Bulgaria/Central Eurasian Mission - Week 56 - April 7- 15, 2018

Did you notice the name change of the mission?  Yes, the Bulgaria Mission has officially been merged into the Central Eurasian Mission.  For us, the change does not affect us in the least.  It does affect the missionaries in Bulgaria because they now have a new mission president  and, probably some new ways of doing things.  Things will change for us, in about two weeks (no one knows the date, for sure). when Kyrgyzstan and the two Districts in Kazakhstan will be merged into the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission.  Then there will be changes - new mission president, probably new ways of reporting our expenditures and requesting reimbursements, new reports. Who knows?  It'll happen, and we'll adapt.

This was a busy humanitarian week!  - four things

1st - we waited all week for Friday to come because that is when Askhat at WAQYP would give us the Contact Information that we need to move the wheelchair project forward.  It just killed me to wait - I swore to myself that I would not call our translator to remind her to call Askhat.  but....at a little after noon on Friday, I got a text from our translator saying that he would let us know later in the day or on Monday.  So, now it is Sunday, and obviously we will have to wait until Monday.  Am I optimistic he will call - well, yes - but I'm not placing any bets on it.

2nd - we had a meeting with Marina whose organization is called "Mommy is Happy".  She has a therapy center for Autistic children.  She told us that when her baby boy was about a year and a half, she realized that he wasn't developing properly.....and, sadly, he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.   She was a trained psychologist and didn't know anything about autism and soon came to know that not many other people did either.  So, she self taught herself and started this project.

Her facility is a big residential house - that probably went belly up during the 2008 financial bursting bubble.



big entry way



Dining room- Marina, in the yellow dress, said they'd be eating porridge later



This little boy was running up the ramp and  then climbed onto four blue chairs (you can see them in the lower right corner) and stepping from one chair to the next.




some special one-on-one with a tutor



Socializing play time



and a massage room.  Marina said massage helps the kids understand their body, and they learn how to feel things better.  I don't know...cuz I know very little about massage therapy.



They also had a room with a big toy kitchen, a store, a beauty salon, and a toy school.  They do a lot of role playing with this equipment.  For example, they'll have the kids comb the teddy bear's hair, and then the teddy bear will comb the child's hair - and they watch all this in a mirror.

After the tour, we were sitting in Marina's office and talking (and drinking hot water from a bowl), when we heard a commotion outside the closed door.  Opening the door, there were two little boys fighting.  After calming them down, Marina said that most people would be upset about the interruption, but she was really happy because it meant that two little boys were "feeling" something and were communication their emotions - progress!

Marina is going to ask LDS  Charities for sensory toys - like big soft building blocks, and hanging twinkly lights, weird things to step on with bare feet, and so on.  She was very excited to visit with us, and I think she may give us documents for a project this next week.

3rd - we went to see Anna who does something with battered women and with women who have been rescued from sex trafficking.

Super tall modern building and the entrance with artistic banisters.





Inside it was interesting because, like other similar buildings, this one had been designed to be apartments, and this place probably was made up of three or four apartments.  So, going from one room to the next was liking walking through a maze.

So Anna was not there as she had to go somewhere unexpectedly, but we met with Olga who, we were told, knows everything about what Anna does....okay



So Olga starts showing us around and telling us about children and teenagers whose parents are in prison or who have just gotten out of prison----and these kids live in terrible environments and need all sorts of help transitioning from a delinquent frame of mind to one more socially acceptable one.  Hmmmmmm, this doesn't sound like battered women or sex slaves, does it?  Turns out that Olga is Anna's mother, and  they both have NGOs and both have their offices in this same maze of rooms.  That makes much more sense!!

Olga's NGO is called "Pravo" which means "The Law" or "Rights".  Before retiring she worked in the police department in the narcotics division...she knows about kids growing up in bad environments.  Their parents are in prison, or are felons on the loose, or involved in lawsuits.  Often the kids and their parents have no documents......their grandmother may have been born in Russia prior to the dissolution of the USSR and then the grandmother came to Kazakhstan, had children who had these kids who have no documents.  Nowadays, no documents means no job, no health insurance, no school, no future.  So she helps with that.  They have lawyers who represent the children in court, psychologists who help them figure out how to act, job counseling, school tutors - a really good place.

Meeting rooms







a mural the teenagers had painted.  The use of this facility has been donated by the mayor's office, and Olga and the workers painted all the walls, making it it look really nice.



The do music therapy



Wow we weren't expecting all of this - in fact, we weren't expecting to talk to Olga at all.  So this was a doubly good meeting.  We think Olga is going to ask for equipment to furnish a "relaxation room".  The kids have no stress free place to go "to chill".  It'll be interesting to see what sorts of things she requests.

