Another holiday, another day in the mountains

Picasso

washing hands before lunch 

this is part of a traditional custom here 

a little horse play

a very satisfying way to spend a day ..

it was such a blessing to the men to be able to spend this time . 

I AM ALL ALONE...I HAVE NO ONE !

"I am all alone, I have no one.. will you please adopt me?"

We heard this from this young boy today. We see our young friend Maksat who took maters into his own hands when living on the street , and found a beautiful family to adopt him. So many others are in the same position... I see two things here...

 #1 . we NEED to help these precious kids find families.. ,

    #2.   When the system fails them, and society fails them, and they find themselves out on the street at too young an age ,  WE must not fail them..
We need a transition home for them .. and we need help.. I think of how hard it is for you to reed these stories, I know how hard it is for us to see first hand these stories, but I can not imagine just how hard it is for these kids to live these stories.... alone

Every where we turned today , we saw precious young kids that we know and love.. all about to time out in the next year or two.  I am told that the main difference between the 30% that make it and the 70% that don't,  is that the ones that make it have someone significant in their life that advocates for them.

LAMb is taking some very concrete steps to to be that advocate.  Julie and I, apart from raising a few kids our selves, don't necessarily have the expertise to deal with all the issues involved with this project, but the LAMb team does.. not only that they are willing.....NO scratch that .. they are more then willing , they SHARE THE BURDEN... If you would like to help share the burden, we could sure use your help..  Please contact us if you want to help.     

 

I remember the day that we brought Anya and her family out of the Iskra dump.  I remember the chemical burns on her face.. I remember how happy she was when we bought her new clothes.. and today when she saw us, .. she remembered us, and she remembered that we cared about her..

Lunch with Slavic and his friends .. video

Lunch at the Yurts with some special friends

Joe teaching the others some "free running"

Slavic is reunited with his sister 

We love these kids , their father was at the rehab 

center, and put us in touch with them a couple years ago.. he has since dropped off the radar, but his children remain dear to us .   

Dinner with the kids

We had a great time today .  Julie and I went to the Bazaar with Joe, and we did some shopping for a party tonight at Dayspring.  we were having the kids from one of the orphanages in Tokmok join us.    We decided to make roast beef with roasted potatoes.    Beside the Shwarma place at the front of the Bazaar there is a lady that makes kettle corn.  So we  stopped and ordered 40 bags for the kids , we also got them juice boxes .. a real treat ...  in this next photo you can see the kettle corn cooker , but I also noticed the price of the Samsa's   this is the cheapest place to get them at 25 som .. just over 50 cents.. that is more then double what we paid just a couple of years ago. 

meat is also way up in price this year.. again just about double 

everything ready, just about to serve 

after supper we handed out the popcorn and the juice and put on Veggie Tales 

after the movie, the team handed out gift bags for the kids, and then one of the girls played the Kamose for us.  This will be extra special for Jayne.  She was working with that kids last year, and they shared that they wanted Kamose lessons, but did not have one.   Jayne decided to set up jobs for them so that they could earn the Kamose and the lessons.  .. Today they performed for us, Not only that, but we learned that this little boy has just won a contest here in Kyrgyzstan, and will move on to represent Kyrgyzstan in Turkey in a few weeks ... so here is a shout out to Jayne and those sponsors that helped her with that project. 

from one party to preparing for the next ..

Great day in the mountains 

here is the master making Ploff... take notes !

Today the boys came over for a visit and to do some shopping for summer clothes.  It is Aibeks birthday in a few days, and he wanted to know if I would buy him some food for a party for him.  We had a little discussion.. the party is in 4 days , and he does not have refrigeration in the village, so the solution was to buy him a live chicken .. good thing he likes chicken ploff and not beef !

They were checking out the chicken in the back of the cab. 

We got them each a couple outfits, and under where and socks as well 

then of course candy and cookies and pop for the party 

LAMb International: BLESSING A WHOLE VILLAGE - MOUNTAIN DAY

I realize that I am falling behind on the posting , not because nothing is happening, but because so much is happening .. I will try to rectify that tonight or tomorrow, but in the mean time, you can see some of what we have been up to over at the LAMb blog..  I know you will enjoy them....



