time for a nap

So At this point, we have:

-a major renovation going on at the Baby hospital that our friend Vlady is over seeing ,

-we have a new roof going on the barn Toratt is building for the new animals..

-we have just doubled the size of Vera's community outreach centre / feeding program . in the village ... and renovations have begun..

-we have 80 more mattresses being made for two projects

-we have the new plumbing and have just about finished the wiring for the children's learning centre that Olga runs

-we have begun the renovation of the kitchen / dinning room at the invalid home

- we have started work on the heating system for the seniors home....

- we are putting a heating system in the apartment that was just purchased for Altynai and her family to live in..

-repairing some heating rads in The apartment we stay in here ,

- just put new tires on Sergey's van

and today we were in Bishkek to touch base with the Dr that is treating the Hydrocephalus babies... This one was a special blessing as this time when I visited the kids.. I did it with a HOPE in a better future, knowing that they will be receiving the needed surgery.

- we set up and confirmed future trips and outings for the orphanages and families we support, such as

-a trip to the hot springs

-skating in a real arena... complete with ice... not just a giant plastic cutting board

-a trip to the amusement park

- Golfing with some of the older kids

and a party with the village where we brought water to last year, and where Arophat lives ( the boy we did the cleft pallet surgery for...

-We even have a few other cool things in the making that I will post about soon....

Hummm now that I write it out, I see why we are a little tired .... I will try to get some photo's of the progress of each of these in the next couple days....

It is all going smoothly right now, but I think we will hold off on any other projects for a few days.. it is starting to look like a house of cards...lol... we have all the plates spinning right now... lets hope it stays that way.....

Mattresses delivered

After sorting the bags we went to the hospital to start the projects there. The director was so pleased with the supplies we brought her. This project is officially a project that we are doing through the Mayors office, so we have Vlady working to make sure things are done as arranged, and he will disperse funds only as the project progresses...We have an agreement here with the Vise mayor... we will do the work, and he will wait until we are out of town before there is any press. We managed to get a very good deal from the contractor, so we have gone ahead and will be doing substantially more then we had originally planned.

When we were there we stoped in to see two of the newest babies .. It is heart breaking to see these kids and think that they have no family... I also looked around at the work ahead of us..and thought how many kids have come through these doors... so many people and organizations visit and support the orphanages and the seniors , but no one has seen what is behind those doors... no one helps, yet this is the place that the majority of the unwanted babies begin there long journey... don't get me started.... we just need to somehow make this right.....

From there we headed over to the storage container where we have been collecting up the mattresses from Aigoola... we met Laurisa there and loaded up to take a trip to the invalid home. We brought 30 mattresses this trip.

We Gave Dave and Genette a quick tour of the projects we have done there, and also saw the next room that they would like to do. It is a kitchen/dinning room... it definitely needs a lot of work... so we gave the go ahead and they will begin work tomorrow morning....

We then stopped in the village to visit all our friends there, as well as check up on Arofat... he was not home but lots were... we had a nice visit, and we will be heading back next Wednesday for a party.....

This next video is one of those little blessings that come along... one of the men from the invalid home is sharing from his heart....

brief update

We are getting ready to head back to the Baby hospital... we have a bunch of baby stuff and hospital stuff ... here we are trying to sort it all out ... Last night we had supper with Acel and family... I took that opportunity to give the kids sweaters that my mom ,Grammy Pammy , had made.... they were a big hit.

And of course she made her famous Bishbalback... from the Kyrgyz bord Bish meaning 5 and Balmack meaning fingers... it's because you eat with your 5 fingers...

We started working on the physiotherapy centre yesterday... the guys are busy here changing all the plumbing....

I also had opportunity to visit City Hall again.. I have graduated, and now I have been meeting with my friend and her boss the Vise Mayor... fun stuff... Later today, we will be delivering the first batch of mattresses to the invalid home....

While I was typing this, we closed the deal on the house attached to Vera's feeding program in the village... just in time.. she had out grown the existing building and were sitting outside.... so cool..... We got it for $4000... if anyone wants to help with this.... it would be fine with us ....lol...

