Vedat

Current Situation

            There are praises.  It appears that Vedat is well and without any UTI.  We presume that they have all weathered the bitter winter and heavy snows well as we have heard nothing more about the snow and its effects.

            Last week, Vedat’s Mother, Hatema, picked up Vedat’s official Refugee Status papers approved!  She will soon have Vedat’s medical ID card so that he will have access to the public health care system.  This will also lead to permanent residence status.

            And yesterday, Sinisa took Hatema and Vedat to Kosovo where Hatema got her Serbian ID card and Vedat was able to apply for this.  The good news is that he will not have to go there again in person but Hatema can pick it up for him whenever it is a good moment.  After that, Vedat’s application for a Serbian passport is a formality. 

            It is so amazing that this significant progress in the registration process and establishing permanent residency that not too long ago seemed so distant is now happening.  It must be God’s hand providing these things.  PTL!

            Please pray that Vedat continues to be clear of UTI’s.  And pray for Vedat to be faithful in his personal care and exercises to maintain his health and strength. 

            Vedat has asked that we pray for him to be strong in his Bible study, to be healthy, and for movement in his legs.  It has been a long time since the time of his current paralysis that we tend to forget it and accept it as an unchangeable fact.  However, there was a time after his surgery that we prayed just for him to be able to move his toe.  And God granted that movement, and much more!  We need to keep asking God to restore movement to Vedat’s legs.  God can do anything He wants to do.  We need to ask and not tire of asking.

            We look forward with anticipation to the coming Mission Week at CBC.  And, in about a week, Sinisa will arrive in Virginia for that event.  How special it will be to talk with him and fellowship with him and to learn about Sinisa’s family, Vedat and Vedat’s family and the ministry going on in the refugee camp.  Please pray for his safe travels here.

Vedat’s History

Vedat is a young boy from a Roma Gypsy community. His family was forced to flee their home in Kosovo after his father was taken away by the police and presumably killed as an act of “ethnic cleansing.” They fled to a refugee camp in Montenegro where living conditions were deplorable and food was scarce. The family, including Vedat, his mother, his uncle and three brothers, were in a constant battle for survival, made more complex by Vedat’s particular health needs.

When Vedat was still a baby he contracted tuberculosis. Though he survived the disease’s effect on his lungs, it also attacked his spine where it began to eat away at his vertebrae. As he grew older, his spine became more and more malformed, creating a large hump on his back and causing his internal, vital organs to be compressed.

For many children in Vedat’s situation, this would have led to death; however, God was working in amazing ways to save this little boy. Through a series of contact beginning with Bob & Nancy Hitching, missionaries to the Roma people, a group was eventually able to bring Vedat to America for life-saving surgery. Along with him came Vedrana, a wonderful young Christian woman who put her life on hold to be Vedat’s interpreter and guardian for the first year of his stay in America.

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