About Us
This is the Harrison family. Peter and Tracy have been married 15 years and have three children, Luke (14), Jacob (13) and Becky (12).
The Harrisons lived in Bunbury, Western Australia where Peter worked in the power stations in Collie and Tracy worked as an education assistant at Australind Senior High School.
The Harrison family attended Grace Christian Church in Bunbury. They always desired to one day do something more with their lives than the normal nine-to-five routine. In 2003, Peter felt the time had come and began to look for what they were meant to do on a bigger scale. A dream to work with orphans soon emerged.
In 2004, Peter and Tracy went on a two week cultural exchange trip to
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (an island in the far east of Russia) with an
organization called Kids Outreach International. During this time,
they received a clear vision to start a youth drop-in center and
half-way house. They came back to Australia and sold everything they
owned in preparation for the move to Sakhalin!
The Harrison family returned to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to start “House of
Grace and Hope” in 2005. The Russian Government granted them a three
year temporary living permit. Their three children Luke, Jake and
Becky attend a local Russian school and are doing really well with
their Russian classes and are quite fluent in the Russian
language.
The Harrison family returned to Russia in July 2008 after having a two month vacation back in Australia. After two months rest they felt inspired to return and continue their work with the orphans with a renewed enthusiasm.
Support and covering
The Harrisons have spiritual support and limited backing from many churches in Australia and Russia - they are not an island unto themselves!
Churches in Australia supporting the Harrison's work include:
- Kids Outreach International (non-denominational)
- Christian Ministry Centre - Orange (Assemblies of God)
- Newcastle Baptist Tabernacle - Newcastle
Churches in Russia supporting the work include:
- Good News Church - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Bishop Peter Mekhailovitch (email)
- Light of the World Church - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Pastor Sasha.
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their help on the web site:
- John for his knowledge, expertise and donated time for the website and web hosting.
- Ryan for the donated logo image on each page. We think it is awesome!
- Olyesa and her brother Denis for allowing us to use the photo (the two orphan youth on the logo image).
orphanshouse.org