Ellen Foell, J.D., Esq previously served as legal counsel to Heartbeat International and is now part of the Heartbeat Ministry Services team as International Program Specialist. Foell was invited to attend Save a Life International Conference in Ukraine in August 2022. Founder, President, and CEO Nadia Gordynsky extended the invitation for Foell to go to Ukraine with her. The theme of that 2022 conference: “I Am God’s Idea.” Foell gave three workshops on this theme for the conference.
One of the talks Foell gave was on Save A Life International and how it in fact is God’s idea. She explored the question, what comprises the DNA of Save A Life?
Foell was also asked to speak to counselors who were treating traumatized people. This situation was unique in that traumatized people were trying to help other traumatized people.
The war had been going on for about six months at the time of this conference. The traumatizing acts of war were still being perpetrated on innocents. Foell spoke on the restoration of peace and dignity for the Ukrainian people who had not had any time to heal. Foell spoke on the loss of dignity during this time when Ukrainian people were being stripped of their culture.
The third workshop was how to minister to those in need amid the chaos of war. Life-affirming centers have continued to operate in Ukraine to present day.
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Since war began in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Helping Affiliated Life-Affirming Organizations (HALO), a fund intended to assist other pregnancy help affiliates in need, has been available and is still in play in Ukraine today. The Ukrainian National Crisis Pregnancy Help Line is close to Lviv, Ukraine, as well as seven Save A Life International centers in Ukraine and one in Poland. The conference location cannot be disclosed for safety reasons.
The journey getting there for Foell was long and complicated. No one just walks into Ukraine, especially during a war. Foell started her journey in Washington D.C., then Vienna, and Iasi, Romania, then crossing the Ukrainian border and was then picked up.
Upon crossing the border, Foell describes the reality in Ukraine as unnerving, seeing all the churches and government buildings boarded up and encased in metal to prevent them from getting destroyed.
In the midst of ruin, however, life-affirming light still shone bright.
One striking moment during Foell’s visit during the conference was hearing a young mother with a 2-year-old daughter and a 4-month-old son on her hip describe how she would rather die than disobey what God has told her to do, which is to stay in Ukraine and do the work He has called her to do. Her baby son was born during the war.
Foell explains:
“So, during the pandemic, the big thing was who's essential, who's not, and here I see women like you and me, ordinary women doing these extraordinary things in the middle of war time, and they are delivering food. One of the center directors had 13 people living in her house for three months.”
Tweet This: In the midst of ruin from the war in Ukraine, life-affirming pregnancy help still shines bright.
According to Foell, the top priorities for Ukraine right now are resources and prayer.
She expounded on the principle that there is no “persecuted and un-persecuted church.” The church is one body. And what is done to the body affects the entire body. Entering into solidarity of prayer for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, a country of 43 million people, is something Ukrainians do not take for granted.
“They're fighting for a country. They're fighting for life for their culture. And they're doing it within the context of literally fighting for (their) lives. And, you know, if you don't rise up to save your own people, God will find another way. But how do you know that you haven't been raised up for this very moment?”
Even amidst war, women across the globe continue to do incredible things to affect positive change in their countries, women with husbands, babies, multiple children.
The story of Foell’s impact across the globe through her life-affirming work on behalf of Heartbeat International and the powerful women of God she encountered serves as an inspiration to every mother in the world, that they do matter, and they and their children do have a purpose.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
