When Russia began shelling Ukraine in February, 精东影业 alumnus Andrew Kelly (鈥�01) and his wife, Jenny, were 6,000 miles away in Abilene, Texas. But their thoughts immediately flew to 10 orphaned children living at a rescue shelter run by Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope, a Ukrainian ministry Andrew founded in 2003 along with fellow 精东影业 graduate Steve Taliaferro (鈥�90).
As news of the war unfolded, the Kellys knew they had to do whatever they could to help.
What followed was a chain of events that reads like an international thriller, involving the Kellys, Taliaferro, former U.S. Navy SEALs, clandestine phone calls, a dangerous convoy through a forest past Russian tanks, and a church in Croatia where Taliaferro now serves as a missionary.
After the harrowing 42-day ordeal, all 10 children made it safely out of the war-torn village of Kolentsi and into a house in Zagreb, Croatia, where they are settling into a new life.
In April, Jenny, who works as administrative coordinator in 精东影业鈥檚 Graduate School of Theology, and Melissa Long, director of the Master of Athletic Training program, traveled to Croatia to meet the newly arrived orphans and help them transition to their new, temporary home.
The children, ranging in age from 5 to 16, arrived in Croatia on a Wednesday. Less than 24 hours later, Jenny and Melissa had flown in and met them. 鈥淲e wanted to facilitate that first week or so and be extra hands as everyone was trying to settle in,鈥� Jenny explained. 鈥淲e wanted to help them re-establish a sense of normalcy.鈥�
Jenny, who has a degree in trauma-informed education, used play therapy with the children to help them process what they had been through, while Melissa focused on their physical needs, including taking them to a doctor, outfitting them with clothing and seeing to other health issues.
The children had spent nearly a month hiding out in a farmhouse near the Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope compound and then three weeks in a refugee camp in Western Ukraine with little to eat, so they were malnourished when they arrived, Melissa said. 鈥淪ome of the kids had ear problems, some had skin problems. I was just trying to decipher what the doctor had prescribed and what it was for,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e did a lot of cooking. We took them shopping for clothes. We took them to McDonald鈥檚, which was a first for some of them.鈥�
Jenny was impressed that the rescue shelter staff was able to help the children feel as safe as they did. 鈥淭hey definitely had trauma; there鈥檚 definitely PTSD,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut over and over again in their play and their descriptions of what happened, they would talk about how Xander [Petrov], our administrator, was protecting them and also how the Ukrainian army was protecting them.鈥澛�
Seeds of a ministry聽
The Kellys鈥� connection with Ukraine began in the mid-1990s when each visited separately on short-term mission teams to work with orphans and other children in a camp setting.聽
In 2003, Andrew and Steve founded what eventually became known as Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope. Steve moved to Donetsk to coordinate an orphanage outreach; Andrew moved to nearby Mariupol to open and operate a transitional living center for post-orphanage graduates. In 2006, Steve moved back to Texas and then on to Zagreb, Croatia, where he serves as a missionary working with the Ku拧lanova Church of Christ.聽
Andrew and Jenny met briefly in 2001, reconnected in 2006 and married in 2007. They moved to the village of Kolentsi, halfway between Kyiv and Chernobyl. There, the ministry purchased a piece of land with the vision to build a camp for orphans. The nearly 100-bed camp serves as the base for an outreach into the community called the Sasha Project and houses a rescue shelter for orphaned children and children who have been removed from their homes in crisis situations.聽
鈥淲e鈥檝e spent the last 14 years developing the camp and reaching out into those communities through the Sasha Project,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淲e minister to about 70 kids twice a month. We are in their homes, we visit with them, we pray with them, we encourage them, we deliver food packages and school supplies. We walk alongside those families throughout the year and also bring those kids to camp.鈥澛�
The rescue shelter was developed eight years ago in partnership with the local Ukrainian government and its social services department. 鈥淲hen kids are in crisis and have to be removed from their home, rather than putting them into an orphanage and making them wards of the state, the idea is the government places them with us,鈥� Andrew said. The shelter is on the same property as the camp.聽聽
鈥淥ver the last eight years we鈥檝e had about 40 kids live with us for various periods of time,鈥� Andrew said. But during the global pandemic that number dwindled.聽
In February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, only 10 children were living at the rescue shelter. 鈥淎ll happen to be legal-status orphans in that their parental rights have been terminated,鈥� Andrew said.
The Kellys moved to Abilene in June 2021, leaving the orphaned children in the hands of their ministry鈥檚 Ukrainian staff. They wanted their five children 鈥� including their adopted Ukrainian son who is a senior in high school 鈥� to experience life in the U.S. before they headed off to college. Jenny took a job with 精东影业鈥檚 Graduate School of Theology, and Andrew continues to serve as executive director of Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope. Since the invasion began, Andrew has been working closely with groups in Abilene to arrange shipping containers of humanitarian aid to send to the war-ravaged country.