LAMb International: BLESSING A WHOLE VILLAGE - MOUNTAIN DAY: ARRIVING AT THE MOUNTAINS Brian and Jenny talking to Tanya The Village Arrives - over 100 wonderful people. Our visiti...

Starting the ball rolling

There is an old saying that goes something like this ... "Buy a man a fish and he will eat for the day, teach a man to fish, and he will eat for the rest of his life."  As we work with people here in Kyrgyzstan, I often think of that .  We try hard to give people the tools that they need to provide for themselves.. that comes in many different forms , From leadership training and development, to schooling  or life skills, we are there to support.  We support many different organizations here as well that also work to help the people of Kyrgyzstan.  One thing that we recognize is that some how we need to figure out a way to help many of those organizations become self sufficient.


   I have shared  about the Chicken farms that we have helped with in the past.  We are now looking at the possibility of a large scale operation close to Bishkek .  It would be set up at the rehab center, and when finished will not only provide about 1/3 of their daily operating expenses, but it will also provide a solid level of support of  food donations for the humanitarian projects we are involved with such as the seniors home , mens home and the orphanages.


Here is the way it works.  The farm will cost $10 000 to set up.  We hope to provide this as an interest free loan .. paid back at an agreed level .. such as maybe 50% of the profits,   these funds will be paid back into a perpetuating self sustainability fund for future projects.  Once paid off , the project will continue to donate 10% of the profits to the humanitarian work of LAMb in Kyrgyzstan.


While in Canada and the USA,  Jengish shared his vision with many along the way, butt it was not until we returned to Kyrgyzstan that things began to fall into place .


We have received a match grant sponsor that has made an incredible offer.  The will match any donations toward the project, up to $5000 to see the project move ahead.


Then right on the heals of that, the folks in Espanola did it again.. this is the community that we have seen sell everything from cook books to painted rocks to support the work in Kyrgyzstan.   here is what they came up with this time

Talk about using what you have to reach out to those who have not !   This is a maple syrup operation that boiled of thousands of Liters of sap to produce maple syrup.  They then , did not sell it, but offered it free of charge, but asked the recipients to make a donation to help buy chickens.


To date, just over $1500 has been raised.. that puts us just $3500 away from egg production.


Just to sweeten the pot a little , I will share the next project.. it is estimated that if we get the chickens in production in a few weeks , we could have enough in the fund by the fall to build a hydroponic green house before the snow flies.  another project with incredible potential... I just bought a tomato yesterday.. it cost just over $1...


please take a moment and help us to get this fund rolling ..  you can donate over on the top right of the blog. we have an opportunity  to make a lasting impact.  we have many more incredible projects we are researching and ready to move on as the ball starts rolling .

painting at Bakute Orphanage

Great time at the orphanage today .  We  had a lot of work to do.  The orphanage had a team come and do some work, but they did not have time to finish the fence, as well there were several other things .. painting, wiring, and yard work .. The team spent the day today, but we have hired a team that will stay here and keep working for the next couple weeks. 

the meat and potatoes

yesterday we had a great visit to the dump and to the village .  This time we brought them large bags of pasta , and new t shirts.

We then went to the village for tea and a visit .  everything on the table was grown and made in the village.  We had about 6 different types of preserves and fresh breads .  The  topic turned to the fishing trip to the mountains.  I explained that with the visa difficulties, I was  not able to make the trip at this time as we are running low on funds.. 

Then the team had a quick discussion, and offered to take them fishing ..not sure if they realized it was the whole village ..hahaha. 

You should have seen and heard the excitement , they were soooo happy .. This Saturday, us, the team, and  over 120 of our dear friends  will be heading on a fishing trip .. 

I asked them what we need to bring, and they said that as long as you have a lot of meat and potatoes, you have everything you need for a good fishing trip.... so we will make sure to have lots on hand .