SAVVA 2009

Savva English Camp 2009 went especially smooth this summer. With many returning delegates and a growing relationship with children, Savva Administration and Staff it just seems to get better with each passing year.

A super time was had by all. English camp consist of a time of teaching basic English in the campus school rooms, afternoon activities including sports and hair and finger nail painting for the gals. Savva provides good food for the children plus 2 snack times which usually includes a piece of fruit and maybe cookies between main meals. The afternoon is filled with free time where we can play outside or inside activities. After dinner the American Delegation prepared a special evening activity for each night.


One was Carnival night where there were 10 different stations/games for children to play. Small gifts and lots of fun were had by all. Sunday we all took a nice walk to the Savva park where we played outside games, balls, Frisbee, cards etc and had a tasty ice cream before the warm summer walk back.

Weather wise it was the nicest camp I've seen in my 6 years here. Not too hot in the afternoons and cool evenings.

We also had a water war one afternoon, started by yours truly. A few hand fulls of water balloons and water bottles. Getting soaked is refreshing as well as fun. Nothing like an all out water war at least once during camp.

It's amazing just how deep relationships are developing between Savva and the Americans with the help of translators. It was a teary good bye, but fortunately, for me, I get to visit quite often year round! The Interlink staff will only see them one more time during the summer as they all go away to camp for 2 months but will resume monthly Birthday celebrations in September.

Only thing missing was you!
Thanks for all your encouragement, help and support.
Smiles, Ken

Men's Day and Mufflers!

So what does Men's Day and Mufflers have in common??? Well, me! We are in the midst of Men's Day celebrations (May 8th) and I recently had my Rav4 muffler reconditioned.

1st Men's Day. As you may have heard we celebrate Men's Day here. (We celebrated Women's Day last month) The nice thing about Men's Day and Women's Day is all men and all women are celebrated not only those who have children. Coming from a singles point of view this seems to be better all around. Of course I never had children so perhaps you parents out there are saying, "If he only knew"!

Just the same this is how we do it in this part of the world. This year we celebrated by getting sunglasses for all the boys we sponsor. The guys loved this timely gift and wear them, even inside. The girls are a bit jealous even though they got a nice gift bag on their day filled with hair dressing accessories.

Thanks to all of you back home for supporting us and allowing us to bring a little bit of happiness to the children here. They love the gifts but also love knowing there are Americans who love them too.



And here's my muffler. Why show you this? Well, back home if there is muffler trouble it is simply replaced. Here labor is cheap and the cost of fixing a muffler is well, worth while. If you notice there is a weld bead all along the top of the muffler. They actually removed the muffler, cut the top off, removed a rusted pipe inside, welded in a new piece and then welded on a new pipe that takes the exhaust out. All for the cost of about $20. Ha! I also had my drivers side door handle fixed. All for the astonishing cost of $3.50.



I hope this note finds everyone well. Feel free to drop me a line on my home e-mail account. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated!
Smiles,
Ken

Nowraz, what is that???

If you are familiar with Kazakhstan you may know what Nowraz is, if not let me give you a bit of Kazakh culture.

Now-raz (pronounced now - raz only you must roll the "r" as you say the second syllable) is the the historical Kazakh New Year as they used to celebrate the new year when spring arrived. It actually makes sense as winter is cold and a bit lifeless. Spring brings flowers, buds on trees and everything begins a new.

It's a big deal here with a long weekend and celebrations all over Kazakhstan. An American delegation was here so they got to see "Spring" arrive. We took 4 of the local orphans to Asa, a near by town outside of Taraz. There were Yurt's set up for entertaining guest and eating lots of Kazakh national foods. Yurt's are portable homes as Kazakhs were a nomadic people in earlier times.

The first picture is of Walter, one of the American delegates and the 4 orphans we had with us that day. If you look carefully you can see a couple Yurt's set up in the background. The second picture was taken at the local Taraz square where there was a live performance. It's really a festive time and we took part in many celebrations around town and at the orphanages.

