Saturday, October 10, 2009

Internet is slow and I am tired, so I am afraid this is not going to be a night for photo's but I will do a photo update soon....

We started very early with Altynai and her younger siblings hear for Breakfast and the day, so that Sergey and Anya could "fine tune" the parents after last night...We ate quickly then headed to the hospital for the 9:00 meeting with the Dr... He came in , took Apirie's blood pressure, and with out even getting out a stethoscope, told her this is serious, and from now on, she is to play no sports, have limited walking, not have any strenuous or stress full work, not be around large groups of people be very care full not to get a cold, and to get lots of bed rest... 15 minutes later, we were walking he into Dr Tatiana's office... right away, she was hooked up to the EKG machine, and was getting a full once over... The diagnoses is that everything is fine, and she had had a panic attack... Dr Tatyana took the time to explain the physical side of it, and with out going into much detail, she did EVERYTHING right ... her bed side manor was incredible... she treated , she taught , and she took the time to counsel, then she finished with asking for help from above... then she said that during the check up, she noticed that Aiperi was starting to get a goiter from a lack of Iodine... she then said to wait here and she would run and get some... 5 minutes later she was back from the pharmacy.... then it was a fight to get her to even take the money for the meds.... This being Thanksgiving weekend , I can't help but be thankful for a good report, good friends here that help my kids, and good people like Dr Tatyana that have become such an incredible part of the big team here.
We then went shopping for winter cloths for a dozen kids that needed a variety of items...
While there, Torat kept himself busy keeping his eye on me in the market, and collecting and carrying all the bags.... One thing they have in the markets here is good leather jackets at a good price... I have never said anything, but I have always wanted a nice leather jacket... I keep looking but they never have my size... especially here in Central Asia... then I could not take it any longer, so when all the shopping was done, I told Torat that I wanted to buy him a good leather jacket... He was excited and went right to one place, tried one on asked something , then we began a search all over the bazaar.... after repeating this several times... I asked him to explain to me what kind he would like.... what he described was the first one that we looked at.. So I said did you not like the first one... Acel told me that he loved the jacket, but did not like the price..
I told him that I knew the price of the jackets when I told him I wanted to buy him one... .. I also explained that he is getting older, he is expected to take on a lot more responsibilities, and he has risen to the occasion... he has proven himself to be responsible... and that this is something that will last him a long time, and in the long run would be cheaper then buying a cheep one every fall that just falls apart before the winter ws over... Besides some times, I want to do more then just meet a need, but he is very special to me and I wanted to do something special for him... so he agreed and we went back to the first one... I thought his face would tear in two, his smile was so big...In fact it was so big it helped with the pain as I handed over the money....$30......
We then headed to meat up with Laurisa and her crew.. she had about 20 kids from the dump and the streets in her village... along with there bas and David and Jayne and there crew, we headed to the capital to go skating... I also had Kyle and his family meat us there... he has helped a lot with Laurisa and the kids she supports... everyone was so excited.... over and over they weer coming over to thank us for bringing them there... that has such an incredible time....
I stood at the boards, and actually 3 or 4 times I lost it... finally I had to leave the rink...
Standing there watching these kids have such a good time.. they were all dressed up ... where they got the cloths I have no idea... but as they skated past, I could only see there faces in and around the garbage... another skated past with the biggest smile you could possibly imagine, and all I could see was him crouched over a small fire of plastic trying to warm his hands as Jengish and I talked with him... three more kids skated past and all I could see was them standing there when we found out there mother just died because they did not have the $12 for meds... I have 5 days left, and so much to do.... I could not let myself get close to any more of these kids... I will have to leave that for the next trip.... Just as I was feeling over whelmed, a friend of Jengish's who was there said to me I recognise that girl... when I look at her , all I see is the little girl in the dump from your blog.... is she the same girl ?...
when we came out of the arena, we stalled the kids while one car went ahead to let the restaurant know we were on the way.. after all we were 40.... It was easy to keep every one distracted.... I had a hockey bag that was packed buy a good friend of ours and theirs from the US... as well were a bunch of dolls that were knit by the Hastings knitters... I put the bag in the middle of the parking lot, and started handing out toys..... once everyone had something they could trade with each other and with the stuff left in the bag.... in the bag I had a few cheep school note books i had bought and not delivered yet... they were worth about 75 cents total... one girl about 13 got so excited when she saw them... she reached past a large dole worth about 75 dollars to get the note books... she then turned to me and asked ... are you sure I can have these.. she almost started to cry and said that now she could stay in school... her last book was almost full... I told her to take a toy as well.. but she held the note books and said we had given her so much already... I wonder on this Thanksgiving weekend... how many of the kids at home would be moved to tears by a 75 cent note pad...
We then loaded the kids onto the bas and told them we were going out for supper... this was a surprise to them.. Laurisa had not told them because she was thinking that by the time I paid for everyone to get there , and the skating, that we would be way over budget... .. after all it was $100 for 40 people to skate...
Once again, the staff at the restaurant were amazing... again they cleared a section just for us... the kids were so well behaved and were so excited to be able to choose something from the menu. Again, I wish I had it in me to go around table to table to give them each the attention they deserve... but I just could not.. maybe it is my cold, maybe it was the pressers of some other issues with our families here like the drinking parents, the runaway kids, the middle of the night in the hospital with Altynai, or the balancing act as we are trying to wrap up all the projects, the men at the centre, so much ... and all could do was not cry all night with these kids.... one thing i know for sure is that there is no way I am going to be on that bus as they bring these kids back to the dump and open the door... I guess that is it... its the thought of returning them to reality that is getting to me... they seem OK with it, but I'm not...
we have such a long way to go here... we have come so far, but we have a long way to go....
We waved good buy to the kids, then Altynai , Torat and I headed to the hospital with Acel and Talant to see Talas.... He is not doing well he is in to much pain for them to let him come out of sedation... he is in a miserable little room, it had 5 beds in it... they were all touching... his across the top and two on each side... all full... there was less then a one foot walk up the centre, and there was a small puddle of old puke tracked up and down the samll path... At that moment, I was so happy he was sedated... We also met with Talas's Dad... he says that we have enough drugs to keep him under for two more days then we will have to buy more... it looks like if he does not come out of this soon, it will cost almost $40 a day for the care and the pain killers and drugs to keep him sedated... We will go back and see him again tomorrow... I have not said much, but there is no way I can allow him to suffer... Again I don't know how I am going to justify this... I am not going to help the four others in his room that are in the same condition, or worse, but he is a friend and I know him.... and that appeared to be the difference... I have taken the time to get to know him...

1 comment:

Cindy LaJoy said...

Reading your blog and hearing of your daily escapades leaves me grinning from eaer to ear at times, and near tears at others. Take care of your good heart, John. Take time in the midst to breath deeply and just take care of the one in front of you...not beside you and all around you. One at a time, John...one at a time. Your impact is amazing.