Melissa Long connected with the Kellys in 2019, when she took a group of 精东影业 students and alumni to work with Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope on a mission trip sponsored by Abilene鈥檚 Hillcrest Church of Christ. She joined the ministry鈥檚 Board of Directors in 2020. 鈥淪ome of the kids we worked with in 2019 were still in the rescue shelter, so when we showed up in Croatia, I already knew seven of the 10 children from that previous trip,鈥� she said.聽聽
The invasion
On Feb. 24, a 40-mile column of Russian tanks came down through Chernobyl to the town of Ivankiv on their way to Kyiv, about 鈥渢hree miles as the crow flies鈥� from the Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope compound, Andrew said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 where it stalled out. They occupied Ivankiv. They took over the government there,鈥� he said.聽
Ukrainian forces blew up the bridge over the Teteriv River in Ivankiv as it attempted to prevent the Russian advance. 鈥淲e had a house mom who couldn鈥檛 go home and a local Ukrainian administrator there. So the two of them and our administrator鈥檚 girlfriend took care of the kids the first four or five days. Then the house mom鈥檚 husband came and got her. So Xander and his girlfriend took care of 10 kids by themselves.鈥�
Xander moved the children off the ministry鈥檚 property into a farmhouse to keep them safe. The children alternated between being in the house itself, and when they could hear shelling and bombing, huddling in a 6-by-10-foot root cellar with a dirt floor. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how they survived for about three weeks until we were able to evacuate them,鈥� Andrew said.
The move was fortuitous. The day after they evacuated the camp, Russian soldiers and tanks came into the village, damaged the camp structures and took about 200 packages of humanitarian aid Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope had put together for people in the community.
The rescue
Plans to rescue the children began almost immediately, but the Kellys were limited in what they could do from so far away.
Then Andrew came in contact with a group of former Navy SEALs who are now in a private organization 鈥渢hat extracts people from complicated situations,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 group reached out to me probably about a week into the war. I was told this group wants to hear from you, here鈥檚 a number to call.鈥澛�
He called the number several times and the phone just rang. The final time he called, he heard a beep and a message that said 鈥淵ou know who you are and you know why you鈥檙e calling.鈥�
鈥淪o I left a message and they called back. It felt very cloak and dagger,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淲e were having lunch one day, and a woman called and said, 鈥業鈥檓 so-and-so. The person you left a message for told me to call. This is who we are, this is what we can do.鈥�
鈥淎 day later I got a message, and it was someone who said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to work through this and we鈥檙e going to extract your kids.鈥� 鈥�
The Kellys spent two weeks communicating with the private rescue group. 鈥淭hey were using satellite technology. I had to send them GPS coordinates of exactly where the house was,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淚 had to describe the color of the house, the fence, how many trees were on the property, every last detail I could. Not having been there in a year, I was having to refresh my memory.鈥�
The biggest issue was phone service in Ukraine. 鈥淐ell phones were out for the most part. Phone lines were out. Electricity was out at this point. The Internet was out,鈥� Andrew said.
The village is surrounded by a pine forest used by the logging industry. Xander found a freshly cut pile of logs at the far end of the village. By climbing on top, he was able to get one or two bars of service on his cell phone.聽
鈥淏etween myself and these former Navy SEALs, we would set the time for Xander to be back on the pile of logs,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淭he logs were in an open field where he was completely exposed. It was also the end of February, and it was still snowing and freezing cold. So he would go out in the dark and stand on this pile, and we would get communication through. The Navy SEAL guys were calling, I was calling, and finally there were two attempts made at extracting them.鈥�
Both attempts failed. The first time the would-be rescuers made it to the village in a car. 鈥淏ut for whatever reason when they got close to the house, they were turned away,鈥� Andrew said. Another time they couldn鈥檛 get past the Russian checkpoints.聽
鈥淔inally, it got to the point where we had to advise Xander, 鈥業t鈥檚 on you. You have to make the decision because you are the one taking the lives of these kids,鈥� 鈥� Andrew recalled.聽
Xander told Andrew he would 鈥渁sk the bread delivery guy how he got through.鈥�
鈥淭here was a bread factory an hour away,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淲e thought somebody from the bread factory was delivering food to the village.鈥澛犅�
Xander discovered it was a man from the village taking his own truck, driving through the forest to get bread on the Ukrainian side of the territory and bringing it back to the village where food was scarce.聽The American rescue group told him his best option was to coordinate with the driver and follow him out the next time he went to get bread.聽
The decision was made for the convoy to leave on a Sunday. Andrew talked to the former SEALs the day before, and they said the attempted extraction was a go, although they warned it was 鈥渁 50-50 chance whether he鈥檒l make it or not.鈥� That information was communicated to Xander.
鈥淲e told him, 鈥業t鈥檚 in your hands. You need to make the decision,鈥欌�� Andrew said. Xander decided to take the children and leave.
