Hands of Love
Recently a Russian news channel carried an appalling story about the plight of an illegal migrant couple in Moscow. A pregnant woman and her husband from Kyrgyzstan were living in a damp basement in an old Moscow building. After giving birth with only her husband there to help, the baby became seriously ill. When an ambulance was called, they refused to come because the couple had no insurance. Throughout the night, other tenants heard the baby crying and called again, but the ambulance still refused to come. The baby died three days later. This tragedy could have been avoided! This couple, and others just like them, are not "bums", but they can do little to make their lives better. They are like Soviet Gulag prisoners living in Moscow.
Every Russian citizen receives free medical insurance; however, to actually access free medical care, the citizen must be registered. Registration is not a mere formality, but rather a complicated process based on the person's access to a job and a place to live in Moscow, and often just on the ability to pay a bribe. As a result, Moscow is full of destitute citizens, and non-citizens alike, who have migrated to the city, are often homeless, and have no social benefits because they cannot get registered. Many of these desperate people are ethnic minorities from the former Soviet Union republics who come to Moscow seeking a better life. The economies in their home republics are so devastated that they are willing to take very low paying jobs, and they often send the money they earn back to their families. These people need help both physically and spiritually!
Hands of Love is a ministry designed to help! Working closely with area churches, the Agape Medical Center staff can provide medical care and often share the Gospel, but we cannot provide the medical care for "free". You can be the "Hands of Love" extended to these forgotten and unfortunate people by donating to "Hands of Love" online at www.agaperu.org or by mailing your check to our Agape USA address below. Each “Hands of Love” program cost approximately $500, and we invite you to “be involved” by supplying some or all of the cost involved in this ministry to the helpless. But, please pray first and ask God to direct you.
Your "Hands of Love" may literally save a life! But more importantly, a life may be saved for eternity!