Born with a Broken Heart

| July 22, 2020

Nazar, Ukrainian Jewish boy with heart defect in his grandmother's hut

Born with a heart defect, 12-year-old Nazar may still need surgery simply to reach adulthood.

But this sweet Jewish boy in Ukraine has lived those entire 12 years with a different kind of broken heart.

For those dozen years, Nazar has lived in his grandmother’s home. Except you can hardly call this hut a home.

Upon entering, a shocked Fellowship volunteer “smelled mold stronger than I’d ever experienced. It was like a dungeon. Pieces of the wall were missing. There were cobwebs stretching from ceiling to wall like a haunted house.”

This “dungeon” is where this precious child of God has spent his whole life, except when he goes into the street to use the bathroom, as the house has no such facilities.

And for nearly the entire 12 years – Nazar’s mother, who suffers from extreme mental illness – kept the boy in bed with her.

Nazar knew no friends.

He knew no love.

He knew nothing but a broken heart.

…but now faithful Fellowship friends have come along and shown him friendship, shown him love, shown him there is hope.

Nazar now attends a nearby school, where he can stay overnight if he needs to. He is seeing doctors, who have helped him begin to develop emotionally and heal physically.

Nazar has a long way to go. He is often sad. And his heart is still not as healthy as most children’s hearts.

But for the first time in his 12 years of life, this precious boy’s heart does not feel so broken. With The Fellowship, YOU can bring friendship, love, and healing into the lives of Jewish children like Nazar.