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The first time Masha visited America, her frail body was so weak from cerebral palsy that she could not climb out of a bathtub by herself. She has returned to the United States for the past three summers to receive physical therapy and eat healthy food. Thanks to improved strength and coordination, she is now able with assistance to jump off a diving board!

This 13-year-old “child of Chernobyl” has been living in a boarding school since an early age. Most of the 100 disabled children who stay there have missing limbs, vision and orthopedic problems, and other conditions likely linked to lingering radiation from the 1986 nuclear reactor explosion.

“In Belarus, progress has slowly been made in the care of disabled persons,” Laurann Schlapper said. “Some children are abandoned in hospitals at birth because the parents don’t feel capable of caring for them.”

Laurann is founder of an outreach to these children called Project Restoration. Since 2005, Samaritan’s Purse has assisted the ministry in bringing children like Masha to the Midwest United States for six weeks of medical and dental care. The youth also have received prostheses and physical/occupational therapy.

But these boys and girls receive more than just medical care. While in the U.S., they stay with a Christian host family and attend Vacation Bible Schools and Sunday school classes. They hear about the love of God and how precious they are to Him. The spiritual, emotional, and physical impact is immeasurable.

Masha was so excited to study the Bible last year that she wanted to share it with others—her dolls! She arranged them in a row on her bed and read from the book of Genesis.

This summer, another 32 children from Belarus will travel to the United States and have the opportunity to experience true healing and restoration. Masha was not able to come this time, but she hopes to return in 2009.