The young and the Old

Today we made the rounds getting projects started..... and visiting old friends... and some new ones.... This is the new baby of one of the families we have been helping ... We stoped at Aigoola's house to order another 20 mattresses for a physiotherapy/help centre we will be opening in a few weeks. That makes over 100 mattresses ordered since we got here... I think it is almost time to consider expansion, but until then I thought I better sit down and help her catch up. or maybe not... Then we went out and took a look at the addition Torat is putting on the barn. He will be comming to town tomorrow, and we will buy him the materials for the roof.

There is a new addition to the farm .... Meet Benjamin.... Julies first born son.

Another stop today was out to the Seniors home to start the heating project there... The old folks were so happy to see us... apparently they knew I was in town and had been waiting for us to come. There are several new seniors living there now... We stoped to visit with them and Anya had a good TALK with one that was not in very good shape...

Tonight we went with Olga to take a look at what we will need to bring the center up to par before we open... Ruslan is assuring me that he can have this maze of old pipping and gas lines cleaned up in 1 day... I did not think you could do anything in a day here....

We also stoped at Vera's centre to take a look at future expansion possibilities ... they have out grown the present building, and the attached house has come available... We have decided to make a very low ball offer and see what happens... crazier things have happened.... Tomorrow we will be heading to the Hospital in the morning to get the renovations started there....

My dad would have done it for me !

There was is one old tradition that I don't understand... that is Debtors prison... How is that every going to make restitution if a person is locked up and can not work... This is something that one of our boys is facing here...
Mesha is a young man that has timed out of the orphanage ... He has a sponsor that helps out with his daily needs. He was living in town and working as a security guard at a church. other then our friends, he has no one... He is a good hard working kid...
Some times things happen that we just do not understand. ... Mesha found himself a job in the city a couple months ago... he dropped off the radar.. He was suposed to start school this fall. we tried to find him, but no one new where he was... I figured that eventually he would surface... Yesterday he called Sergey while I was with him. He asked Sergey if I was coming back soon.... he said he was in trouble. It turns our that his job was to be the manager of a automobile lot were people bring their cars at night. Someone broke in and vandalized one of the cars... apparently Mesha is now responsible for the repairs... they will cost $500. the police have come and said that if he does not pay by the end of the week, he will be put into jail... now how fair is that...
Right off the bat I thought "$500 is so much money, and there is so much that we could do with that... " ... I told him we would see what we can do and get back to him, but it did not look good.... From the moment we hung up the phone, I felt sick about it... This is a boy that has no family... no father to go to for help.. no one that is standing up for him when life throes him a curve ball... When faced with prison for something not of his own making , he had HOPE... and that hope was that we would be returning and would stand up for him... I could go on, but I won't.... Today I had Sergey call him back... We are going to have him offer a settlement that we hope will keep him out of jail. I will give him $100 now, and $50 a month until the debt is paid. If nothing else it will help us to keep tabs on him.... It is a lot of money , but someone has to stand with him... my dad would have done it for me!

The french Conection

Team arrived safe and sound ... 3:05 am... we are now back in the appartment getting ready for the day...

Day two ... Part one

This morning I was up and around by 6 am... I went for a walk around the neighborhood... I had many people stopping to welcome be back to town... Even one of the buses stopped on the way past and the driver and a couple of the others on the bus got out to give me a hug... they all asked about Julie and the girls... The shop owners were happy to see me as well.. Just having a little selfish moment, it was a nice feeling... many people tell me God bless you for what you do... well I am telling you I really am blessed....

At 9 am Sergey picked me up, then we went and picked up Altynai. It was so good to see her and spend the day with her... 5 min later we were digging through the container looking for winter clothing for some families in need... the it is off to start making the rounds.

We had heard of two little girls that were abandoned by there mother, and were living with their Babushka... she is doing her best, but has a small income, and has a very tiny apartment... I was told it was not much bigger then a closet... well it was a little bigger, but not much... It was so small that when we dumped out 1 bag of clothing for them, it filled every inch of floor space... .. We would sure love to find an apartment that would be big enough for them... as soon as we figure out how we can help, you will find the rest of their story over on iam1ru.com .

I can only imagine what the rest of their story will reveal.... another one on the list...

