2023 Christmas WISH BOOK

 Welcome to the WISH BOOK for the Christmas Season 2023. 

I remember the excitement as a child when the wish book came out.  I would pour over it over and over for hours, circle things I wanted, and fold the pages over hoping that my parents would see.. It was a way of asking with out coming right out and asking. 

Its funny, I still have a hard time coming right out and asking, but as a voice for those who have no voice, it is an uncomfortable feeling I have learned to deal with.  Fortunately , you our friends and sponsors are gracious, and have even been contacting us to ask when the catalogue will be coming out .. So here we go. Sticking with the theme of  The twelve days of Christmas .   I will present the wishes all at once now, and then over the next 12 days I will highlight each of the wishes  

Day 1

Christmas In the orphanages and institutions.

Day two 

Christmas food hampers.  

Day 3 

Restock our farm chickens  

Day 4

Vitamins 

Day 5 

Emergency food and coal delivery

Day 6 

Student care packages 

Day 7 

Christmas on the farm  

Christmas Celebrations is a time when the farm will be bursting at the seams , not just those that live there permanently, but those who have graduated from the farm and those away at school . Many of them will come HOME for Christmas. We could have as many as 20 home for the holidays.  We would like to be able to put on a special meal and have personalized gifts for them.  $25 a person could make this happen 

Day 8

Business Loans 

Student loan relief  

We have many opportunities to make a difference in peoples lives , whether it is a business loan to have a chance at a future, or student loan debt relief to clear the slates and start fresh.  

Day 9

 home makeover $350

Time to time we find families that are living in difficult situations. years of poverty often leave people living in not so nice situations and brings on depression.  It does not take much to go in with a team to Paint and wall paper a home, and restore HOPE to a family . 

This year we have three make over projects on the farm .  The main kitchen we would like to fix a wall in the kitchen that the paint is pealing and put down a new floor and give a spruce up paint job . 

The other two makeover projects on the farm are two of the washrooms to be renovated .  They are functional but could sure use a face lift 

Day 10 

Making memories $25 a person 

I have been recently reminded how happy memories can sustain a person for years. For only $25 we can give a great memory to a child.  Bowling , movie, circus, ballet, museum's,  dinner out .. the possibilities are endless if we have the recourses  .

Day 11

Dental, Medical and eye glasses 

Many of those that we work with require medical assistance of one kind or another. We are connected with several organizations that will either provide free or reduced cost care , but we still face expenses that we do not have other means to cover .  The average need is between $50 to $100 a person for required treatment. 

Day 12 

Simple dreams  Impact a life for $100 or less.  

Over the next week we will be uploading stories and opportunities as our team has opportunity to do the work  behind the stories, confirming needs , prices and how to best make it happen. stay tuned . 

1.  Lyubovs dream   Several years ago she survived cancer on her arm. Today she has a dream of having a   food processor, she has no opportunity to buy it and she would be happy to receive such a gift for Christmas. $75 

2.  One man who  lives in Rehabilitation centre .  He was recently diagnosed with HIV and is receiving treatment. He has a talent for repairing cars and dreams of having repair tools. He would be happy to receive such a gift for Christmas.  $90

3.   She is now raising one daughter and also lives in the rehab center.  She dreams of receiving a Christmas Gift one day.  We would like to get her a set of  dishes for the kitchen, a set of pots. $60

Down load this image and print it out to put in a gift card for that hard to shop for person.

Every year we finish off the catalogue with a BIG ASK for the
farm. 

 This year we would like to upgrade the yurts .  after many years on the side of the windy mountain, the yurts are needing to be repaired  this season we had to shut them down before the season was over ..

We have been able to sell one yurt for enough to rebuild the other, and we would like to purchase 2 new yurts . They will be $1400 each. this will give us increased capacity at the kashar  

A draining day

 This morning was a very emotionaly draining morning. From house to house , hearing some heat wrenching stories. Like a home with two days , mother was working as a cleaner. A few months ago their father died and just a couple weeks later their brother had surgery and did not survive the operation ... Then on to the home of a young mother who's husband died in a work related accident , them to track down a single mom of six kids who is a janitor ... We had to track her down because she does not own a home so she has to move around a lot .. oh did I mention that the kids are not her biological kids , she has just taken them in ...  All hard working , not lazy not drinkers just hard situations .. but it did not end there .. house after house .. the situations continued to mess with my head. 

Then on to do some shopping for cleaning supplies to bring to the baby orphanage .  We also brought more scrubs as well as some beautiful knitted baby outfits and blankets 

Picking up the pace.

Comings soon ...

