I was sixteen years old when I realized that I didn’t want the work of Tutapona to simply be something I watched others do.

I didn’t want to just be an observer - following my parents and their teams around from IDP camp to refugee settlement, from one war-affected country to another - just there to watch what they were doing to bring healing to people’s lives.

 I wanted to “do it”, too.

 It all started when I interned under a former Tutapona staff member, Helen Manson. During a field visit we took together, I learned how incredibly moving it is to sit in someone’s home and listen to them share their story. To be honest, some of the stories may not have been appropriate for my young ears to hear - no one should have to hear about stories like that, much less live through them. But I saw firsthand the beauty of sitting with people. For some, it was sitting with them in their pain. For others, their victory.

I never really got over the desire to be involved. Fast-forward a few years, I was married for over a year to my husband, Jaydon, living together in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was blessed that he shared my desire to live overseas as a humanitarian worker, and with his college graduation looming ahead in just 9 months, I decided it was time to start talking together about when that desire could come to fruition.

The series of events that led from that first conversation to actually finding ourselves making the move to Slovakia a year later, is another story for another time, but suffice it to say that we showed up full of enthusiasm and no clue what was in store for us.

Almost a year and a half in, I can tell you that it is a privilege and an honor to be part of what God is doing to provide healing for the people of Ukraine.

It is not with false humility that I confess I very frequently feel under-qualified for this work.

Yet God has a history of using flawed humans to accomplish His purposes, and that gives me hope that He can use our little team, too.

Part-way through our first year in Slovakia, we made a massive change to the approach we used in our work.

We went from being fully focused on capacity building to actually building a team of our own. We have three staff members and one volunteer hired in Lviv, and they are actively providing GROW programming to adults around the city. We also hope to eventually introduce the Heroes Journey program for children as well.

We’ve certainly encountered plenty of challenges along the way. We’re still figuring out what it looks like to provide group mental health services to a society that tends to be more individualistic in comparison to the Ugandan and Kurdish cultures. Although people are starting to open up more to mental health now than they have been historically, we’ve seen some hesitation toward the group format. Some people have expressed more comfort with individual support sessions instead of GROW.

 Yet in all of this, we strongly believe that the healing God has brought through these programs is just as needed in Ukraine as it is in other parts of the world. We’re excited by the positive feedback we’ve received from those that have participated so far, and we hope that as word spreads, more and more will open up to it!

So why do we believe so strongly in a group format?

We know group healing is beneficial for many reasons, but here are a few. 1) It helps us realize that we are not alone in what we are currently facing, 2) Ukraine is going through this war collectively, which makes coming together in community all the more powerful, and 3) groups provide fellowship, space for vulnerability, and accountability.

So here I am, living my dream - doing the “it” thing I’ve always wanted to do. But what I’m realizing now is that I could never do this alone. I can’t even do it with just my local team - Jaydon, Vladyslav, Iryna, and Dmytro. We couldn’t have gotten to where we are now without your support, and for that I am deeply grateful.

As we keep on pushing on, praying for open hearts and showing up despite the challenges, I’m asking you to keep pushing on with us. Please keep remembering our team and the nation of Ukraine in your prayers. Please continue to be fellow ambassadors & champions & partners in the work of Tutapona - after all, it’s a “we” effort!

For healing, together.

Emma