Maybe I am starting to feel a bit cocky, but I have said before .."we can't help them all"... well I am thinking... I just need to try harder, because it was pointed out to me today by a great friend that their is "something greater that is in us ,than what there is in this world"... the world tells us we can't help them all...well maybe not, but we will help those that get in my way ! the next stop was the Baby hospital... for that story you will have to go over to http://www.iam1ru.blogspot.com/ ... bare with me....I am trying to save time posting on two sites until I get caught up...

I would have been overwhelmed if I had not been here before

Well I touched down at 3:20 this morning, and have been on the go ever since... I have just barely touched the surface of what is going on. I have focused my attention on two things... Back to school, and getting winterised....

Lets start with winterized.. I am not just talking about weather stripping, but in many cases we need coal, And something to burn it in... we also need to make sure every one has good winter cloths and a warm bed to sleep in. .. As far as school goes,... the economic situation has had a devastating effect on many kids here. There sponsorship although for many is assured to arrive, it has not yet made it, and there are more then just Tanya that I shared about a few weeks back, that need help right away so they do not loose the semester. Our friend Olga has also given me a tour around her Projects...incredible... the knowledge store is now completely booked and running at capacity with about 30 classes a day of tutoring and child therapy. This is the centre that we sent several of the children sponsored for tutoring and operations to to help them catch up.... She has had to open a second centre that will be focusing on physiotherapy... what I was most impressed about is the shoe string budget she operates on... Classes are offered free of charge to any one that needs the support, and a nominal amount is charged to those that can afford it... all together the two centre's are able to be self sustaining... all but about $100 a month... so basically what we are getting when we get behind her is a dozen teachers and two help centres, and more energy then you can imagine.... that's only $50 a month for each centre.....makes you think......

Well I had a good talk with Sergey and Anya, Acel and Tallant, Olga, Gengish...... and it was like pulling teeth to get them to to share the needs never mind the dreams... like Sergeys desire to get a large home in Tokmok that all our kids that have timed out of the orphanages or are moving to town for college could live in complete with house parents.... Big dreams.... A dream like that might be a $40 000 project, but left in their hands, my bet is that by the time I leave, he will have that down to about $4 000. I will share more about this incredible opportunity as soon as I am allowed...

But as I started in my head thinking of all the needs, I started to get bogged down... maybe it is the 2 days with out sleep or one day... or one and a half... I don't even know what day this is... I guess it is all relative. But any way.. I decided that I should start writing these down... The list is a monstrosity... and that's from day one... I have not even been out of the city to the villages yet.

This is whenre I should be getting so overwhelmed if I had not been here before... after all just a few days ago, we cleared the operating board that I thought would take us years.... You see I remember that I am not here alone... All of you are here with me. iam1 and many of ur2....So I think that one of the tasks that this team from Quebec will be doing is helping write up these dreams... take them off the walls, break them down into bit size pieces and post them over on the iam1ru.com site.

Ready to Rock ...

The flights were interesting . very crowded from Toronto to London... many on board for the film festival... I was wearing my iam1ru t-shirt, and kept having people staring at me and I could see them mouthing it to themselves... i -aaaammmm- one -are - youuu... then most would come over and ask what it was all about... so I hooked up to Internet right in the airport, and showed people the sight.... by the time I boarded the flight in TO, I was given donations for two birthday parties, and when another pointed out that I had not pealed off the protective coating from the laptop, I told him that with my experiences with computers and traveling, I was best to buy a new one to bring, then find a deserving individual to give it to before I left... he thought that was so cool and gave me the $300 I had paid for it.....how cool is that ?.....
I must say that in the quiet times on the flight , it seemed strange... Central Asia is not far when you are traveling with your family and friends, but when you leave your family behind and travel alone, you realize that it is ... the other side of the world.....

It is now 3:oo in the afternoon. the temperature is around 80 and I have been to the baazar and to the Internet company.... the command centre is officially up and running. I now have a cordless battery operated Internet phone ... it looks like a regular office phone, but needs no wires. This will allow us to hopefully connect with some of our sponsors using live Skye video feeds... as well when we travel away from the village, we can take the phone with us. ... all this for cheaper then it cost to bring the LAN line into the apartment.... how cool is that...

