‘I Pray for Peace’
The Fellowship | May 8, 2025
Saida sits in her small, deteriorating apartment in an old Tbilisi neighborhood in Georgia, which is in the former Soviet Union. At 88, her body has been weakened by childhood polio, arthritis, and failing eyesight, but her spirit remains resilient.
Saida’s father was born in rural Ukraine. When he was only 14, the town suffered a terrible pogrom. Saida’s father escaped by hiding in the trees outside the village, watching in horror as nearly their entire community was slaughtered and burned to the ground. His parents, his little sisters, and one of his brothers — almost all the members of his family — were murdered. Only Saida’s father and one older brother survived. Of his entire family, only one photograph has survived, a single fragile link to the past.
Her father always took comfort in his faith and raised Saida to observe Passover, a holiday that remains deeply important to Saida. She recalls, with a smile, the days when she would go to the synagogue to buy matzah. Now, with her mobility limited, her Fellowship homecare worker picks it up for her.
“If it weren’t for The Fellowship, I don’t know how I would survive,” she admits.
But thanks to your support, she receives homecare, medicine, food assistance, and help with utility bills.
“My homecare worker, Lera, has been with me for over a decade,” she notes. “She helps me bathe, cook, and clean — she is my hands and my feet.”
On top of all of her own struggles, Saida is deeply worried for the safety of her granddaughter, Renata, whom she helped raise when Renata’s parents were consumed with caring for her brother, who has disabilities. Today, Renata is in Israel bravely serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
When the war in Israel erupted on October 7, Saida was overwhelmed with fear for Renata.
“On that first night, a rocket hit Renata’s hometown, exploding a car and sending debris right into her yard,” she remembers. “Shards of glass landed on Renata’s bed, but thankfully she was up already. God saved her. Later that day, an army jeep came to take her to her base.”
Today, the situation in Israel sits at the heart of Saida’s most precious prayers.
“I pray for peace,” she says. “Not just for my family, but for all of Israel, for all Jews. Let them leave us alone. Enough suffering.”
Amen, Saida. We continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and reach out to the most vulnerable, like Saida, so they can live with dignity.
