We arrived in our apartment at about 6:00 AM - had coffee and oatmeal with Jengish and Sergey. By 9:00 we were hard at it delivering rice around Tokmok with Ruby. We met with the director of the baby orphanage who we will take shopping for supplies before we leave.
Tuesday
Tuesday morning we met up with Ed and Sergey and went on a road trip. Sergey told us that Gulnara called 3 days prior to say that she was running out of food and hand no hydro. We did a little shop and bought food that will probably last about a week.
Next we visited Pastor Vera in Orlovka - she has opened 2 houses as rehab houses for those recovering from alcohol & drugs. They are set up and raising chickens and had beautiful gardens of produce.
Next we went to the seniors home in Kemin to see Tanya and all the seniors - this was just a quick visit to say hello. Gabriela and I had $1000.00 to take her shopping so we made arangements for a shopping date. We had dinner with Ed and his 2 pastors at Sergey & Anyas house.
Wednesday
Wednesday we went up to Seraphym to Teen Challenge to pick up the men to go to the market in Kent. The men needed winter shoes - they have been wondering for a long time how they would be able to afford to buy shoes. When we arrived to pick them up we hear one man yelling to the others - "dress nice we're going shopping". After shopping the men prepared plov for us for lunch - they sang and we had a wonderful afternoon together. It was a great relief for them to have winter shoes.
Wednesday evening I went to Acel's house to learn how to make bersolk.
Thursday
Thursday morning we went to the market and then out to the seniors house to make and serve them lunch. Ruby bought 15 chickens and we served vegetables, bread and rice & noodles. Lynn gave the blessing and at one point said 'thank you for the food' and I realized how often we eat our meals at home and say those words and how empty they seemed in that moment. The seniors love it when Ruby cooks because they get a lot of meat. After everything was all cleaned up we took Tanya (the director) to the Tokmok bazar to shop for supplies - she is a machine. She had her list and we had 3 different tatchki drivers delivering suppies to Eshars bus. She had $1000.00 to spend - flour, rice, sugar, kasha, tea, potatoes, carrots, onions, chicken, sausage, cookies, candies, soap & spices (and there is still money left over so we will be making a plan on how to do something more for the seniors).
Friday
Today was amazing - we went to the market and picked up supplies to make 25 food packets for the dump families along with banans. We purchased 400 large lemonade for each man at the home in Iskra as well. Then to the market to pick up 400 samsas that were ordered for the party - then to get 300 ice cream. When we arrived at the mens home we had just missed a big band celebration with men in uniforms (that was disappointing) but I can imagine it was quite something for the men. Larissa had arranged an entertainer to sing and play the key board. Jengish and the men from Teen Challenge came and sang a few songs as well. The men had a blast - it wasn't 3 minutes and they were up dancing - Gabriela and I joined in and danced with them for AT LEAST 45 minutes! One older Kyrgyz man was wearing a suit jacket and he was dancing and grinning from ear to ear. It was such a pleasure to dance with him. After dancing we had tea with the director and talked about plans for the future. Larissa showed us around and told us about her dreams for the home as well.
Then on to the dump - we visited with the people at the dump and the men from Teen Challenge provided an impromptu concert for them. We handed out samsas & lemonade. Each person received a food packet that had tea, rice, split peas, kasha, sugar, oil and 2 bananas. (bananas are imported from Equador and cost about 50 cents each, a far reach for most here - so the bananas were a big BIG treat)
over and out
Jody & Gabriella
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