Today, Alexander is the leader of the local church of Zarichanka and of the Hope Center for children from families at risk growing up in great poverty. Since he knows about their need from his own life experience, he now walks the streets to find these kids and get them off the streets. This day, he didn’t have to walk far to meet the boy Danik.

“This 11-year-old boy living in despair just reminded me of my own childhood, which in fact I never had. Danik’s father had died, and his mother, as he expressed it used to ‘go to other men and was permanently drunk’. She had no permanent residence and did not care for her son. Neither Danik’s grandmother, nor his great-grand-mother could provide for him. So Danik was out there on the street, and immediately my heart was open for this boy who was so unhappy, and who thought that nobody needed him.

First of all, he needs to know that God loves him -was my first thought. So I took him to church several times, and soon he accompanied me on many of my ministries. But the greatest thing for him was when we invited him to come to our Summer Camp last year. Sleeping in tents with other children, enjoying good food and just recovering – that was something Danik had never experienced in his life. How much this camp has changed him! The street-kid that had barely gone to school and never read a book in his life, became an eager little Bible reader! How much he came to love the believers who cared for him in the camp, and even today he wants to join me when I travel to other places for ministry.