Friday, April 16, 2010 - Another Orphanage

Sleep Thursday night / Friday morning was spent on a bus/van ride to an orphanage in another region. I say sleep, but it was more like dozing between the bumps. Ha! After only a few minutes into the bumpy/scary ride, Kati said, "I have prayed twice already."

During our planning for the trip, WE had contacted this orphanage to see if they wanted us to come. Since they didn't make the initial contact with us, we weren't really sure what they would want or need. But not long after we got there, they began bringing children to us to work with. They were receptive to us and indicated that they were already doing some of what we did. After working with the children, the orphanage staff was excited to show us their "sensory room" and a room with a ball pit and leg exercise machine. They had a "pool room" with a small pool built into the concrete of the floor. The pool didn't have any water in it at the time, and I'm sure they told us why, but I missed the reason. I missed bits and pieces of this day just from pure exhaustion. The week (and lack of sleep) had begun to take its toll on our mental acuity. Ha!

This particular orphanage has a separate HIV building. We asked to be taken there, but we never were. I don't think they told us "no", it was just left off the agenda at the end of the day.

Pictures outside the orphanage:

Unloading again. At times it felt that a lot of what we did was load and unload, pack and re-pack.

Grabbing materials and handouts.

This little one was so cute...

And so very HAPPY!

Check out the new braces!

Oh the ball... I forgot to mention that when we were working at the kindergarten school a few days prior to this, Amy and I learned the Russian word for "ball". It's like "match", but has an extra sound in it, kind of like "myatch". It's spelled "мяч" in Russian.

This little kiddo is in one of the corner chairs that Gregg, with the help of Vova and his team, made while he was in Ukraine.

Eyeing the toy.

Looking for just the right braces and shoes.

Gregg assembling a wheelchair for one of the kiddos.

Olga taking a Coke break. She needed all the Coke/caffeine she could get to deal with us. Ha!

This little one really wants to help Gregg with the wheelchair.

He's so cute! And obviously a little attached to his caregiver.

Look at him go!

He's so happy to be walking in a walker!

This picture makes me laugh! I'm not sure why Kym's demonstrating with Kati instead of a child... Maybe it was naptime for the children.

Gregg made a friend with his videocamera.

Kym and Kati are trying to get this young man's feet set for standing.

Christie's digging through her packets to find the right instructions/handouts.

This young man was a HOOT! He had very good language/communication skills and kept everyone entertained.

Kym and Christie are trying to make his knees more stable for standing and walking.

He was such a HAPPY guy!

And... the knees are a little more stable.

He was THRILLED to be in a wheelchair!

"I'll take that hat from you, Gregg!"

The face says it all!

Kym's stretching this little girl while she plays with a toy.

He's having so much fun with his new-found freedom!

We're doing some oral motor assesing on a little one who is literally falling asleep on us. Better than biting my finger off, I guess. Ha!

A good shot of the room we worked in. Again, we're all spread out on the floor, working away.

Another happy little girl.

I love this picture. You can see the exhaustion in Amy's face, but you can also see the pure contentment. Any one of us could have sit and held these precious children all day long.

And.... she's walking!

Awww.... the snuggly one...

Kym's showing on this caregiver how to help with weight-bearing for walking. The orphanage staff got a kick out of her using one of them, but it's helpful to feel for yourself the amount of pressure and the placement of your hands.

We could've cuddled all day.

"Oh, hello there!"

Sweet, sweet, sweet!

Kati finally got her hands on him, but I'm afraid she didn't get much out of him. He was just too darned sleepy.

One of the rooms in the orphanage.

This was the leg exercising machine that they showed us. Apparently it was fairly new to them, and they were super proud of it.

After working with the kiddos, they provided a quick snack for us. We were famished, and it hit the spot!

Cup o' tea, Gregg? Heehee!

The "sensory room".

A rabbit in the sensory room.

And a very large rabbit in the sensory room.

When the woman pulled out this rat, we thought Abby was going to empty the contents of her stomach. Something about the tail of the rat got to her. Haha!

You can imagine the smell in this sensory room.....

The woman was still holding that rat while Alice translated about the sensory room.

The room was full of animals!

Eeek!!!

Whoa! Chubby bunny!

Waiting in the hallway to enter another room.

Look at this sweet boy just waiting for Christie to get him...

I love how it looks like I'm diving in the crib behind Christie. Ha!

This picture is precious. The child isn't looking, but is feeling Kym's face. Beautiful!

Ok, now I'll take a peek... I like what I felt... :)

Another look of pure contentment from Amy.

How sweet! He's glad to see her!

And I finally got my hands on the little one I was diving into the crib for.

Super cute!

Napping.... Sweet dreams, my love. :)

This was a very narrow room with several children lined up in cribs. These children are their more involved children, and we're not sure if they get to get out much.

My heart aches for all children without families anywhere in the world, but this was a difficult room to leave.

I love how Kym's holding his hand through the crib. We got the feeling that they didn't want us to disturb these children. Maybe it was naptime...

Hi there, Handsome!

Goodbye, my dears!

More photography by Alex. Love it!

Resting....

And more resting... Haha!

This is what Vova did while we worked at this orphanage. I'm pretty sure the man NEVER sleeps.... He's always working. We had a conversation about it once. He said "work.. day/night, day/night, then sleep - work lot, sleep little."