Main YWAM Page, or to YWAM CommunicationsHANDICAPPED CHILDREN IN a country that traditionally shunned those with disabilities will be taking part in their first-ever summer camps, starting this month.
The youngsters will get to hear about Jesus during the camps, which are being staged at a Russian camp outside the capital, Ulaan Baatar, in a project spearheaded by a Youth With A Mission worker.
Yvonne Robinson, a 63-year-old American grandmother from Florida, was instrumental in opening the first school for handicapped children in Mongolia, last year, and is behind the summer camps due to be held for blind, deaf, physically handicapped and mentally retarded youngsters.
YWAM colleagues from the United States, Australia and Taiwan will serve as counselors, recreation leaders and teachers according to Ron Moyer, from YWAM's training center in Tyler, Texas, who is coordinating the overseas volunteers.
"This is a real breakthrough because it's the first time camps like this have ever been held in the country," he said. "In the past Mongolians have been a bit embarrassed by their handicapped. We hope events like this will help them see that they don't need to be ashamed, but that they can love their handicapped, too."
The camps are being run under the auspices of Joint Cooperative Services, a consortium of Christian ministries working in the country, including YWAM. Through JCS, Robinson works with Mongolia's Cerebral Palsy Association, providing schooling at an Ulaan Baatar center where children go to receive physical therapy.
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