Central Eurasian Mission - Week 49 - Feb. 19 - 25, 2018

We went out to this big"Communal Market" that is on the edge of town, purportedly to visit a guy who knows how to do IT.  To get to his booth, we went through the bottom floor which was the meat market.  Isn't it amazing?



On the photo below, notice the sign hanging on the ceiling - yes it is a horse!  And a lot of the meat that is for sale is horse meat.  Actually, it tastes quite good.



This is the guy we were going up to see.  He has CP and has been helped by Zhandos who leads an organization which gives vocational training to handicapped people.  He has received IT training and Zhandos wanted us to meet him to show that he had someone who could program the color laser printer which he wanted but which we said would 'not fly'....so I don't really know why were there - but it was cool to walk through the meat market.

Zhandos is on the right, our translator is on the left, and the IT person is in the middle.  See the jacket he is wearing - apparently he is a weight lifter in Paralympics.  His little booth was big enough for four people to stand in, and on sale were various souvenir items which I can't imagine anyone in this part of town would want to buy.

  \

Outside the market, right by the back entrance, was this Flea Market situated under a big canopy.  Oh, we wanted to go inside and have a look, but Zhandos was on a mission to get us inside.  What treasures must have been there.





From here we went to a warehouse where Zhandos told us were some mushrooms growing.  Zhandos was the guy who we'd help start a mushroom project last June.  He said that one of the guys he had trained was now growing in the warehouse.  Not sure I believe him.......

We tried to get inside through this exterior door.  Locked.  Zhandos ws not happy.



He got on the phone can called someone and complained.

S

So we went around the building, up these interior stairs



At the top of the stairs was a kitchen of sorts - for whom we wondered????  Probably for the workers who may be living here.



Then around a corner into an interior construction zone that was poorly lit and full of trip hazards - I am a professional at avoiding trip hazards, so I had no concerns.

They were mixing concrete right on the floor - of course it is a concrete floor so---wet concrete or dry concrete - same stuff.  I could hardly breathe - the air was so heavy with dampness and concrete smell and no fresh air and...it was awful.



Zhandos said they were remodeling for a cafe.



Here's the door we should have come in.  Lots of bricks and stuff.



And finally the room with the mushrooms!!





It was definitely interesting---and creepy to walk through the building ---, but I'm not sure this has any connection with the mushroom project we helped finance.

And he also took us to a shoe repair shop.  These are all over town, usually a little addition to a big building's ground floor.  They are generally tiny places big enough for one man to work in.  This guy trains other people - he's a master - or a technician.  Zhandos wanted us to see how his NGO helps people.





And, lastly, Zhandoc in person.  We were meeting in the sewing shop of Silent World and our desk was sewing table.



On Monday we went to meet with Sabina whose NGO is called Sunny World.  Apparently, in Russia, children with Down Syndrome are called sunny children because they are usually happy.  Sabina speaks excellent English, went to school in Rochester, NY and really got interested in how to communicate with handicapped people.

Their facility is in this amazing house which was repossessed in 2008 when the mortgage bubble burst.  Some wealthy benefactor donates this building to them.



The third floor playroom is a replica of a sailing ship.   Talk about excess and presumptuous interior design.







And, the crow's nest - my grandchildren would love this third floor.  But the disabled children who come here aren't allowed to play here because it is too  too.... much for them.



Back to business.  Here are rooms where the kids receive therapy









There is a physical therapy/massage room and....and a swimming pool---- with wall paintings to make it seems as though one is in Venice.  Sabina told us that this has never been used - I mean, who could afford to heat and clean this pool---and those who thought they could are no longer dreaming of swimming in a canal in Venice.



The kitchen is so large that it makes Jessica's look a bit quaint



And here we  are having tea (hot water for us) with the three woman who do most of the work.  Sabina is on the right.



On Saturdays from 11:00 to 1:00 Sabina has a Transition Program with teenagers who have some problems.  The idea is for them to get out in the public and learn how to behave and be polite, how to talk to all kinds of people - so --learn how to socialize.  We were invited to go to this event which was at Books and Coffee.  We were excited to learn the location because we knew where this little cafe is.  Off we went in the taxi and into the cafe.  But no group was here - the guy at the cafe said he didn't know Sabina and didn't know anything about this group.  So we call Sabina and discover that there are two Books and Coffee cafes in Astana.  Another taxi ride took us there.



And here are some of the kids





And everybody - kids and adult volunteers



The real serendipity of the activity was meeting this young man. He is 15 (will be 16 this summer), a Kazakh who went to Canada when he was 4 and lived there for ten years and then returned.  He's perfectly fluent in English (which is really his first language now).  He also speaks French - -you know--- he lived in Canada.  His family is quite wealthy- his grandfather owning a big company that builds big buildings.  He comes to this group weekly to help out with socializing the kids.



Turns out that his grandmother has something to do with the Kazakhstan Department that is responsible for Special Education for Children.  So, we asked him to tell his grandmother about us and that we're trying to find groups for whom we can provide help and support.  We're optimistic that this will lead us to a potential Humanitarian Project.

