The War

On February 24, 2022, our worlds changed. Ukraine fell under fire, and we woke up to low-flying aircraft and explosions.  That day turned into the longest day of our lives.  In the weeks and months that followed, time seemed to stand still as we evacuated to the west, and our daily rhythms changed drastically.

We spent our days helping people evacuate, providing rent and food to others who had come west and left their livelihood and jobs behind.  Perspectives changed overnight, and the people we love became the most important thing in the world to us as we realize the rest is temporary and can be taken away in a moment.

HOC reaches into the darkness to meet people where they are because that is where it’s easiest to lose Hope. 

Jessica Wyman has had a heart for orphans since she was four years old.  The desire only grew over the years, and she often wondered where the kids were that she would eventually love. In 1997, Jessica at fourteen years old went on her first trip overseas and finally put faces to her dream.  She volunteered at a summer camp just outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, for orphaned and disadvantaged children.  Over the years, she served not only in Ukraine, but in a children’s hospital working with abandoned children in Romania and at a girls’ home in Honduras.  Her love for Ukraine, however, remained strong, and on her 26th birthday she moved to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and felt like she had finally come home. 

Seven years of volunteering at the large state-run orphanage on the outskirts of town opened her eyes to the orphan crisis.  It became personal when the children she knew for all those years also became statistics on the sidelines of life.  Out of desperation to do something about it, to give the children a chance, as well as the overwhelming love of God for the parentless children of Ukraine, House of Compassion was born. In 2016 the vision was written down, and that fall land was purchased just south of Zaporizhzhia.