As soon as each new device is up and running, the calls start to come in... I have the next 4 or 5 days booked.. Lots of exciting things happening... I will post some more tonight....

On my way

I will be leaving in a couple hours... Thank you to everyone that has made this trip possible... I am speechless.... well almost.... As soon as I can establish connection again I will post an update... You can also follow this journey at http://www.iam1ru.blogspot.com/

Blessings John

The Evidence of Hope

There is so much I love about Central Asia ... I love the people and I love the land.. and it is out of respect for their laws and their beliefs that I am careful both in country and on this blog not to bring my faith into the equation, even the comments on the blog , I have begun to monitor so that they would not offend ... It is my convictions of what is right and what is wrong and the direction my faith leads me that inspires me to do what I do...I do not have any special skills or theological training ..... I believe that faith is simply the evidence of things that we HOPE for, that just have not taken place yet......

Some times even for myself who lives to bring HOPE, it is difficult at times to expect that evidence... so that is when I draw on past experiences to sustain me and keep me going....Last night the evidence of what I had HOPED for has REVIVED me ...... It has also been a great lesson for Emma.... As I have shared, she had made the decision that she would take the proceeds of her summers work, the money she had saved to return to Kyrgyzstan, and if it was necessary, stay home so that we could get a couple babies off the waiting list for their operations. Last night, we received word that one of our readers has decided to partner with this project in a VERY BIG WAY.... They have donated the funds to wipe the slate clean... to catch up on all the Hydrocephalus operations... this means that from this point on with all our help, we may be in a position to be able to do this life saving, time sensitive operation, as soon as they are diagnosed..... with the strike of a Key stroke... the repercussions have been felt around the world, restoring hope of a better future for the children , and dignity for the families who would otherwise had to face their child's certain slow and painful death , helpless to do anything..... Not to mention a relief for an incredible team of talented Dr's who are in country working to make a difference.....



How can we not marvel at what we see....

Three days till lift off..

I have been busy packing bags and getting everything ready to head for KG on Wednesday.
We have been transferring money and ordering new crisp bills. We have been planning many exciting projects, and and figuring out how many operations we will be able to sponsor... We have been packing presents and collecting letters for our friends, as well as packing parcels that others have asked us to deliver.... There is so much to do, that it is easy to get distracted ... Yes Distracted from the real reason that we are going... Most of what we do, we can do right from Canada.. We have an incredible team on the ground that has done and will continue to put it all on the line for those that they are helping..... And I need to remember that first and foremost, this trip is to strengthen and encourage them in their vision... I need to be the wind behind their sails that will carry them until we re able to return again.... it is those incredible people we are privileged enough to call our friends that makes the difference in what we do. ... For example the last few weeks I have been getting short notes from Jengish asking how much longer.... he is so Kyrgyz... he has no concept of time... lol... but I know things are starting to get to him.... today he writes

Today was a sad day for me. One of my ex homeless guys relapsed and left the programme. Snuck out when I was not there. I don't really know where he went and what he is planning on doing... I don't really know why they don't want to stay alive. I mean, they all know that the streets represent death. Vodka represents death. But they keep going back to it... Like that dog that goes back to it's vomit.

I sometimes get so tired... Just because, I see a person hurting and try to help them... I want them to do well, you know, because I love them and I want them to be normal again, I want them to go back to their families. I work my butt off serving them, making sure that their needs are met, but then, they get better and they feel like they can make it on their own. That they don't need our help anymore. So they leave, and they all eventually die.

I was thinking, I can't even count how many of them left and died on the street.I could fill a whole wall with photos of homeless guys, my guys, that died on the street. The ones that stayed, and went through the programme, they are doing great. But there were so many of them that went back on the streets, because they felt like... I don't what they felt to be honest. When you ask they all give you the same stupid answers. They say that they are ready, they need to go back and take care of stuff. They go back and drink their lives away. Fools. My heart aches for them. They are all dead now.

I mean, what do you do? If they don't want to live it's their choice, right? But, I wish it was easy to just say that. I wish it didn't hurt when they decided to go back to drinking. It, really, is not easy. I get attached to them and it breaks my heart when they make bad decisions.

