Mulberry International traces its roots to Simferopol, Ukraine in 1997.
Mulberry began with a partnership between an American missionary and a Ukrainian national. They started bible studies for the children in Simferopol orphanages and half-way houses. Lunch was offered to attract the runaways that they saw living on the streets. That ministry became known as Project Sasha and now operates using the name of Pilgrim.Currently, Mulberry has thirty full-time staff and parents, plus volunteers, nannies and tutors as needed. All are Ukrainian nationals. There are fifty-two children living in supported foster families and more than 100 children visit Pilgrim every year. With two Project Compassion ministries, we now see eight to twelve babies each day.
Dyetski Dom
After a 1999 visit from Sergei Golovin, President of the Christian Center for Science and Apologetics, and Gary Porter, Executive Director of Christian Children’s Home of Ohio, had a vision for reaching out to at-risk children in Ukraine. The foundation, Dyetski Dom (children’s home), was registered and an abandoned kindergarten building in Evpatoria was purchased. Plans to convert the building into four large family-type foster homes were approved by the government. Today there are two families with a total of twenty children living in the building. A third family is awaiting completion of the third unit- hopefully in 2009. They are living in a four-room apartment with four children.Project Compassion
Project Compassion was added in 2002. Hussein Amanov began visiting the abandoned baby ward at a local hospital. Hussein is a believer from a Tatar (Muslim) family who had been working with Project Sasha. There are 2000 babies abandoned in Ukraine each year. Another 8000 are removed from their parents. All of these children are “processed” through an abandoned baby ward to assess their health and assign them to a state institution. In 2008, a second Project Compassion ministry was added in Sevastopol.In June, 2008, a second Project Compassion ministry was added in the coastal city of Sevastopol. The abandoned baby ward operates on a budget of $0.20 per child per day for food. Windows in the rooms have such huge leaks that the staff will use pillows to block drafts. Olga Sharec is now a regular visitor to that hospital.