On Friday, I took a day off from the orphanage and Victoria took me to a village. We bought lots of groceries, including a special Easter cake (Easter was that Sunday for them, a week after ours). We gave a bag of groceries and a sack of potatoes to each family. I also gave them some coloring books and crayons I had brought from America. Their eyes lit up at the groceries and the kids couldn't stop grinning when they saw the coloring books.
Most of the families met us at the city hall but we went to visit some of them in their homes. One family was a new family to Victoria, who has been feeding these families every month. She has a friend in the UK who fundraises and sends 30 euros each month. They are sponsoring 10 families. The new family was very poor. They had a pig and some potato fields. When we got there, a little girl came out to meet us. She looked to be about 8 to me, but Victoria (Vika) said she was 12. The mother also came out and she was clearly drunk. We gave them the food and Vika asked if the little girl had eaten anything today. She just looked at her mom, who said she had had some potatoes, but we didn't believe her. The mom took us inside and showed us all the water damage from rainwaters that had flooded their house. The outside of the house seemed big, but there was only one room in use inside. It was very small and everybody slept, ate, etc. there. The mom lives there with her husband, two older kids, and the little girl. They didn't have electricity or running water and the little girl ran to fill a bucket of water for washing while we were there.
We stopped by another house and the inside was very tiny again, although the outside was beautifully ornate and freshly painted. A young boy was outside in the yard sweeping up. Inside was a grandma. While we were there, a little girl came home. She had something wrong with her feet and couldn't walk right. I gave her some stickers. It was hard to see people living in such poverty. They were so dirty and had so little room. I didn't get much of what was going on but Vika's friend Andre translated some for me.
On Saturday, another volunteer, Helen, came. She is from the UK and we hit it off right away. Before she came on Saturday, I wandered around town. I went to the central market, which is just like Ukraine's markets. I bought some small soveigners. I also found a little craft market. I was admiring a ceramic egg that had children on it, and asked (in Russian) how much it cost. The man told me and while I was translating from Russian to English, he asked me if I spoke Spanish. I said yes, a little. We continued our conversation in Spanish. He said he was from Cuba and he was obviously very fluent in Spanish. It was interesting speaking in Spanish while in Moldova. The same thing had happened to me in Korea, I met a woman who only spoke Spanish and we conversed using that language.
Sunday morning Helen and I woke up at 430 AM to go to church. It was Easter sunday and we went to the church right by our house to have our Easter cake blessed. We stood outside the church with a large group of people and the priest came by and sprayed our cake and us with holy water. He drenched our cake. We came back home around 530, ate some cake, and went back to bed.
Later we woke up and walked around. The city was dead because it was a holiday. Around 4, Caroline, another volunteer, arrived.
On Monday, we couldn't go to the orphanage because it was a holiday and for some reason we aren't allowed to be at the orphanage on weekends or holidays. We took Caroline around. Vika had gone home to spend Easter with her mom. She came back around 2 and then she took us to another orphanage. It is called Saved the Children, and she works there as the PR manager. There were about 7 boys, ranging in age from 4-10. There usually are more children, both boys and girls. This orphanage works more as a home for children while there parents get their acts together or are out making money. Most of the kids don't stay there for very long.
The kids were very active. We threw balls and played with legos. They were very cute and gave us kisses when we left.
Today we went to the orphanage. My door was sealed up and I had to go around and enter through the outside. Some of the babies are under quarantine. I went into the quarantined room and was immediately thrown up upon by a baby. I also was covered in snot by the time I left for lunch.
I'm making some progress with the children. I've been taking the older ones out to walk around and they are quickly learning to walk. I get them to walk to me and then I throw them up in the air and they love it. I got another little baby to smile. She hadn't been feeling very well, and I hadn't seen her smile until today. When I got to the orphanage today, the caregivers poured me a glass of champagne and we all drank some champagne and ate chocolate before the babies woke up. Later, one of the caregivers gave me some Easter cake to eat. They are very nice.
Helen and Caroline got to the orphanage around 1130 today because they needed to go to the doctor and get their paperwork in order. They are working with group 8, which is special needs children. They really love working with the children. Most of the children can't walk and a majority are blind. They range in age between 3 months and 5 years. They just need to be held and played with, like the babies.
After the orphanage today, we went to the National History Museum which was very interesting. We were in the prehistoric room and was looking at a exhibit of prehistoric clothing when we noticed a suitcase sitting in the display. Prehistoric suitcase. We then noticed that the sign said, Artist and a guys name so we figured it wasn't actually authentic.
No comments:
Post a Comment