Victor was awesome

Yesterday I spent the morning with Victor.  We pulled up in front of school #15 at 9:50 and Victor was there waiting .  We walked with him around the corner in to an old Soviet style school.  I find it interesting that here the large gathering halls are always up stairs rather then the first floor.  Victor was so happy to have us there, but he was not alone.  When we got to the hall, we were met by the director of Victors school out in the village, along with many of the kids we know from there .  When we went to into the hall we were greeted by kids we know from a couple different villages and orphanages.  Then for the next three hours we got to watch them all preform .. Beautiful costumes and well rehearsed dances. The star of the show in my eyes was victor playing the guitar and singing a song he composed himself.   Cecile bought him this awesome suit for the performance.  

We had a stop that was not as as joyful.  Our friend Damira is not doing well.  She has spent the last few years in TB treatment.  She appears to have won that battle now, but is left very week and and has difficulty breathing now.  She has been released from the TB sanitarium and is back home .   She has found some guy selling a mixture of animal fat and herbs that he claims will heal her.  she was wanting $100 for this treatment.  Today we will go back with Dr Tatyana to see her.  Dr Tatyana will do a much better job at getting her on the right medicine.  If she wants to try natural remedies, Dr Tatyana can advise on that as well.

We cooked yesterday for the shelter.  It was a cold rainy day, so we thought that would be a good day for a warm meal with lots of meat.. In this case it was roasted duck in a sour cream and mushroom sauce. The sauce is a recipe that I used a lot when I used to cater weddings.  though here it had to be made completely from scratch.   It turned out great, and was enjoyed by all.  We have been watching to see what their needs might be.  They would like to have some painting supplies, as well they are short of mens clothes  they have lots of donated laddies clothes, but not many mens.  we need to find some clothes for about 10 men.  I went to our friend at the bazzar that always finds me the best deals, and he can get us a good quality track pants, t shirt and track jacket for just $15 a set. so we will wait on $150 to meet this need .

When we were in Verginia we visited two of our friends who live there now.  They gave us some letters to bring back for their friends in the orphanage.   We brought them to the assistant director and she brought the kids in to read them.  We has a nice visit with them, then the real visit took place on the way back to the car when the kids had so many questions about how the boys were doing .  What broke our hearts is that most of these kids will be out of the orphanage themselves in the few months.      We will come back shortly and see what their future plans are and how we can help.  We have known them for about 7 or 8 years now, and have become rather attached to them.

The next stop was to visit a family that we have been working with.  The kids are doing great.   and the parents are working on a plan for the family.  They have been raising sheep for several years and now have about 10.  The plan is that the father will get his drivers licence and then a car, and work as a driver.  He is left week and has a mild disability after his TB treatment a couple years ago, and he is not able to do strenuous work, so this would be perfect for him.  We had $100 we were able to give him towards his licence, and have offered to buy some sheep off him if he needs more.  He has some Lambs that he wants to sell that are not old enough yet to leave the mother.  Our thought is that we could figure out what they will be worth in another month  when they are old enough , and then we would buy them from him now for that price, and then get them from him when they are old enough.  this way they would have the money now and also not have to spend a day at the bazaar.  His next big purchase will be a car .. Once he sells the rest of the sheep he will be about $1000 short, so pray that something works out for them .

Its happening again.  It does not take long for needs to build up.  so many little things that add up to so much .. all life changing .. maybe soon I will do a needs list in case anyone is interested in ways to make a difference .