4th - After telling us all about herself and about Pravo, Olga then told us about Anna's NGO which is called Korgau, which in Kazakh means "Protection".  Anna provides a safe place for women who have been battered or who have been victims of the sex trade.  She has a hostel where the women can stay while they recover from their trauma and while they receive treatment.

She told us about a girl who had been sold as a sex slave and then escaped and made her way to Olga.  She was taken to a hospital, but the hospital refused to admit her  - they were told she needed to be "treated" first.

A second story.  A girl was kidnapped to be a bride .................yes it does happen.............

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-rise-non-consensual-bride-kidnapping-kazakhstan-developing-culturally-informed-and     (this article was written in 2011)

and then she was sold as a sex slave  We saw pictures of her - -her head was shaved and there were scabs over her whole head and neck and shoulders.    As a slave she was put into a room with no lights, and men came in and..............Gives me the creeps.

The women have a lot of health problems and psychological problems too.  I think that Anna is going to request equipment to furnish a gynecological examination room where a volunteer doctor will be able to come and see the women - they will not have to go through the indignation of riding a bus with others and then "parading" through the hospital lobby and halls.  We need to go back and actually meet Anna and visit her hostel and see what sort of facility she has.  This project better be approved!

With the advent of spring, there was a lot of melting going on.  On my morning walk I came across this big puddle at an intersection quite close to the school near our apartment.

This mother and daughter made the crossing without mishap.





I thought I could do it too---after all I am a backwoods hiker.  I approached the 1 x 6 plank, placed one foot on it, the plank wiggled - and I flinched - or blinked - or balked - or whatever.  I did not even try because I foresaw humiliation in my future.  I didn't want to get my walking shoes muddy.  If only I had had my trekking poles with me...............................

The next day there was only mud, and I negotiated the muddle easily.  Now there is hardly a memory of the pool - - until the next heavy rain.



Ice free sidewalks and back roads have stimulated our desire to find great, interesting, and cheap places to eat lunch.  We had gone on a sojourn to the post office to get a package for Sister Critchfield and..........decided to go to the cafe inside the 5 Minute Mart grocery store.  We've been there before and so knew it fit our criteria.  And we found that they have a "set" menu, the famous Business Lunch, and it was only 500 tenge ($1.50) per person.  Not knowing exactly what was included (why should we want/need to know), we ordered two and proceeded to the tables, sat down, and waited to be served.

It was fish soup, a bun, and mashed potatoes topped with---maybe a cabbage something salad thing - and a small farsh (ground beef) cutlet on the side.  And a glass of kompot (yellowish color, sweet ............maybe pear??)



The buns turned out to be 'buns of steel' that were flavorless, but when crumbled them into pieces, became very tasty when placed in the soup.





All the food (except the buns) was really good, and we can hardly wait until we find a day to walk .65 miles to the market and order another "set lunch" - another surprise meal.

There was this lady sitting at a nearby table.  She was so classy looking.  She had on a beautiful pleated skirt and the sweater and the hat.   Of course, here in this photo, her face is very relaxed and kinda sad looking,  but when she was talking to her husband, she had an animated countenance.  She's not Kazak and she's not Russian - probably Tartar.  I'll never know.



We went in to the store part of the building, which was a mistake, because they have an in store bakery which has lots of temptations, like these cakes (but I think these may come from an outside source).

I got the one between the orange one and the red one.  The label said it was a honey cake but it was really tiramisu.   Dad got the one that says "Snickers".





Then we went to get the package.  Look - he isn't wearing his big green down parka.



After District Meeting we went to our favorite sashlek place for linner.



Sunday night, and it's time for dinner!  We celebrated Dad's birthday with the young volunteers and two sisters who are taking lessons from the Sisters.  Their names are Ceevda and Aimir.



I thought this is a good picture of our Sisters.  They look so relaxed and comfortable - actually they were just laughing heartily because Sister Nelson had just found out that her state animal (Connecticut) is the sperm whale.



Here everybody is talking.  I think the Elders are actually talking to Ceevda about religion, and the Sisters are talking to Aimin about her Fitbit.



And then, Sister Nelson got talked into  doing exercises with Aimin's Fitbit, but she was only doing them in a one sided manner.



Here are Dad gift's.  A plaque with an old Azerbaijani man sitting on the ground.  From Ceevda and Aiman.  Actually....it's kinda cute in person.



And four gift certificates from the Elders - a free batch of cookies, one free donut run, one free ice-cream trip, free bags of popcorn.



And the Sisters gave him two doughnuts from Lucky Donuts



Next week on Sunday night, we will have just arrived and gotten settled into our hotel in Turkey.  Stay tuned for more turkey time.