So anyway, I'm very sad. My guy is on the street.. Who knows how long he will survive. Of course I'll try to find him. I'll try to talk some sense into him. I'll make him come with me if I have to. I'll take him to my apartment if I have to. I've invested too much time and emotional energy (or whatever you call it) to just give up. That guy better hide well, because I'm going to find him . I don't want him to die Dangit

And the work continues

Aigoola is busy catching up on all the mattress orders before I arrive next week ...

Here she is making crib mattresses

Even Arture is getting in on the deliveries

All I have to say is " Aigoola , you ain't seen nothing yet."... The next photos you will see of the mattress business will be when we deliver new mattresses to the invalid home.... but that's a hole story of it's own.

As I looked at this last photo, I tried to count how many mattresses were in the van, then the reality of the situation hit me... If this winter is anything like last, each one of those mattresses could represent a life saved ....Just imagine if you were sleeping on a board or a concrete floor dreading the upcoming 20 bellow weather, and someone showed up and gave you brand new mattresses ....

Am I the only one that gets a little chocked up by that or are we on to something here ?

It's time to think outside the box

As you know we are preparing for the Big event when PI strives to raise the entire operating budget of $60000 for our 23 dream agents in Central Asia.... and now is the time to get creative.

We will be having a live auction as well as a silent auction. We have had some airline tickets made available to us, and we would like to put together a holiday package... As we all know , come the middle of winter, anything outside Canada could be a holiday...Maybe you live somewhere exciting or have access to something exciting that we could add to the tickets to make them exciting...maybe a time share and Disney passes , or maybe you have an in with a cruse line , be creative ... If you come up with any idea's please don't hesitate to let me know....

I can't wait to see what we can come up with ...

The struggles of life ....

This beautiful young lady is Tania... Tania is one of those every day hero's of the under dog, and a protector of the helpless...and although she has been an integral part of the work in Kyrgyzstan, I have never introduced her here on the blog before... You may see her in the group photo's but being shy, she works behind the scenes...

Tanya had a very hard start to life, as a baby she was a victim of Chernobyl... she lived so close to the epicentre, that officials said that she was so badly effected that she would be dead in a couple days, then they tried to prevent her mother from leaving the village with her...With only the clothes on her back, Her mother walked for days and days north out of the region , then worked her way back across Russia, and back to Kyrgyzstan where her Grandmother still lived.... It was nothing but a miracle that she survived ..

Since returning to there home in Kyrgyzstan, they have worked tirelessly to help those around them.. Tanya grew up sharing her mother and grandmother with the hurting and helpless... If you ever had the privilege of meeting this family you would see that they truly spend every waking hour concerned for others... along with helping her mother take care of those in her village, she has excelled in English, and has volunteered as an English teacher in the local schools. and at the same time has been attending school herself.

This is where her storey takes another difficult turn... she returned to her second year at an excellent university in the area, only to find that with the economic down turn, the scholarships have dried up. She was not permitted to return.....

Her combined family income is not much more then $100 a month, and most of that goes to help others... they plant a large garden and have a couple cows for milk, but that is given to families in need... they have spent so much of themselves caring for others, that now when another set back comes... they have no where to turn.....

The interesting part is that I just found this out, not from her or her mother, and not from our other friends working there, but I found out through our friends David and Jayne who happened to find out more by accident... you see Tanya and her mom would never ask for anything for them selves... she has no problem asking us for help for others in need, but when it comes to themselves they will not ask... I guess they just figure that there are so many others in need, they don't want to take away from the help others are receiving... or at least that what I imagine as many times I face the same dilemma....just in a different scale.... You see her tuition for the year will be $1000... $200 0f which we have already found... I would sure love to have the rest of this in place before I head over next week... I can think of nothing that would encourage them more then this....

Here are a few more photo's of her working with those in need in her village....

