Thursday, September 30, 2010

One more FULL day .


We began the day with a trip out to the micro district to deliver a wheel chair.  Acels sister in law runs a small store, and she knew of a family that was in need. The lady that she buys her sumsa's from is a single mother that is trying to support her disabled son. In Kyrgyzstan, it is expected to put a disabled child in an orphanage, but she is going against the norm and trying to keep her son at home.  When we stopped at the store to tell her we had a wheel chair, she was in shock, but the owners of the store were so overwhelmed that they began to cry.   We brought her back to her home to deliver the chair.  She carried her son out of the house and placed him in the chair.. He was in such bad shape.. I felt so bad for them.. what life has in store for them...   We will have to see how else we can help them.. the chair seemed like so little, but for them, it will open the world to them. 
   Our ext stop was to the mayors office to pick up one of the officials so we could make some deliveries of mattresses.   We went to the Police station to bring them 5 mattresses.  They were very impressed with the mattresses, and said that they were great quality, and even asked if they could buy some for there own homes... Aigoola does great work.  Next stop was to the hospital.  There we met Dr Lagarof.
He is the emergency room Dr.  He was very pleased to get new mattresses... he then brought us to show us some of the people he is helping .. He was a very frustrated man .  he tries so hard to help every one that comes... in fact he has about 15 homeless men there at any one time, and has no budget to help them, and mostly feeds and looks after them on his own.   This is the kind of person that we want to get behind and support. I talked to Sergey to make sure that our feeling was correct. He said that this Dr has been a great help to them, and that he has been eager to help Sergey many times with the people he helps.  We are going to try to find a sponsor who would be willing to support maybe $40 a month to provide food for him.. This would allow us to have enough soup and bread to feed the men that come to him for help... This hospital needs a lot of help.   We stopped to think about weather  we can spread any thinner, but we realize that it is a genuine need, and can impact so many... so yes this is something that we need to do .  Next stop was over to the Baby hospital.  We had just put running hot and cold water in the day before.  I always feel kind of guilty to walk past a line of  people that have been waiting all day , and sit for a visit with the head Dr, so we try to keep it short.  We also gave them the money to make the steel door and bars on the windows of the laundry room so that there things are not stolen.    From there we went over to the School where the kids were practicing break dancing. They got a little concert, and a few words of encouragement from Benjamin.   He sang the song he had written called " We are in this together" it shared how we all have a responsibility and can each be responsible to make a change if we work together.. It was a new concept for them .. they all seemed to have almost a defeatist attitude that they had to wait for the world to change, but Benjamin challenged them to come together and make change happen .. I think we will work more on this and maybe get them involved in some community projects .. like the next one that we were part of... From the school we went over to the new Day springs Home there were 25 of us that went to get the house cleaned up and ready for furniture... We even had our first supper in the home... what an exciting time... Even the vice Mayor was out to see the home..  

Around the Vallley

Next was a trip around the valley..  We began the stop at the orphanage for children with learning difficulties.  It is a really well run orphanage, and it was great to meat up with some of our friends . They were all doing so well.  Then the next stop was over to the seniors home where we had delivered a huge load of food supplies for them. The cupboards were bare a few days ago, but now they are full.   Babushka Anya was thrilled to give Benjamin a big hug and kiss as well.  We went over to Vera's community center. We brought her some money for the seniors day celebration next week.  We were also able give her the final payment for the building... it is officially paid off... very exciting.  
   Next stop was over to Aigoola's house for a visit and a nice lunch.  After lunch we headed back to the apartment in time for Benjamin to give a guitar lesson to a couple young friends of ours that lost everything in the uprising in Osh.  They don't know it yet, but the guitar they are playing will be a gift to them before Benjamin leaves.
  Then we finished the day off with a trip out to the rehab center with Jengish.  They had a great meal for us ad they were very appreciative of Benjamin singing for them .  It was also a last meal with our friend Bob before he headed back home.   

Invalid home visit

We took a trip out to the invalid home for a celebration.  No real reason for a celebration, other then we thought it would be fun.  We arranged for friends of Larissa's to be there and have the music set up.  We arrived with Banana's and ice cream.  It was a real hit.  The men were so happy to meet Benjamin, and they had even made some special presents for Jonah that they presented to Ben.  There were about 250 men that were at the party... it was wild... We stayed for about an hour, then decided it would be best if we slipped out before they got to wound up.

Off to Kara Balta

    The next adventure was off to Kara Balta to visit some of our kids that had been moved there last winter.  We always make a point of doing something special with them so that they know we are still here.  We also try to make sure that some of their needs are not over looked.   This trip, along with having a good visit with them, we took them all out for supper in a very nice restaurant.  I think we had about 45 of us in total. We then spent the night , and went to church with them in the morning.  On the way home we stopped in Bishkek and met up with Jengish .  He taught Benjamin the right way to drink Sharrow... Benjamin must have done it wrong because that began a few days of revenge.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

hit the ground running

In true fission of any of our trips, Benjamin hit the ground running .  He landed at 2:30 am, and after the 1 1/2 hour trip home and a quick nap,  we headed for the bazaar to buy food supplies for the  
folks living at the dump.  The sights and sounds of the bazaar are always amazing, and it is always interesting.  At the dump, there were about people this time. they were all glad to see us, and also excited to meat Benjamin.  After giving out the food, we also left a large bag of carrots and potatoes for them to split up.  Then as a special bonus, everyone got a watermelon.   We then gathered up the kids, and took them all with us back to the bazaar to do some school shopping. . It was so exciting for them.  They never thought that something like this could happen... then to top it off we took them all out for supper in a nice restaurant.   Right after supper we went to a youth group in one of the neighboring villages . The kids really appreciated having Benjamin sing for them. 

Buggy

Bekah went buggy with excitement with the thoghts of Benjamin coming for the week.

Getting caught up.

I am so far behind on my posts that it is not funny. but I will get caught up tomorrow.  Benjamin is giving Guitar lessons in the morning, and I will use that time to get some blogging done... promise

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fwd: letter to translate for Torat

The team arrived safely in Osh today, and have already started deliveries... more storey to follow.

A day at the Circus

For some this could very well be the first time they will  remember being on the outside of the orphanage gates... what a day...

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Happy Birthday!!

Today we had a birthday party at Red River ophanage for seven children who had a birthday in the month of September.
They were so thankful to get some special presents from Bob and the rest of the kids were so excited to have cake and pop and candy. Everyone was especially excited to hear that we're taking them to the circus tomorrow.