Central Eurasian Mission - Week 33 - Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2017

We visited a brand new potential partner this week.  Her name is Dinara, and she is the director of an orphanage here in Astana.  The English translation of orphanage is Children's House, so it was interesting to talk to her (she speaks really good English) about "when the children leave the House" or while they are "in the House."  I didn't know this until we saw the sign on the building which is kinda on the outskirts of Astana.

Note the little building right to the left of the gate....



Here's the name - "Orphanage"



When we go to meet someone, we always have the address and with that can find the building just fine.  But then, we really never know where to go.  So, the little building has a gatekeeper who just sits in the building for his work shift.  We went up to him and said in our best Russian, "possible Dinara" which put into colloquial terms is - Is Dinara here, or Where is Dinara, or Can you go get Dinara.\ or Is it possible that Dinara is here....and so on.  He took off running to what appeared to be the main door and then gestured for us to follow him.

We went inside and were met by a young woman who in broken English said that Dinara was coming and please follow her.  We walked down a "cool" hallway - slightly wavy linoleum floor, tall ceilings, beige walls - looked like a movie set for an orphanage (but I've never been in an orphanage prior to this day, so I really have no clue what the halls of an orphanage look like.  We were escorted to an office where we waited a bit for Dinara.

She eventually came and turned out to be a delightful woman - (not at all like Miss Hannigan that Annie didn't like).  She told us that two months previously she had worked at a medical facility which specialized in the care and treatment of children who have Cerebral Palsy.  She liked what she had been doing but was asked to work at this orphanage (a government organization) and to try to reorganize things and make it a better operation.  First, she said, "I didn't know what I could do for these children.  They were healthy, had plenty of food, had good clothing, a nice place to live, sports equipment, and a basic education.  What do they need?"  But, she quickly came to understand what the children lack.

At government orphanages children are totally taken care of until they are 16 or 17 which is when they graduate from the equivalent of our high school.  Then they can go to a university or technical school, and the government will pay their tuition and housing.  But they have NO MONEY of their own.  They can't buy clothes, go to a movie, go on a date because they have NO MONEY and no more direction from adults who care about them.  They have no skills, no social training, no vocational training, no money management skills.  What happens to teenagers with no money and no direction?  Right!  To make matters even more complicated, when they turn 23, the govt will give them $3000 (or it may be more, I don't remember), but the amount is like a fortune to them.  What do young adults, who have no direction and no money management skills do with their monetary gift from the government? Yep - they blow it.  Dinara says that often the kids who leave the orphanage end up coming back asking for help - but there is no help to give to them.

Dinara wants to set up a program which will help these kids become self reliant (ah...'self reliance'...a cornerstone of the church's Humanitarian Work).  She wants to set up (along with other projects) a woodworking shop where young men will learn skills, learn how to work, learn how to follow directions, etc.  She wants to teach the youth a 'process" - you get an idea, you made a plan or a model, you build it, you market it, you sell it, your keep the money which then you proficiently manage.

She walked us through the grounds to the shop she wants to use. These buildings are living quarters for 14-16 individuals.  There were 5-6 of these buildings.



A great bus


And here's the shop full of useless, antiquated machinery - like what you might see in a museum in Scotland from the 19th century.  And she has a 'master' who is willing to teach the boys.








Now she just needs some modern woodworking equipment to be used to train these young men, and this is where LDS Charities will come in.  We are in the process of doing all of the paperwork so we can submit this project to our 'final decision makers' in Moscow.  Dinara seems to be a really competent woman with ideas and foresight, and a good amount of grit.  Actually, she is quite like most of the directors of NGOs with whom we work.

I think I mentioned previously that I have been asked to spearhead Family Search (genealogical research) in Kazakhstan.  So every chance I have, I talk to people about working on their family history.  Once, with all the YVs, we entered all the correct information into the online program and determined that many of us were cousins - our common grandparents were usually from the 1600's).  Last week Sister Cantrell (from Tacoma/Olympia) had a two hour online training session.  She and Sister Nelson (Connecticut) came over, and I helped Sister Nelson connect herself to some of her ancestors.  Sometimes it can be tricky when someone has previously entered the wrong information but we figured it out - but had to call a Family Search helper person who happened to be in Australia.  Here we are diligently working on her family history.