Giving out blankets and food to an invalid man

A new quilt ( brought by a PI team ) for an old man

Visiting the men at the invalid home

putting down the new floor in the recently renovated Barber shop

Cooking meals for Nicoli when she first found him visiting Nicoli in the hospital after a sponsor was found for him

giving out presents to orphans at a Christmas party

preparing food hampers

making a senior feel special

having a seed party in the spring....... giving out seeds to those in need

" This aint no ordinary show"

We just arrived home from an incredible weekend in Quebec... Some amazing things have started to happen there ... The Village of Saint Andre has pulled together to make a difference around the world...

We have had a lot of support from this community for a long time now, but this weekend was over the top. What was a relatively small group has turned into an entire village project... People from every walk of life were out in force to sing, entertain, man the auction tables, and to just plain have a good time...

There must have been close to 200 items in the auction that had been donated by all the local businesses...

It was such an encouragement to me ... People that had never heard about what we are doing heard the message for the first time... There lives were touched and there hearts were changed... An entirely new group of Philanthropists have entered the game...Look out... these guys are going some where.... Even standing at the Bar, men came to me and shared how touched they were, and how they are vowing to make a difference with the rest of their lives... I will not be at all surprised if I meet up with these young men in the near future on the other side of the globe....

You might question what I am doing standing at a bar. Well the event was put on buy the community in a local bar/live recording studio.... what an incredible venue, but pailed in comparison to the incredible audience... now I ask the question... why were we not standing in the bar a long time ago?

In a couple days we will have the totals in, but I have no doubt that with this group behind us, this months trip is going to be incredible.

If the video does not show up for you, you can view it at it's original source www.actofkindness.blogspot.com

A fathers pride

This summer Emma has been working very hard on her portraits. The proceeds from these she has been saving for her return to Kyrgyzstan... in fact the next time she goes, we really are not certain how long it will be before she returns home.. If you look in her room you will see that she has gone beyond the family goal of de cluttering, but has actually started packing ... She is longing to return to her friends ....
Her other job this summer has been to assist me. She has worked on the spreed sheets and the folders used to make sure that all the dreams that have been sponsored have been recorded for income tax receipts , reported to the dream agents and that they are fulfilled in timely fashion... in this position, she is privy to some information....like what dreams have and have not been sponsored... Yesterday she came to me concerned... she said "Dad these Hydrocephalus operations are time sensitive, and we only have 2 of them sponsored... please take the money I have with you to do some more operations... then maybe I can get paid back when we find the sponsors." I explained to her that that is a risk and that we may never find sponsors... but she pointed out that with out the operation, these kids are going to die, and if that meant that she could not go, she could live with that, but she was not prepared to live with the fact that those kids died and she did nothing...
It's easy to say to her OK, but I know for a fact that we could likely find more sponsors if it was her standing in the photo holding a dying baby, so in the long run it would be better if she went, but for now I guess, "This one is your call Emma, and when the time is right for you to go, we will trust that some way, some how it happen.....I am proud of you "

Be The Answer

I just came across this video ... I found it touching.... I have always said that I did not think that international adoptions are the best thing, and that in country adoptions would be better if suitable families could be found, but even better would be to make sure that everything had been done to remedy some of the issues for families forced to give there children up in the first place... I guess there are many different approches that must all work together for the sake of the kids.....
All that said, I still believe that there is a place for international adoption... I believe it comes down to a global responsibility... My biggest concern was that there is a certain identity that comes with culture... one that will affect the kids in years to come... Last week I read this on the blog of a family brought together through international adoption....

----"There are those who argue against international adoption for many reasons, the most prevalent being that it us unfair to "rip a child from their culture", leaving them with no cultural identity to connect with. Sounds like a good point, doesn't it? Especially when one considers all that a child must leave behind that is familiar, how extraordinarily difficult such a transition must be. There was a time when I had a hard time arguing against this one...

