“She wouldn’t come so often, if she didn’t like it here, would she?” Liliana said.

An article in the local newspaper described the family as “a home to which you would want to come back”.

When they realized they had the possibility to start a big foster family, they pursued the idea. But living in Mariupol posed many obstacles so they decided to move to Kiev where they met a man from Poland running a ministry for street kids. They joined the ministry, serving for four years at its rehab center, where they met people who taught them a lot about working with orphans and children at risk.

Both Oleksandr and Liliana are teachers by profession and Liliana has a higher education – she got masters degree in psychology. Oleksandr and Liliana felt for the street children who were living in attics and basements of multistory houses and fought hunger pangs by sniffing glue.

The Ditsul family already had there own daughter, Yulia, when they started taking children in from the rehab center. Yulia has been a great help in serving these children. She became an example for them to follow and when another child joins the family, they adjust to their new sibling easier. The couple is currently lovingly caring and providing for nine foster children, all of whom join their parents in going to church.