One of the two sets of elders have been living on, what I call the, "Outer Edges".  Yes, it is on the edge of the city - a nice new apartment, but the YVs realized that they no longer liked having to ride the bus for an hour to get to the church, to which they go often during the week.  Naturally, here in Kaz, it is a little different to find an apartment than just looking on Craigslist.  We asked a Kazak friend from English Club to help us because, even though the YVs can speak Russian, it is very helpful to have a native advocate.  She contacted an apartment rental agent, gave him the preferred location (max of 15 min walking distance from the church), and b-i-n-g-o, in no time we had a list of places to go visit.  One evening we went to a place very close by.  The pictures on line showed a nice place, but when we got there, oh my gosh, it was like another movie set of where the kidnappers held the hostages while negotiating with a dictator-ish government for ransom.  I get the heeby jeebies just thinking about it.  We left very quickly before we were..........

Two days later, the agent found two more places that were close by (I mean close by our apartment).  The first was nice - two bedrooms, okay view, no potential cross ventilation, kitchen counter a little mangled behind the kitchen sink - and a wimpy landlord who said she'd come by occasionally and check on things.  Then we went to another place - in the same building as the 'kidnapping" apartment.  But this place was MUCH better.  Really big, two bedrooms, no weird drapery, views of a parking lot on one side, view on the other side is a huge open lot where buildings had been demolished (not pretty, but interesting, never-the less). The landlord was also friendly.  He joked that he'd find wives for the two elders......that is not in the white missionary handbook!

It snowed again.  And it is getting cold!  The wind is fierce, horrible, and frigid periodically!  I went walking one morning this week and took this picture.  I was so afraid other early morning walkers would arrive and mess up my artwork, but I think I was the only one crazy enough to be out.



The next morning, all the snow had melted in place but had not drained off to anywhere (yes - it is flat on the steppe and very little of the city area is properly graded to facilitate drainage). So all the ice crystals were balanced in place and it was like walking on sponges that squished with each step.  And, of course, one couldn't see the ever present puddles covered up by the mush, and so I had a wet shoe at the end of my walk.

This morning, for our walk to church (2.5 mile round trip) I donned my ultimate Columbia Sportswear down coat.  It was perfectly warm without any added layers of down vest or down jacket underneath.  BUT....there is a disastrous hood defect!  There is no drawstring or anything to use to snug the hood up to the head and chin.  So, upon the slightest gust of wind (and there are many in Astana) the hood flips back, and blah!  So, I am going to use the little bit of paracord I have left over from making a clothes line and some safety pins (I hope I brought enough) to make a drawstring.  I need to tell Gert at Columbia that her designers biffed the hood on this coat.....unless the hood is just supposed to be decorative.

We had to meet up with our Translator yesterday to pay her for her services.  It was really cold and windy.  We were walking to the bus stop and saw this on the ground.  What was it?  It was kinda like the yellow arrow we followed on the Camino de Santiago........it was a white hamburger with a white arrow pointing to a building!  WE had to follow it!



This building - yes...a BURGER SHOP




Down stairs to the basement level we went.  It was like a place I'd expect to find in Boulder, Colorado where my brother would like to go!!


 Here Dad is ordering



I'm waiting




We're eating.  It was good.  And I'm glad we went (it was freezing outside anyway), but I'd just as soon have gotten a Famous Star at the Hardee's which is close to the church.

Weird bun....but we could have ordered a white bun, but black seemed daring.  The sign says medium cooked, but it was actually 'barely medium'.  After the fact, we were told that the black color is from charcoal...could that really be??  I need to google that.



It is nutritious because there is a tomato!!  So no judgments from anyone!



Sunday night we had a Family Home Evening with a family from the American Embassy.  They have a nice big house and are very gracious with their home and food.  This time the YVs invited English Club friends to come - ones who attend the last third of English Club when we do a spiritual presentation.  Seven came! That was really nice.  There were a bunch of pumpkin pies, and we made an apple/ raisin spice cake.









I will leave you with the nemesis of Astana - a large puddle right where two sidewalks meet at the beginning of a crosswalk.  To get to the crosswalk,  one must walk around the puddle through a dirt/mud previously grassy area, then on the sidewalk to the crosswalk.  Walking in Astana is like a cross country adventure.