Vincent was only 3 when his father left their home in Ghana to start a new life for his family in Italy. His mother followed soon after.<\/p>\n
Vincent knew his parents were working hard to make a better future for them, and he was well cared for by an aunt, but Vincent still felt lonely. \u201cMy friends all had their parents, but mine were gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His aunt took him and his brother to church services every week, but it wasn\u2019t the Seventh-day Adventist church that he had attended with his mom and dad. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I was in my home,\u201d he said, missing his own Adventist community.<\/p>\n
Vincent joined his parents in Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily, when he was 13. He didn\u2019t speak the language, he didn\u2019t know anyone outside of his family, and only one other kid at his school shared his dark skin.<\/p>\n
It was an awkward time of transition.<\/p>\n
Vincent is one of 30 million children who currently live outside of their country of birth. Another 17 million are internally displaced within their home countries (most due to violence and conflict). The term \u201cchildren on the move\u201d describes these children, all under 18, who have migrated or been forcibly displaced from the place they call home.<\/p>\n
Dag Pontvik from ADRA in Italy says that everyone has a role in supporting children on the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntegration is a very important key,\u201d Pontvik says. \u201cWe have to go beyond offering physical support; we have to do more than offer food and shelter. We have to listen to children. We have to help them find belonging, offer them psychosocial support, and value their spiritual journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vincent didn\u2019t find belonging, or \u201chome,\u201d again until he was rejoined with his church in Palermo. \u201cGod\u2019s voice told me to go forward,\u201d Vincent said. \u201cHe told me, \u2018Go to church\u2014there is something precious for you there.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Sabbath services held in a building where both the Italian and Ghanaian congregations meet, Vincent did find something precious at church: an after-school program organized by ADRA that changed his life. This program helps students integrate through language lessons, supports them with their studies, and encourages them to enjoy their new home through activities such as Pathfinders.<\/p>\n
Now 16, Vincent feels that his past shyness is gone. His story is one of success, and on a warm morning in Rome, he told a room full of faith-based humanitarian leaders that he hopes he can help other children on the move have success stories of their own.<\/p>\n
Asked where he finds his strength, Vincent didn\u2019t pause before answering, \u201cGod.\u201d And what would he tell other children on the move? \u201cYou can do it. Just go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pontvik talked to the group about the importance of empowering young people like Vincent when they are in our communities. \u201cEven those of us who work in this area can be guilty of stereotyping or even just categorizing\u2014seeing someone and first thinking, You are from Africa or you are from the Middle East<\/em> and seeing the differences when our first thought should be, You are a child of God.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n It’s your contributions and your prayers that reach God\u2019s precious children where they are with life-changing resources and support. Thank you for your compassion.<\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published in <\/em>Adventist World and has been used with permission.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u0412\u0438\u043d\u0441\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0443 \u0431\u044b\u043b\u043e \u0432\u0441\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0442\u0440\u0438 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0430, \u043a\u043e\u0433\u0434\u0430 \u0435\u0433\u043e \u043e\u0442\u0435\u0446 \u043f\u043e\u043a\u0438\u043d\u0443\u043b \u0438\u0445 \u0434\u043e\u043c \u0432 \u0413\u0430\u043d\u0435, \u0447\u0442\u043e\u0431\u044b \u043d\u0430\u0447\u0430\u0442\u044c \u043d\u043e\u0432\u0443\u044e \u0436\u0438\u0437\u043d\u044c \u0434\u043b\u044f \u0441\u0432\u043e\u0435\u0439 \u0441\u0435\u043c\u044c\u0438 \u0432 \u0418\u0442\u0430\u043b\u0438\u0438. \u0412\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0440\u0435 \u0437\u0430 \u043d\u0438\u043c \u043f\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043b\u0430 \u0438 \u043c\u0430\u0442\u044c.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[873,709,690],"class_list":["post-9369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-justice-compassion-love","tag-mental-health-psychosocial-support-mhpss","tag-protection"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9369"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46553,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9369\/revisions\/46553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adra.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}