In Ukraine, we support The Anchor, a rehabilitation centre for alcohol and drug addicts. Since the war broke out, everything is different. The country is torn apart, people are afraid and the future is uncertain. The Anchor now hosts war refugees.
The Anchor is run by Iryna Linnyk. Diaconal consultant Erjan van der Linde asked her how she is doing now. This is her answer:
Dear Erjan,
It is difficult to answer your question properly. Frankly, too much is happening at once.
Sometimes, focused on work and help, I try not to think about all the questions in my head and heart. Sometimes there are even pleasant moments and holidays, but they taste bitter. I have already seen, felt, lost and visited too many places where war is not just a nasty word. I saw the essence and consequences of this terrible struggle. Broken families, broken lives, broken dreams, but there is more terrible....
I was at the identification sites of the dead, where very little is left of the bodies; where the aides are trying to figure out which mothers to report the death of their loved ones. As I stood there, I understood that in these 'remains' there could also be my friends; or that boys who are now considered missing, because the bodies still cannot be retrieved from the frontline, could be fellow villagers....
I also helped at the stabilisation points, where they try to save the lives of soldiers brought in severely injured.
Sometimes depression envelops me and I ask questions like: Where is God? How much longer? Whatever I do is a drop in the ocean, so what else can I do? I know that God can stop everything with a word. I know why He didn't stop the suffering of His Son so that we could be saved. But I don't know why He didn't intervene at the most difficult and terrible moment in His life. Is this out of love?
And then I delve back into my work, as my friends who are fighting need help and people affected by war are also waiting, and I understand that God is definitely still with us, otherwise we would no longer exist.
We need your prayers 🙏 💙💛
Iryna
Listen to the recorded translation of the letter Iryna sent last year.
