May Marathon to Mexico

Let me tell you about a great organization. Possibilities house in Mexico has worked closely with Possibilities International another great organization that has been a great help and encouragement to us for years .   Possibilities house is a "Family-style, holistic care for orphaned, at-risk and abandoned children in Mexico" 

We have several friends who have traveled and seen personally the great work that they do, And interestingly enough, their son Alax traveled to Kyrgyzstan a couple years back to assist PI with a team at the farm. 

Like us they get a lot of support from teams that come and bring encouragement, physical help, and financial support.   With Covid that has put a lot of stress on the financial situation.  We ourselves have found that the needs have grown exponentially and there are no teams to turn to.  

We were excited to see that they had some sponsors that decided to do a May Marathon to Mexico .. you can read more about it or donate at their web site  https://www.possibilitieshouse.org/casa/  

Julie decided that she wanted in on this so we made our donation and she set out to walk 100km in May .. Today she arrived home after her walk and just passed the 100 km mark with a couple days to spare.

Here are a few pictures from Julies adventures this month.  

How does your garden grow ?

The gardens are coming along great on the farm 

On the farm and here at my home in Canada we planted our seeds at the same time in the green houses and we moved them out to the gardens at the same time ..    On the left is a tomato plant from the farm already with tomatoes on it. On the right is at my home .. just starting to flower.  

I have about 10 tomato plants .. they have about 1000 

 I try to keep my garden weeded and looking good and then we send pictures back and forth .. it encourages us both to keep up with the work .  Above is from the farm, and below is from my garden in Canada . 

Now that it has stopped snowing , I can go out and un cover everything .😝

Happy Boy

We can not begin to tell you how thankful we are for the love and support shown to Valera making it possible for him to come to the farm.  Maybe the best way to express our feelings is this latest picture of him.   There is a mother of 5 who is also thankful for the finances for the cancer treatment she will now be able to get because of your generosity.   And over at the treatment centre they are happy to have their washing machine fixed as well. 

We have reopened the Kashar and yurts for guests .  We have implemented a time between guests to give us an opportunity  to safely clean and disinfect.  Guests provide their own meals now and do not come onto the main farm.  we also only take one booking at a time.  We have had many bookings so far, and have several more on the calendar already.  

Nick sent some photos of them cleaning and preparing for the next guests . 

 

With the increased traffic at the kashar, we had Vlady instal a second water tank so we have more reserve. 

We are happy to be able to use the kashar as a respite for our workers as well where they can get some much needed rest and visit with friends , like Vlad and Alina with one of our neighbours who has been such a great help to us at the farm over this past winter. 

Down on the farm, the irrigation system is up and running.  Each week Nick books a time slot and we get water for a few hours.  With all hands on deck we are able to get a lot done in a short time . 

After loosing last years crop of apples to a late frost, we are looking at a great crop this year . 

Potatoes and cabbages are doing well and are past the delicate stage and have become well established . 

The garlic is doing well too.  

The new strawberry patch has taken hold as well , so we should be eating some good jam this year.  

There is something particularly satisfying about a good day of irrigating the crops .. it is a breath of fresh life into the garden   

On another note, in a couple of days we will have a birthday celebration up at the kashar for all those with birthdays in April and May. Two of the boys  that Aigoola became legal guardian for  are turning 18 so this is a big event.    We are looking forward to a great day. 

A big request from Vera

 I just received a message from Vera ..  She is looking for some help.

"Good afternoon, John. I have a big request for you. At our village  there is a family, a mother and 5 children. She lives alone. She was diagnosed with breast cancer today.  She  need to take tests, etc. ... She has no one to help, she is an orphan herself and lived in an orphanage in Karabalta.  She works as a teacher in a boarding school.  There may be sponsors who would like to help her with finances for tests and treatment. it will be at least $500 .. we will pray for help. "

An update on the last post, both Dustan's graduation and the birthday party has been covered .. thank you all so much.  

Update from the last post

 I wanted to give a little update about how we are doing with the last few needs we posted, but first I have a couple of fun and exciting wants to share .   There are so many small things that seem to come along .. its when I so appreciate having short term teams that come and support and sponsor so many of this type of event as well as guests and income from the guest house  .. Soon enough we will be back to normal but until then we rely on your on going support.  

Dustan is graduating soon and would like to attend the graduation ceremony.  Dustan came to us a lot younger then the 18 years old needed to be at the farm, so Aigoola actually became his legal guardian .  Dustan is a VERY smart young man and very quickly not only caught up with his schooling, but out paced the village schools ability to keep him challenged .  We were able to get him into a very good private school where he would be challenged.  He has done really well there and has even represented the school in several National chess competitions and done incredibly well becoming one of the top chess players in the country.   So back to the graduation .. being a high end private school, the cost of graduation for the clothes, food and the class party will be $100.  We would love for him to be able to attend .

