Summer Projects.

As we are preparing to head back to Canada , we spoke with some of our team to see what they have planned for the summer if funds were available ... Here are some of their dreams .   

Summer time at lake Isykool is a special time, but also something that many of the village kids from under privileged homes would only dream of .

The farm has access to a large couple decker tour bus that could hold about 40 kids and their gardians .. this is a big dream , but it would be awesome if we could take them all on a road trip for 4 or 5 days around the lake .

They would have beach time  as 23ll as experience camping. 

We have not worked out all the expences yet, but we estimate about $40 a kid . .. looking for 50 kids to be sponsored for this .

So on the farm we have 4 sheep .. not sure where they came from or who's they are  but I do know that when you turn you back they are standing in our flower garden 

Even when one of the boys stays out there with them , they do get distracted .

And steps away is our garden .

Our solution is to put up a fence over at the first house where we have a couple donkey's that way the donkey's and the sheep can have free roming with out getting into trouble .. the only thing on that farm is wood and coal getting ready for distribution 

 The cost of the fence will be about $400 

Every week they guys go visit Mirlan at the hospital.  There are about 75 people in His section and we like to bring toilet paper and cleaning supplies for them this costs about $50 a week. 

I spoke with Vera . She has a few ideas for the summer as well.  First is a summer camp for the kids in The village . It will run for the full week , possibly 2 weeks depending on funds .  She is hoping for a out $1000

This next need has been met ..thank you. Vera is thrilled. 

  Her next request is for a laptop.  She does trainings in the schools and for city initiatives.. they focuse on things like brid napping and human trafficking .. her old laptop is a small notebook we bought her about 15 years ago.. it is no longer stable and able to meet the need . A new laptop for her would be between $800 and $1000. 

So this next request is one that Julie and I would really like to get behind.  As you drive through the mountains,you will see garbage everywhere ... Our guys have started to recognize this themselves. They would like to go twice a month picking up garbage and make it an event that would incourage others to join in.    There are some coats involved .. Desil for the truck and dump fees when we take the garbage to the dump. As well we would like to provide snacks and beverages as well as the garbage bags ..  June 6 will be the first day of picking up garbage and I will know better then the cost and will update the blog then,but for now I am thinking it will be around $60 each time .
 

Let's keep beautiful Kyrgyzstan beautiful.

New fridge arrives

Today we bought the new refrigerator for the farm and returned the older one to the Kashar to replace the one we had given to the hospital.

The tractor came today and cut the hay field .. that will keep the boys busy for a few  days .

 

Over at the boys house we got the water connected today . 

Now there is plenty of work to do filling in the trenches .

This morning Baktigul in Turkey recieved the funds to get her work visa , and a bit extra to get some food .. she was incredibly grateful for the support. 
 

Doing Tourist things .. after 20 years

For 20 year we have been hearing about Ala Arch and have wanted to go check it out. The now have a gondola that takes you up the mountain .. so yesterday we were in Bishkek so decided to go for a drive and check it out.  Wouldn't you know it, the Gondola was closed ... But we did have a nice walk and a picnic.  Kamala's girls loved it . 

While we were away the ladies came back and did some more painting at the guest house .  We had patched some walls and they needed to be white washed ..it looks so nice with a fresh paint . 

Today we are going to take our guests to the hot springs , then the Burana tower and the Tokmok Bazar and then get them onto the right bus to Bishkek .. 

 

Some very blessed ladies

Today they guys went to the hospital to see Mirlan. I did not have funds come in for the fridge or cleaning supplies so we have them the new fridge we had just put based for the Kashar , and hopefully we can replace it next week before guests come . 

They were very thankful and send an official letter thanking us for the support.
 

There are so many needs at this hospital  And they have helped us with with a couple of our boys .  We would really like to help them with another fridge and some cleaning suplies . 

Now for those who missed it Baktagul is having some difficulty in Turkey. The cost of a visa to work there has gone up by 1000% . And since she can not work yet she is running out of the food money we sent her .  So we are looking for $500 to help her . 

The tea party at the Kashar was an incredible success.  They were each given an antique tea cup from our home in Canada .  They were all so excited and blessed. 