One of my favorite memories as a kid was the day that the Christmas wish book would arrive .  I would pour through the book of dreams and circle things I would like, put a marker in the page, and maybe bend down the corners all to make it obvious to my parents what I now knew I could not live with out . 

We will be unveiling this this years wish book next week.  BUT .. we do have a few needs that I would like to get taken care of and out of the way before then 

We have a young girl we are helping.  She had a syst on her forehead that they were told would be fine , but it did not get any better so they took her to a different clinic where they operated right away to remove the syst and part of her scull as it had attached to deeply.  The family has extended all their credit to be able to care for her but still have after care expenses.  We would like to be able have $250 to help with the on going care. 

Next up, We are heading to the baby orphanage tomorrow .  We will be bringing them blankets and knitted baby cloths. they have also asked for help with cleaning supplies and laundry soap.  We would like to have about $150 for this need. Any extra that comes in before we go, we will buy bananas for them. This need we only have today to collect for as we will be going tomorrow. 

Nest up is a request for a loan from Talbek our Bee guy.  He Needs $500 to plow and replant his fields .  Last summer there was a terrible drought and he lost the entire crop and still had some debts from planting, so he is in a tough place .  It would be tempting to just give up , but he is still trying to move ahead. 

We also have some tuitions that are coming due for the winter semesters as well as help for Nicks student loan. In total we will need to come up with $4000 for this next term .  

Today was a rain day so we have been working inside.  We put the floor down in the storage room and have started going through our house and packing bags and totes to go out to the room.  So nice to have an organized storage. 

Then in our kitchen I made a live edge shelf to go over our work area to make some room there for working at the table .. Its still a little wet, but by tomorrow we will start moving things on to it. I

Tomorrow along with the baby orphanage, we will be also  delivering more coal around the farm village and the kashar village.   I think we have about 25 families to go.  

We have started to pick up the pace here a bit , we have just under two weeks left to go before we head back to Canada ... via Turkey, Amsterdam, Iceland then home.  

 

More coal deliveries

Yesterday was a day of coal deliveries.  We dropped 25 bags of coal .. 1 ton .. and a couple bags of fire wood for fire starters to each home . As we turned down one street, we were overwhelmed with the needs and the different situations people were facing .  My friend turned to me at one point and said " when I see how people are living , I want to cry " .  BUT .. after a visit from us you could see the joy and relief that we left in our wake.  

One of the stops brought us to the home of the lady with one leg that we brought food coal and a portable toilet to last fall .  She is looking so much better and and cant tell you how happy she was to see me.  

Some of the seniors were a little apprehensive or maybe embarrassed about needing help.  Then I shared photos of my grand children and their Kyrgyz fathers and they were so excited and wanted to see more and more .. They said " You are not a stranger , you are Kyrgyz family coming back to help us " 

One lady wanted us in for tea but we were dirty and hade many more stops , so she brought us out a bag of borsolk. 

We have several more days of deliveries,  so stay tuned for more updates.   

We are almost finished the water tanks and utility room at the farm . 

I just have a bit of trim on the inside and to put down the floor . Outside I need to make the door for the generator room, just need to pick up some hinges today . 

 In 15 minutes I will be heading over to the main house where the boys are preparing a birthday breakfast for me, then at noon we will head out to meet up with a small orphanage to take them shopping for winter boots then into Bishkek for bowling and piazza .. Its going to be a great day.  

Birthday bash sponsored

I sat down at the computer today to give an update about the Birthday bash fundraiser , and as I was typing,  I got a message that the need has been met... What a blessing.  We met with the orphanage director this morning to discuss the planes .. I am excited about this .  If any more funds come in we will do another day of bowling and pizza with the kids from Ala too orphanage ( formerly Svetly Put. )   Stay tuned Saturday for photos of the day. 

Tanya has been busy giving out coal.  She is giving out 1/2 ton at a time to those in need. 

The boys are busy today bagging fire wood that was donated from the construction site. This is great for giving with the coal 

We got the new winter tires on the bus this week .  The bus is such a great vehicle . It has the extra seats in the front half and a huge cargo space in the back for transporting things like food and building supplies that cant get wet, as well as staying secure from theft when we have multiple stops .  This week the bus will be going to pick up a new dental chair we are giving the Hope clinic. 

I have had a couple of visits from some of our boys living off the farm with some Birthday gifts. Julie does a better job ad modeling then me 😊

Mish has been working in the apple orchard, lots of pruning to get the trees back under control. 

The addition is coming along great.   I had great plans to have the roof finished today , but it has been non stop traffic here today with well wishers .. It has been nice to get to visit with everyone. 

 😊