The other fun want that we have is for an April May birthday party.  Now that the cold winter is over and we can safely meet up at the

Kashar, we will celebrate everyone's birthdays from the last two months, as well as the kids from the youth group they attend.  for all the food , some transportation and the small gifts , and we ,may even get some horses for a few hours, we will need $200. 

So here is an update from the last post . 

Our new boy is so excited that he will be able to go to the farm .  This week Tanya has been working with him and getting him ready, including medical checks and some new clothes and things he might need.   Here he is enjoying a big breakfast that Tanya's grandmother prepared for him .  He will come out to the farm on Monday. His expenses for this have been met, and he is sponsored for the first year .. such a blessing, and an honor to Larisa's memory . 

The washing machine repair for the children's treatment centre  has been covered.  Now if any extra comes in we will be able to bring them some cleaning supplies 

The medical treatments are almost covered with just $100 to go . 

and last but not least , the money for the food hampers for the children home this week from the boarding school is almost in .  We received $400 for this so far so they have started preparing the bags, and we are trusting on another $100 for this soon. 

Thank you all again for your on going support of the many needs that we come across on a daily basis .. Because of you, we are able to bring hope and even JOY to the lives of so many . 

Some of todays needs

It seems like I often post AN URGENT NEED .. I guess thats because many things we can not plan for, and when the need arises it simply can not get covered until the need is met.  

Today I want to start with a storey that began back in 2008.   At that time We were helping Larisa with families that were living in the dump.  There was a young boy in particular that was dear to Larisa. She even tried to have him live with her but was not allowed because she did not have a seperate bed room for him, but she was able to get him into one of the orphanages.  She would visit him on a regular basis, and we would often plan outings for the kids from that orphanage .. In 2015 I actually did a ;little update about him and the progress that we were making .   Here is a portion of that post 

"in 2008, we found this young boy in the dump. We have worked with him since then. He was a farrel child , and for the first two years , I could not even look at him and he would freak out , then a couple years ago , he would see me and smile and wave .. last fall he stood beside me, looked away, and reached out and held my hand .. this spring he ran and gave me a hug, but instantly coiled away when he realized what he just did.. Today all that was over ..It was such a break through."

Well here we are 6 years later, and Larisa has passed and this young man has timed out of the orphanage.    He returned to his mother in the village near the dump, and nothing has changed.  It is still a bad situation for him.  We have tried to help with extra food and clothes for him with Tanya and Victor looking in on him from time to time.  

  A few days ago he came to Tanya and shared how bad his situation is and was very upset .  He was wondering when Julie and I would be back to Kyrgyzstan becaiuse he wanted to come to live at the farm. 

From the day that the Farm opened, we had him in the back of our minds as the type of child that we would like to help at the farm.  between that and knowing how dear he was to Larisa, we have started the process to bring him to the farm.  This week Tanya  will be going for medical checkups with him as well as shopping to get him clothes and personal hygiene items he needs.  Vlad is preparing a place for him on the fam that he can safely quarantine for a couple weeks before fully joining the farm family.   At this point we do not have a sponsor for him, but that will not stop us, we will move forward.   Perhaps one of you would like to sponsor him monthly in hole or in part, or would like to make a one time donation towards his set up needs .  The cost for the start up is about $100, and the monthly cost for us to care for one of the least of these , including their salary is $150 a month .   

So here is another need that we have this week.  The Children's treatment centre contacted us and have asked for help.  Their washing machine has broken down and needs to be repaired.  

 

We have agreed to find a sponsor to help with this.  We would like to raise $400  and after it is fixed, what ever funds are left over we will purchase laundry soap and other cleaning supplies for them  .  

The next need is for some medical care for some of the people we are working with.  We have about $300 worth of needs to get everyone taken care of.   They would prefer to remain anonymous at this time so we will respect that, but will put the need out there .  

The final need that was waiting for me when I got up today is for more food hampers.  One of the boarding schools for children with disabilities that we help from time to time, has just gone back to on line learning .  This will put many of these kids at more of a risk then just staying in school.  The problem is that many are from VERY poor families, and they will not have the means to care for the kids .  We wopuld like to put together a package for each home with some food and educational supplies to last them through this next few weeks of lock down .  The cost for these packages for about 30 families will be around $500 - $600 .  
 

Those are some of the needs that we are facing today .  If you would be willing to help us with part of, or one of or maybe some of these it would be a tremendous blessing .  You can donate using one of the donate buttons on the top right side of the blog, and just leave me a note in the memo section to let me know how you would like to designate ..  

life on the farm

Olga was out delivering seeds to some of the families that she knows.

Back at the farm, the crops are doing well.  Its almost time to get in and start weeding the garlic field . .. Most of the planting will be done soon, like the peppers today, then we will turn to weeding and watering 

Lifes daily chores continue on top of the gardening .. like today was laundry day 

Aigoola and Akbar were making some special treats today .

Marat is building us a new gate for the second house, a job that has been needed since we moved in .  

Nuric is around to help out at break time .😉