Seventh-day Adventist youth leaders from across the Euro-Asia region met in Ukraine earlier this month to learn ways of using local churches to reach youth with a drug-free message. Meeting at the Ukrainian Adventist College of Arts and Sciences near Kiev March 11 to 17, 160 youth leaders studied a revised program called “Youth Alive,” previously known as “Youth to Youth.”

Youth Alive focuses on positive alternatives to handling problems so that the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is seen as unnecessary and undesirable. The objective is to help children and youth make a personal commitment to abstain from these substances, or to stop using them if they have begun experimental or casual use. Youth are trained to take the initiative in teaching and encouraging their peers in choosing to live drug-free.

Leaders and youth delegates came from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Attendees participated in community outreach during the convention, including visiting hospitals, prisons, and an orphanage. The orphanage administrator said the orphan population in Ukraine has increased due to high use of alcohol and an increasing incidence of AIDS among the adult community.

The Ukraine meeting was a combined effort of the health ministries department of the Adventist world church, along with the family ministries and youth departments. A Youth Alive training manual can be downloaded from www.health20-20.org.