The Harbor Kursk
It’s easy to maintain distance from the problems of orphans as long as they are abstractions; some children, somewhere out there, who have needs of some kind. Over 10 years of work with orphans in Kursk Oblast, beginning with occasional visits at holidays and progressing to regular visits, Christian camps in both summer and winter, and a training program for 13-16 year-olds has led to deep, 
meaningful relationships. But after seeing child after child graduate out of the system and get lost in drugs, crime and prostitution there comes a day when you realize visits to the orphanage are simply not enough. This has led a small group in Kursk to embrace the vision of The Harbor and begin bringing practical, hands-on, life-on-life training to prepare orphans for independent, healthy adult life.
Nine years ago Lydia took the initiative to rent an apartment for girls she knew from her many orphanage visits. Lydia is a bold woman, full of faith. She is herself an orphanage graduate (and now mother and grandmother) and so she understands the plight of the kids who leave the orphanage, their only home, with no hope for the future. We are now teaming up with The Harbor in St. Petersburg to develop her small start into a full-fledged training program. Our goal is to have a full staff and fully developed program for a new group of kids by September 1st, the start of the new school year. Stay tuned for news on our development.
As of 2019, we now have seven Harbor residential care program models in Russia and former Republics of the Soviet Union. The ultimate vision is to assist in opening about 200 models in Russia and 100 in the CIS. For now, here are the locations of our models that are operating and running:
- St. Petersburg
- Kaliningrad
- Kursk
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Tolyatti
- Pskov
We also have locations where we’ve trained similar models. Here are the areas where they are up and running:
- Ryazan, Russia
- Voronezh, Russia
- Krivoi Rog, Ukraine
- Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
- Riga, Latvia (on a small scale)
