In September 2019, Bus4Life spent three weeks in Ukraine. During the first week, a group of young adults from Germany joined the ministry for an outreach in the same village that Bus4Life visited in June. Because it had been in the same village just couple of months earlier, the children’s reaction to seeing the bus was quite unforgettable.
The team had arrived in the village during the school day and was running the programme for younger children when the older kids returned home from school. They saw the bus from a distance and started running toward it, throwing their school bags on the ground. It was clear they were very excited to see the bus again! The team convinced the kids to collect their bags, take them home, and then return to the bus for fun and games.
The children’s programme was names “Rules” and it was set up as a treasure hunt much like the previous one in June. The children were told to collect certain kind of paper symbols in specific locations. Similar looking symbols had been scattered elsewhere, too, and some of the children tried to “cheat” by collecting these. But the leaders could tell the different kind of symbols apart, so they were no good. The goal was to teach the children the importance
of rules. They were also told about God’s rules for our lives and how we can prosper if we keep His commands.
At one point one of the older girls asked one of the team members why they’d come back to the village. “Why do you care about us?” she asked. “Aren’t you afraid of me? Aren’t you afraid that you will get lice from me?” As a member of the Roma community, the young child was already used to being ostracised and used to the idea of living outside the society more or less forgotten and despised.
A second visit by the Bus4Life team in such a short period of time made her ask questions about their motivation.