A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice (Isaiah 42:3 NIVUK)

As a young girl one of my favourite books was Anne of Green Gables. I loved her vivid imaginings, her ability to innocently stumble into catastrophe, and of course there was also her handsome, lovely Gilbert Blythe. I must have read it a dozen times. But it was only as an adult that I came to realise that this brave and intrepid girl was indeed a child recovering from trauma. Martin Sheen who played Matthew Cuthbert in the 2016 adaptation says he was drawn to the film because, ‘stories about brave children matter’.

And matter they do. Since the start of the war in Ukraine 6.3 million people have been displaced, 90% of whom are women and children. Here at Echo International we are desperately trying to meet the growing need of these brave, but traumatised children, to have something in their lives that helps begin the first steps on the long road to recovery.

Thanks to your generosity we have been able to print copies of Lala’s Journey in Ukrainian as well as produce an audio version. And we are told that these are being used by mothers and carers as bedtime stories. It’s a small, but not insignificant start while we get mentoring teams up and running, language barriers are broken down and children settle into their new temporary homes. 

In the coming months we will bring you stories of some of the brave children with whom we are working, but in the meantime please remember these ‘bruised reeds’ in your prayers.

Jean Guest

Jean has recently joined Echo International as a part time member of the team. She’s British (hence the confounding spelling) but lives in Italy. She has two adult sons, loves books, theatre and music, but is passionate about cricket!