Some fancy sandwiches served with their tea.   I bought some tiramisu cakes I was going to serve for deseart , but they did not make it up the hill in one piece.  I put them all in a bowl and stored them up and let it sit over night, then scooped them into little bowles and topped them with plums from the farm orchard... They all loved it , then insisted one the recipe... 

One of my moms cups from her engagement party 67 years ago

Baktagul is asking for help.

We just got a message from Baktagul.  She is working on her visa to stay and work in Turkey. She has run into a snag.  The Visa's have gone up in price from around $40 to now as much as $600... She wrote to ask if we could help her with another $400 USD to help her cover this .  She knows that I don't have it, so this time she is asking you ! .. if you can help with this pleaseet me know .  We have been able to hold this off until the end of the month to give us time to find a sponsor. 

 

 Thank you for your consideration .    She just wrote back and asked if maybe we could get an extra $100 because she is out of food. 

Ready for the tea party

We are excited to be getting ready for the Victorian tea tomorrow.  We found a sponsor for this event. 

Julie has made up little gift bags for each lady and I will make the meal.  

We were looking for a sponsor for a refrigerator as well, but that has not come in yet .. so as soon as the tea party is over, the guys will come up and get our Kashar fridge and bring it with them to the hospital 

 

I think the hospital needs a fridge more them us,and we don't have any large bookings for a few weeks so this will give us time to replace this one. So the opertunity to give is still there , buy now it will be for a fridge for the Kashar.

Things to come .

 Many of you know Mirlan , He has been with us qong time .  Eight months ago he got mad about something and left the farm.  Since that time he has spireled and needs help. He finally returned, lost a lot of weight and not making much sence.  We have been able to get him into a hospital to get him the help he needs , and hopefully stabelize him to be able to return to us.  So here is the ask as there often is one .  The hospital I asking us if we can get them a small refrigerator and some cleaning supplies .  We will need $150 usd for each so a total of $300.  We are hoping to go see him on Tuesday if they can stabilize him by then . 

On Monday we are going to be having a tea party for some of the Kyrgyz ladies from Bishkek.  We have some tea cups we brought with us from Canada . They will each be given a tea cup along with a story to go with them . Of course we will serve a full English tea for lunch.  

We are looking for so worw for this event.  It will cost $15 for each of the 10 ladies .. this includes meals and transportation and a small gift bag with tea, honey a tea cup and a few other little things .. we would love help with this if anyone wants to be a part of this . 

To update on the water , we now have running town water just 6 feet from the house , so this is a great sign of things to come . 

Gardening day

The planting is coming along well. Under this tarp. There is drip irrigation hose that will be attached to the big water barrel. 

The barrel can be filled from our truck when it's not busy out in the village delivering water to those without water. 

Nick, Ruslan and I were able to get enough of the driveway filled in at the guest house so that we have been able to re open . 

Sergey stopped at the baby orphanage and paid the contractor for putting in the new well...  He said it was so deep that he could hear the guy working down the well but could not see him. 

We have started to get the planters ready.   We are going up to the Kashar for supper, then will plant them all tonight when it's cooler out 

Julie and I will be arriving back to Canada on June 3, and on June 6th we are heading  to Jamaica with a team from our church.  We will be working at a summer camp and rebuilding a community chicken coop.  As well we will be building a relationship with a family there that has a conection to other missionaries from our church.  

If you are in the Norwood area we have 500 ml bottles of our gogi berry honey from Kyrgyzstan for sale.  The cost is $40 a bottle with 100% of the proceeds going to support the projects we will be doing.
 

Yesterday was a special day .

 Yesterday was an exciting trip out to the end of the valley. we were blessed to have lunch with Farm Alina .  She is doing great , and has been married for 7 years now .  It was so good to catch up.   

We stopped along the way to hand out Samaritan's purse boxes.  This was such a big part of our history.  Every year we  would pack them with our kids and then our kids school and our church have been depots to collect and organize them for shipping .

Now seeig the joy on the kids faces when they receive them.

Every child is registered first before they receive their gift.

definitely a special day 

This morning Nick and I started filling in the trench in front of the guest house .  We have managed to get enough for a small entrance so we can reopen the guest house now.

Julie is working on some gift bags for the Ladies.  She is going to have a High tea, and give them each a china tea cup along with honey, tea, a package of seeds, and a gift card.  how fun is that.