Monday, January 22, 2007

Christmas at the Orphanages

Christmas'06 may have been the most meaningful one I've had. A group of us volunteers, from around Lake Issyk-Kul, visited 2 orphanages and spent Christmas together. The first orphanage we went to has 90 children and each child is sponsored by 2-3 European organizations/individuals each. At that orphanage, we sang Christmas carols and handed out goody bags with cookies, candies and coloring pages. I was so nervous because we sang Christmas carols in front of all of them. They enjoyed it and even joined in during Deck the Halls (but it sounded much different from what the volunteers were singing. When we finished, they announced that they had a performance prepared for us. One boy sang Jingle Bells in Russian and one verse in English. We were very impressed that he had learned English for us. One girl sang a Russian song while doing a little dance, followed by another boy singing a Kyrgyz song. The grand finale was a 3 year old girl (the youngest one at the children's home) singing a Kyrgyz song.

On the second day, Christmas Eve, we traveled an hour to a smaller orphanage. It is a small home that was started 3 years ago by two Russian couples. With their own money. It houses 23 kids and they all call the couples Mom & Dad. There was a tangible feeling of family and love there. And the 'parents' of all those kids have such big hearts. I can't describe how wonderful and generous they were. We sang our carols for them and in return they handed out American candy for us. I gave mine back to the kids and they gobbled it right up. Some of the volunteers made homemade chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies which we had with tea. Afterwards we made Christmas tree ornaments and snowflakes with the kids. The best part of the whole two days was handing out presents to the kids. With small donations from us volunteers and a big one from my little brother, we bought cars, coloring & puzzle books, candy, stuffed animals, markers, colored pencils, a pool set, dartboard, a bead loom set and more for all of the kids. I was able to hand out gifts with Brenda and Lydia, which made me extremely happy. The kids were ecstatic, grateful and a little confused. I think we gave them the best Christmas they've ever had. It was an all-around fantastic holiday.





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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Photos

I tried to upload new photos, but the internet connection was too slow.  I'll try again in a few days, but I won't be in Bishkek then so no guarantees.

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