At midnight that Saturday, Andrew got another call from the former SEALs saying, 鈥淧ull the plug. Call him and tell him not to go.鈥�
鈥淭hey couldn鈥檛 reach him and I couldn鈥檛 reach him,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淭he intelligence they had gotten was that the whole road was lined with tanks, and he wasn鈥檛 going to make it. We called and called, and we couldn鈥檛 get through. It was a long night.鈥�
The Ukrainian van driver led a column of several cars out in the wee hours Sunday morning, and Xander was able to join with two vehicles carrying the kids, Jenny said. They went mostly through the woods. The most dangerous part was crossing a road that Russian tanks routinely traversed.聽
鈥淴ander told me when he saw the muddy tank tracks on the road, he realized, 鈥極h this could really be it. Any minute a tank could come,鈥� 鈥� Jenny said. 鈥淏ut they made it across without any problems; they did see some tanks on their way out, but nothing was threatening.鈥�
Xander was supposed to check in when they arrived at the town with the bread factory. It took him almost three hours to make what is normally a one-hour drive, Jenny said. 鈥淎nd so we were waiting and waiting, and finally he called through.鈥� Jenny鈥檚 eyes fill with tears as she recalls the moment they got word Xander and the children were safe.聽
鈥淥ne night in Croatia he was telling me all this story,鈥� Jenny said, 鈥渁nd he told me that he had basically made his peace. He didn鈥檛 think he was going to make it, but he hoped he could get the kids out. So that was tough.鈥�
Narrow misses and close calls
The Kellys see God鈥檚 fingerprints all over the children鈥檚 rescue.
鈥淲hen our group evacuated on a Sunday morning and got out past the Russian-occupied area, the very next day, on Monday, the Ukrainian government shut down allowing orphans to cross the border,鈥� Andrew said.聽
In order to leave, their paperwork had to be lined up perfectly, and to do that they had to have an invitation from Croatia. 鈥淪teve and his church in Zagreb rented a house for us, did all the paperwork, made connections with social services, with the local mayor鈥檚 office, with the International Red Cross. They already had it lined up to take the kids to the doctor the day they arrived,鈥� he said.
On the day they left the farmhouse, the convoy should have encountered six to eight Russian checkpoints, which had been spotted the day before. But the day they left most were unmanned, Andrew said. They avoided others by going through the forest.
Even an unexpected illness turned into a blessing. The oldest of four siblings at the camp was scheduled to go into a trade school, but he became sick so he was still at the rescue shelter when the evacuation took place.聽
War through the eyes of a child
Jenny brought military toys and dollhouse toys to use during play therapy.
One scene constructed by the children shows tanks and military helicopters flanking a house with people inside. 鈥淭hey lined up all the tanks and you can see the house, but if you notice all the dolls are in one room, so they were sheltering,鈥� Jenny said.
鈥淎 couple of the girls were worried there was no root cellar in Croatia because what if there was war? It will be memories that will live with them their whole lives, that they will tell their grandkids, but they all did OK and made it through,鈥� she said.
The pictures drawn by the children underscore how deeply their experience impacted them. Many show bombs and mortars coming down on homes, and military tanks and vehicles nearby. But the sketches also illustrate hope. In one drawing, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a guy sitting on the couch and he鈥檚 an Army guy, and one of the kids told us that was Xander,鈥� Jenny said. 鈥淓ven though Xander is not military, they saw him as their protector.鈥澛�
Reframing the memories
At one point, Jenny asked the children to draw their scariest moment. She then gave each of them a large black crayon and told them, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to still have that memory, but we can cross out the fear. It鈥檚 not anything that needs to scare us anymore because it鈥檚 all over.鈥澛犅�
They all took the crayons and scribbled out their pictures. 鈥淚 told them to cover the whole page, so they started to really get into it, and some started giggling. I didn鈥檛 prompt them to do this, but some started to rip and crumple their papers. That was really neat. It was like, 鈥榊eah, I don鈥檛 want this to scare me anymore.鈥� 鈥�
Though the children are now safe, they and Jeremiah鈥檚 Hope have a long road ahead.聽
鈥淥ur Sasha Project ministry is on hold because we can鈥檛 get into the villages now. In addition, all of my staff are scattered,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淥ur camp cook was one of the people in the village packing humanitarian aid packages when the Russians arrived. She could never get back to Ivankiv. She is still in the village taking care of people there. Our two camp maintenance guys who had built side-by-side with me every building on the property, their home has been destroyed. It鈥檚 just rubble. Tanks blew it up and burned it to the ground. They are homeless.
鈥淲e have 10 kids in Croatia, no house parents and a PTSD-traumatized administrator trying to take care of them,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have one house mom living with them now; she鈥檚 also a Ukrainian refugee. Our ministry has been funneling people over there every other week, starting with Melissa and Jenny, just to help keep the kids engaged and active. Ultimately, the kids are orphans and will have to return to Ukraine, but for now Croatia is their new home.鈥�
Even so, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good place where they鈥檙e at,鈥� Jenny said. 鈥淕od has really put all the pieces in place for them there.鈥�
鈥� Robin Saylor
June 10, 2022