Upon leaving this cafe and on our way to a bus stop, we passed this cafe.  This will be a destination when Warren and Whitney come in May - Warren is a cat lover, as you know.



Saturday was normal.  Sunday was normal.

Sunday night we had the missionaries over for dinner....normal.





Here we are looking at Google Earth putting pins on the missionaries' homes in the US.  Then I showed them my favorite hiking places.  It was fun.



Then the Elders left and the sisters came with a young woman they are teaching.  They ate dinner too and then showed a Mormon Message video. Afterwards we had a really good spiritual discussion.  We told her our conversion story and how we joined the church and about all of the years after that.






It was a great evening.

Central Eurasian Mission - Week 48 - Feb 12-18, 2018



This week the weather was nice - well it was still in the minus degrees area of the thermometer, but there was no wind and it was nice and sunny.  We decided, while we were sure that everything would be frozen, to visit the local river, aka reservoir, and be bold and walk across the river.  Here's Dad standing under the bridge in the middle of the river.

And here we are walking with our arms spread wide - just in case we were to fall through the ice....not really, we were just being silly.





Our signature pose - and that of countless other goofballs.



There had been a lot of vehicle traffic, snowmobile traffic, and cross country skiing
.



There were no ice fishermen on the river this morning, but we could see where they had been fishing.  There were mounds of snow here and there and some trash.  But the sure signs were the holes in the ice which were frozen over.



Here was a wet spot where wetness was seeping into the river.  I'm pretty sure (because I saw it on a map) that there is a water treatment plant close by, and this seepage must be coming from there, and it must be hot.



And some poor lost pigeons were hanging out by the water


When we were down by the river last summer, and since I always touch the water of any new river I come across, I knelt down by the river bank and put my hand in the water, in a place that was a similitude of where I did that last summer, I also knelt down and stuck my hands way down into the snow.......and just came to hard ice.  It was quite hard to regain my balance and stand up again.



We actually accomplished some Humanitarian work during the week.  We have some LDS Charities Wheelchair Specialists, Rick and Cyndy Johnson, coming in March.  This is with the WAQYP governmental charity that I've written about before.  I actually think that a wheelchair project is going to happen.  This kind of project is a "major initiative" and so we're kinda excited about it.  There is a meeting scheduled for March 16th to which we have invited the Minister of Public Health Care, the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and any other people that WAQYP wants to attend the meeting.  That day we will also meet with the Center for Independent Living which is the wheelchair repair shop.  Exciting times.

And we're finishing up a project with a social entrepreneur who is probably the most important man in Kazakhstan who is helping disabled people get training and job experience and then helping them find employment or having them work in his sheltered workshop.  Unfortunately, I don't think the project will be approved.  There is a new group of people in Moscow who are reviewing projects and either approving them or disapproving them.  It seems as though they don't like projects where it looks like a business is being developed....and the founder is making money.  We've spent a lot of time on this one, and it's disappointing to feel it won't be approved - and there's nothing we can do about it.

On the bright side, we're both doing well in our Russian classes.  Dad can read and write and speak Russian!  It is really exciting!!  He is even able to help me by asking me vocabulary words and he can read the Russian words to check that I am right or wrong.  And he's even asking for things in stores - like he asked the produce lady at the store if she had Red Prince Apples.

On Wednesday after Russian class, we got off the bus, looked at each other and decided to head in the opposite direction toward the 5 Minute Market.  You see, we are looking for popcorn!  And.......there was no popcorn, but we discovered a cafeteria, and it was dinner time, and why not?  It was a great place.  A huge assortment of food.



I got a plate of lasagna and Dad got a chicken breast stuffed with....something. Both were delicious.  And we got some compote which is the drink in the glasses with a pink liquid in the picture below.  It was good and tasted.......pink.



The dining area was great - we'll go back there.  It is only about a mile walk from the apartment.  It was cold inside - Dad had to keep his hat and coat on while eating.





A random note.  I got my hair cut this week.  The last time I was there, the manager gave me the phone number of the shop and indicated that I should call for an appointment - I guess she doesn't like drop in appointments or whatever.  So I went in on Monday, and in my very best Russian asked when I could come in this week - and it was on Friday at ten.  As I left the apartment, I grabbed the money Dad had put on the table but neglected to get the one loose coin - a 100 tenge coin worth about 30 cents.  When it came time to pay I was short the 100 tenge.  Kinda embarrassing.  So I said I'd come back later and here I am going in with my thirty cent coin.



Sunday night we (by "we", I mean all 8 of the volunteers) went to the Holmgren's home for dinner.  Sister Holmgren made delicious pizzas.  And......Dad and I helped two of the daughters, Aja and Zoe, learn how to do Family History indexing!  I was excited to do that because encouraging people to do Family History is one of my responsibilities in the mission.





Next week will be busy as we have two appointments.  One is with a young woman who had an NGO where she helps children and teenagers who have Down Syndrome.  The other is with a man who we've previously done a project.  We're just going to go and listen to him tell us about his ideas.