Saturday, March 26, 2011

DIGNITY

This was a momentous day for the men at the invalid home. I never dreamed of a day that we would have a class room there and begin teaching . When I walked into the room for the fist time my heart was in my chest, and I could hardly swallow.. the significance of this is incredible. Until now, these men were not considered worthy of teaching... As we unlock the deep recesses of their minds we are finding kind, funny and caring individuals, who are so eager to begin a new life... We got out the chalk and began with the basics

The men then wrote their names and drew a picture of something that they like,
In the middle of the next photo is a young man named Kuba... he had dreams of being a translator , and was well on his way when he was in a car accident.. This left him with slight paralysis, and he has lost parts of his memory. As we began to work with him, he suddenly began accelerating far beyond what we were teaching .. My guess is that if we spend a little extra time with him, he will become our next English teacher at the home...







Then when we were all finished, the men took turns standing up in front of the class and introducing themselves in English.. the looks on their faces as they succeeded ... I just don't have the words...

Now the greatest part of the morning, Larisa has managed to work her masterful skills of negotiations... the usual cost to register a person here is about $200 .. then they will be fully recognised people and will also get a small pension... Larisa has identified 37 men that she would start by registering... now the best part.. she has convinced all the powers to be , and we can do this for just over $8 each. actually that works out to just $292 for all 37 men ... I don't know how you could ever put a price on Dignity, but today if we had to, I would have to say about 8 bucks.... There are just so many needs here, but at LAMb we have come up with the first $100 to get things started on Monday morning... as funds come in for this, we will continue to get them all registered.. I am imagining a day when all 270 men are full fledged citizens of Kyrgyzstan! Oh My....

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