Mulberry International started its work in 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 (which translates to 'children’s home' in Russian), 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 three families with a total of twenty-eight children living in the building. Work is underway to finish the fourth unit.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 thousands of babies abandoned each year, with some just left in the hospitals. All of these 'hospital' 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 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 had such huge leaks that the staff will used pillows to block drafts. Olga Sharec is now a regular visitor to that hospital.
In 2010, we started working at our second hospital in Simferopol. Hussein now takes care of both.
We are expanding!
After much discussion and prayer, we have decided to expand our ministry into another hospital. We have opened a third abandoned baby ward. This now makes three baby wards in two cities that receive your love and prayers.