Disability Advocacy Across Cultures
Supporting Prometheus School in Ukraine
Republished from Mosaic Mennonite Conference.
A version of this article originally appeared on the Mosaic Conference website on June 27, 2024. Republished with permission.
Approximately a month after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Anabaptist World published a story of how MCC had to leave the region and the building that MCC had used was now used for military purposes. The article had one sentence about a special needs school in Zaporizhzhia, which caught my attention.
On the cover of that March 4, 2022 issue was a picture of Dasha Bardus, an 11-year-old girl using arm crutches to walk. After some phone calls, I learned the school had 167 students and was started 17 years ago by parents. Many students with special needs cannot attend public school in Ukraine although the government provides the school building and some teachers.
To me, this was a flashback to how Mosaic Conference, (then Franconia Mennonite Conference) got involved in providing services to individuals with functional needs and disabilities. Because there was very little in the way of services for these children, it was mothers who stepped up and decided to do something. In the early 1960s, local parents, with Anna Gehman as chair, started the Wrens Nursery School in Lansdale, PA. In 1965, Gehman organized Hilltop Sunday school class at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA) for 22 children with disabilities, gathered from families in Lower Salford Township, allowing the parents to attend church since their children with disabilities were now welcome there.
Gehman also organized a day program and convinced Franconia Conference to start and fund a sheltered workshop for people with disabilities to do light industrial work, which ran from 1968 until 1983, when it was absorbed by the Conference-Related Ministry Indian Creek Foundation (Souderton, PA). All these services laid the groundwork for Indian Creek Foundation to emerge in 1975.
Remembering the strenuous effort it takes to begin and maintain these programs in peacetime, I was struck by the fact that people in Zaporizhia are continuing to operate the Prometheus school in wartime, even as the Russian front is only 20 miles away. They hear bombs and artillery fire every night. I decided there must be some way we can offer support to these parents and their children: spiritually, morally, and hopefully financially.
On Sunday, February 2, 2024, after seeing the artwork created for Transfiguration Sunday by Salford’s Hilltop Sunday school class (the continuation of the class that started in 1965), I envisioned that this artwork could help build a relationship with fellow Anabaptists in Ukraine. I shared the idea with Salford’s Accessibility Ministry Team and Justice and Peace Team, and they both supported the concept.
As a result, we created greeting cards and posters with prints of the Hilltop Class’s artwork to sell and raise funds for the Prometheus School. To date, after selling over 880 greeting cards, nine posters and including donations, we mailed a check to Prometheus for $1,000.
“Being part of Hilltop Class means being accepted as you are, heard when you share, singing when you are off tune, and finding beauty in creativity,” shares Lisa Yoder, who led the creation of the art piece the Hilltop Class created. “The image is a mixed media collage created to depict Jesus’ appearance to the disciples before his resurrection. The artwork reminds me of how I find Christ in each member of Hilltop. My hope is the children of Prometheus will evoke the transfiguration of Christ through our support.”
The children participating in Salford’s summer peace camp also learned about the Prometheus School and sent video greetings and songs to the children in Ukraine.
“Being involved in the Hilltop class for nearly three decades, I was very moved to learn about the Prometheus school in Ukraine,” shares Janet Bartholomew, a leader of the Hilltop Class. “As our hearts ached for the Ukrainians when the war broke out, I remember several Sundays that the Hilltop class added our prayers for the people there. From a small class in Pennsylvania to another group with functional needs and disabilities and their caring parents, it really felt like the hand of God was directing each step!”
Joe Landis is former CEO of Indian Creek Foundation and founder and former CEO of Peaceful Living. He is a member of Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA). To learn more about the Prometheus school and purchase cards and posters, visit Salford Mennonite Church’s website. To sell cards and posters at your congregation, contact Joe Landis (JgLandis@gmail.com).
