama well again and number two was to own a computer. The director laughed and told him it was not possible to fit a computer in a shoebox and he smiled and said he did not mind as the first dream was the important one. Isn’t that just perfect?
If you made a box this year thank you and if you would still like to be involved then visit shoebox world and make one online, these will be delivered to children in Swaziland in the new year.
Arian’s photo by kind permission of Jonty Wilde please visit his site for some touching and excellent photography
About Michelle Pannell
Michelle is wife to one & mummy to three (JJ age 9 and 5 year old twins Miss M & Miss E). Mummy From The Heart is her sanctuary where she takes time out of her busy life….. to write about her busy life! Michelle’s blog is a very honest place where she shares tales of imperfect parenting, being a Christian and anything else that takes her fancy. She also takes time each week to be thankful for all the blessings she receives by hosting the weekly #R2BC (Reasons to be Cheerful) blog hop.
Hi Michelle,
Another interesting post about OCC.
You mention ‘a charity’ helped Arian’s family to leave Afghanistan. Out of curiosity, do you know which one?
Firstly, I respect everyone’s right to have a faith, and that includes Christianity. It also includes all the other religions which don’t celebrate Christmas.
But there are many different ways to help children coping with the aftermath of war and poverty or parental addiction. My main objection to OCC is that it’s an evangelical Christian charity and Samaritan’s Purse, which runs OCC, is a very controversial organisation. I prefer to support reputable charities who give help, love and support unconditionally, whether implied or otherwise. By the way, it’s worth looking at all the cuts about Franklin Graham – who incidentally supported Donald Trump as the Republican candidate (!) and the following:
“The Samaritan’s Purse reported gross receipts of $414,031,085 during the 2010 federal tax year.
According to public records filed with the Internal Revenue Service, Graham was compensated $409,851 per year for a forty hour work week as Chairman of the Samaritan’s Purse and also received an additional $156,566 for an additional forty hour work week from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association and related organizations.”
The point about charity, surely, is that it should be not for profit? Or am I missing something?
There’s also this:
“In March 2011, Graham said the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan “may be” the second coming and Armageddon.”
Words actually fail me on that one.
No one is denying that it’s good to give gifts to children living in terrible circumstances at Christmas. But there are other ways of doing it and as long as Operation Christmas Child continues to distribute the quite frankly repellent ‘The Greatest Gift’ leaflet which encourages children to ask for ‘forgiveness’ from God for their original sin and embrace the concept of creationism – regardless of their own religion – then myself and other bloggers will continue to oppose it and suggest alternative ways to give help to children in need.
That’s the beauty of free speech.
Hi liz,
Thanks for your comment. You asked about the charity which helped Arian and I’m afraid I don’t know. All the information I gained through a translator as the social shelter director only spoke Russian so everything took double time. She said it was a charity that dealt in child trafficking, I’m pretty sure she did say the name but I did not need so and thus did not note it.
With regard to OCC, I m very well read. I have read many pieces not in favour or OCC and have my eyes open and feel informed. I fully respect your choice not to take part, we are all different.
With regard to Franklin Graham, I do not know the truth and may never, as I doubt I’ll got to the USA or meet him. I choose not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
You mention about his salary and yes I have investigated that before. I also think it is an awful lot of money but what I found when I did my research was that the top person at Save the Children USA was also paid similarily and whilst I personally think it is very high, it appears to be market average.
I can see we will never agree on this as I have no issues what so ever with the Greatest Gift leaflet, so do all need to repent.
Happy Christmas to you. Michelle
I just think it’s important to get facts straight when you’re putting them in the public domain, and I also believe in the pursuit of truth.
Can I just clarify what you mean when you say ‘do all need to repent’ as I think there may be a word missing? Do you mean you think we all need to repent for our original sin? Even children?
And I may be missing something here, but isn’t Brit Mums supposed to be egalitarian? Or has something changed?
Not sure what you are getting at with your first line Liz, I am being honest with you.
With regards to ‘so do all need to repent’, I’m sure should probably read ‘we do all need to repent’. I stand by that, we all sin and need to repent for those sins, yes children sin too. It is you bringing up original sin and not me, I repent for my sins and not for those of others. A lie is a sin in the same way that murder is a sin, God judges sin as a sin and it is humans who devise severity measures for our sins. Thankfully when we repent, God chooses to forgive us and we are made new again. That is my belief as a Christian.
As for BritMums being egalitarian, I would say you need to ask them, I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything about that. This post is my observations and opinions only, I am here as a guest poster not a BritMums employee. I am self-disclosed as a Christian so my beliefs should not be a shock to anyone.
Free speech is really important and I’m pretty sure that is what BritMums are promoting here. What makes you doubt BritMums values? I find them very inclusive and they appear to me to promote diversity and equality for all.
Happy new year, Michelle
Thanks Liz and Michelle for your challenging and civil discussion on issues that are hotly debated (including compensation for high-level charity executives). When travelling with Michelle in Ethiopia with ONE, I was impressed with how her faith brought an extra dimension to the trip and to her blogging.
I’ve been impressed with the dedication she brings to blogging and at BritMums we always strive to feature guest posters with a wide range of views and encourage rousing debate around important issues.
We are most decidedly egalitarian when it comes to featuring a wide range of opinions, even if we don’t specifically subscribe to them ourselves, especially when those opinions are making an impact in the world of blogging.
Happy New Year!
Free speech isn’t really what Samaritan’s Purse and OCC are promoting. They believe in one religion – their own. Hence the reasons why they give the Greatest Gift leaflet to children who are not Christian/or not religious. This is one of the many reasons so many people object to this organisation.
Michelle – I brought up original sin because it’s a focus of the Greatest Gift leaflet which is handed out with the shoeboxes.
Free speech is important but we also have to remember that some people are deeply offended by the views of others.
When I metioned free speech I was speaking in reference to BritMums and as for Sams Purse/ OCC just promoting one religion, yes they declare themself to be Christian.
Anyone interested should read this page and see that they have to say about working with those with other religions or none -http://www.samaritanspurse.uk.com/speak-of-hope
With regard to the Greatest Gift Liz I just re-read it and yes it talks about our sinful nature but no-where does it say that children have to repent because of original sin. It just says that original sin is the source of us all having the propensity to sin ourselves. It is our own sinning that anyone (children included) would repent because of. I do realise that you do not agree with this, nor undertsand it but it is fundamental to being a Christian and our views count too.