Not anymore.Adopting Kenny opened my eyes to an entirely new perspective on this issue. An older child has the ability to share more about what their life was like, how they perceived the world they lived in, and how they identified with their culture. We have had many stories shared over the past couple of years as Kenny has proceeded to meld his old life and new life into a new amalgamation that he can better relate to.What anti-international adoption advocates don't seem to understand, which even my 10 year old clearly does, is that children who are institutionalized in an orphanage setting are so disconnected from their birth culture it is already as if they have been removed from their country. They are dehumanized, they are essentially jailed and they reside in an unsavory sub-culture of their birth culture...one which exists behind closed doors and is not revealed much to the outside world. Kenny had to actually be taught about Kyrgyz culture, he had very little knowledge at 8 1/2 years old of the country he had been born and raised in. He thought he could speak Kyrgyz but was speaking Russian. He had no understanding of the nomadic culture, of the conflict between Russians and Kyrgyz as they try to stake out their claims, he had no idea that neighboring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were so similar in so many ways. He knew he was Kyrgyz, but he had no sense of what that meant. Ask him about orphanage life and he could give you an earful, but he had never experienced every day life in his own country...his culture was that of an isolated orphan kept within the confines of an institution which could have been in Timbuktu for all he knew.
So I ask you, really, what is it that he was giving up that related to culture? Was he walking away from a part of who he was when he left Kyrgyzstan? Yes, but not in the way some might like to picture it. As a cleft affected child he would have most definitely remained in an orphanage until he aged out with an inferior education and no safety net to save him from drowning in the sea of that Kyrgyz culture he barely knew nor understood...for he would have never lived within it"------

Many of the adoptive families that I have met share this same concern... in fact, they do everything they can to teach the kids about their culture and give them an understanding of what there native home was like... Just last week I spent some time on the phone exchanging traditional Kyrgyz recipes with a mother who wanted to prepare a special feast to celebrate a Kyrgyz holiday with her kids ...

I have stood at the gates of the orphanage on Got ya day and watched as families leave with babies in there arms... There is nothing that can be said that expresses the overwhelming feeling of HOPE and LOVE that takes place at that moment.... I have sat with children that were in turmoil because the adoption that they have been dreaming about is always just out of their reach, postponed yet again .... yet the hope of one day having a chance at a better life keeps them going..., And a few weeks back, we experienced the pain of one young man that had to be cut down when found hanging from the roof of the orphanage.... because he had no HOPE, and felt that there was no one that loved he and his brother ... What would have been the answer to heal HIS broken heart.... What possible reason or excuse could we come up with for preventing him from one day having a forever family..... and how many more like him are out there..... looking for an answer.....

It's nice to get good news...

Aipery is the young girl that all you readers wrote to wish her a happy birthday to. She is also from the family that was sponsored to start up a mattress factory.... Aipery has decided that it would be a good thing for her to go to a sewing institution to learn the business side of thing.... Yesterday was her first day of school. Such a big step, but she rose to the occasion... here is the report.....

Hi John Julie and girls! I want to say big greetings from Aipery. She is doing very well in her new place in the seamstress`s school. She is being leader and head of her group. She is so happy that she is studying here and she told us that the teachers are very nice and kind. Yesterday Talent and I went to visit her . She lives in a domotary ( I don`t know how to write and say I think you understood me, sorry). For these 2 or 3 days she earned to herself respect from her friends and roommates. So everybody listens her and they asked her to be a head of their group.She surprises for that and thinks this is her place. Today she came to my house I gave her 100 soms to get a notebook and I bought smaller towel for her . I had 450 soms left money from Issik-Kul lake trip and I used that . So this is Aipery`s story. It`s getting cold now here. Buy for now and looking forward to see you very soon. Blessings and much love Acel.

Another one falling through the cracks

This is Emil ... Such a happy boy.. yet as is so often the case there is a lot more going on then you would think at first glance... He has a special place in the heart of our one of the PI dream agents in Uzbekistan. They were just speaking with his mother and found out that he has cancer... something that strikes fear in anyones heart, but for a mother in a country like Uzbekistan, it can be unbearable... she explains how she understands what his future has in store for him... The treatments are going to cost $100 U.S. For this mother, this is something that is far beyond what they are able to cover... so for now, Emil will have to let the cancer take it's course....

When our dream agents found out, of course they wanted to help right away, but there are just so many other small needs out there that some are going to slip through the cracks.... and that is what iam1ru.com is all about... standing beside those that are in jeopardy of falling through the cracks.... maybe we can stir the heart of other philanthropists out there that will stand up and proclaim..."For $100 a want to be 1 too" .