Mokhnenko values adopted children like a treasure, being himself a stepdad of no less than 33 youngsters. The pastor says that trips help kids to become stronger and learn how to support each other. All their victories are devoted to their dream of a world without orphans.
“The result of this event is children joining families…I constantly receive letters that we helped a family decide to take in kids,” wrote Mohknenko.
The trip to Mont Blanc is not the first such event the pastor has organized. Prior to the current tour, a bicycle trip around the world was completed. Six years passed between its first and last stages. During the tour, the riders visited 14 countries and pedaled 27,000 km, from the Sea of ??Japan to the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
Trips have included climbing Elbrus, Ararat, and the volcanos Rhenius and Kilimanjaro.
On their way to Mont Blanc, the kids have already had a few stops, one in the Ukrainian town of Ternopil, others further west. The project’s Facebook page has updates on the trip posted.
“I spent the first acclimatization and warm-up days… Frankly speaking, it was not easy for me to do them… Sons much faster than me coped with the test tasks … Expedition “World Without Orphans – Mont Blanc 2019!”. Arriving at the base camp, began to perform task !!! The first stage is acclimatization of our bodies, testing and fitting equipment … The process is proceeding normally… But for me personally, it’s not so easy,” wrote Hennadiy Mokhnenko.
Later Mr. Mokhnenko added:
We accept congratulations on the first (still warming-up) peak … We climbed 2,200 meters. For the most part of the team (including my six sons), this is the highest point where they have ever been up to… But just a warm-up … Our goal behind the backs … .There, between the clouds – the summit of Western Europe – Mont Blanc 4,810 m. (15,780 ft.)Tomorrow much more serious trials begin … The ascent to 3,200 m. (10,498 ft) and the acclimatization for the highlands.
In Mariupol, Mokhnenko is a well-known personality involved in city life.
For example, after the Russian provocation in the Sea of Azov, the lessons were canceled in one of Mariupol rehabs. Instead, the students went to the coast to help the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine strengthen it. During the activities, the kids were not located on the active frontline.
These activities have led to the pastor becoming a constant target for Russian propaganda.
Read more:
- Protestants – one of the most pro-Ukrainian groups in the Donbas
- War, orphans, and children at risk — an interview with Ukraine’s child advocate
- With Donbas occupation, Russia brought religious persecution alien to Ukraine: report
- Children in Mariupol go on a hunger strike against Russian aggression
- STATEMENT of Heads of Evangelical Protestant Churches of Ukraine on religious persecution in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts
- Pro-Russia Militants in Occupied East Ukraine Torture Protestant Pastor To Convert To Russian Orthodox Church
- “One year ago I was kidnapped, tortured, and… let go!”
- Ukrainian citizens: “In Mariupol, we’re digging trenches with the kids”
- Donbas Buddhist monks settle in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains after fleeing war
- Ukrainian churches help Donbas refugees
- Pastor and sniper: how to kill and not sin
- Four evangelical Christians executed by pro-Russian terrorists for ‘sectarianism and treason’
- Discover Dovbush rocks: Ukraine’s very own Stonehenge
- Children in Donbas taught to avoid mines