It's also a time where communities get together and start cleaning up all around them. Any trash laying around is gathered, and most everything gets a fresh coat of paint. Even the trees! Actually they paint the lower 2 feet of tree trunks. It was believed that this paint kept bugs from killing the trees but now it is just a part of tradition. Weather or not it actually helps the trees I can't say for sure but trees that do not get painted grow as well as those that do.

I hope you have a beautiful spring. So far ours is turning out quite well and we've gotten a fair amount of rain already.

Enjoy your New Year!

Nowrez at Ulan

Since you already know a little about Nowraz, let me also share this story with you. Due to some special givers back home we were able to celebrate Nowraz in a special way at the Ulan orphanage.

Since Nowraz means "Spring" and the weather is getting nice we knew the children would soon be spending hours outside playing sports. Unfortunately most of the sport balls they have are well past optimum playing usage and are few to pass around.

So with 15 groups of children there we decided to get them all a Soccer ball, Basketball and a Volley ball. It will bring hours of enjoyment for boys and girls alike. Girls especially love Volley ball, and the boys Basketball but both boys and girls love Soccer.

While delivering the new balls and giving traditional Nowraz wishes we also took many pictures. While on our way out there were children already outside breaking in the new balls! Thanks so much for your caring and support for these children.

May there be many blessings to you and your families back home in the US. And when you go outside to play think of us here in Kazakhstan getting much enjoyment and use out of the new balls provided by loving Americans!

OUCH! Again

We've been so busy I didn't have time to duck my head! Well, maybe I'm making excuses, but I'm sticking to it.

We've had a Kids Connection Delegation in town and making sure they touch base with as many of the orphans we work with, as possible. So it has been a lot of running around. More on that in a later update.

Saturday the American team and Delegation went on a picnic to the mountains. A favorite activity to do here and since Spring has arrived it is our first Mountain picnic this year.

In preparation we were pulling together supplies. A must is having a large ground cover (outside tarp) and some camping cushions for us to sit on. Unfortunately the office was temporarily without electricity. (Not uncommon here) and the back storage area has no windows so all I had was a flash light. (picture well lit with camera flash) I hastily grabbed the ground cover and mats and was darting out to put them in the car. Even though I am not a tall guy by normal standards I know I need to duck a bit when exiting. But with the lights out it didn't register with me how low the open way was. And, as you can see, it is solid concrete.

I hit the concrete so hard I immediately fell to the ground. Knowing exactly what I did I knew a headache would soon be upon me as well as the initial pain. I went to my desk to get some Excedrin and in the process just touched the top of my head. It felt a little warm so I knew there was some blood. But before I knew it I had blood running down my face, so I looked for my co-worker Beth to give me some aid. Before I found her, a delegate Marion, was there to help stop the bleeding.

Thanks to all for their help and first aid. We quickly stopped the bleeding and finished packing to go on our picnic. All had a nice time and my head pain did not keep me from enjoying a nice roasted chicken lunch and plenty of snacks.

All in all it was a very nice trip with the gang and a nice rest from an otherwise very busy week!

4 Corners

I know it has been a while. Pardon my slackness in creating a new blog. Thanks for joining in with me to see what life is like for the orphan children here in Kazakhstan. As you may already know, we host a birthday party, once a month, for each orphanage we have the blessing to work with.

Here, at the Ulan orphanage in Taraz, all the children speak Kazakh and we enjoy spending time with the children there. Also we make weekly visits to the children, deliver letters from American sponsors and play games with the children. Often we bring craft projects that are age appropriate.

This photo was taken during our birthday celebration game time. One game that is a favorite of the children is 4 Corners. One child, in the middle, is blindfolded and counts to 10. We are standing on a large area square floor and each corner has a number 1-4. As the child counts all the other children quietly walk to one of those corners. When the counter is done he/she points to a corner. Any child in that corner is out. This continues until there is one child left who then receives a small gift from out surprise box.

A good time is had by all and we are fortunate to share God's love in small but practical ways. And it is friends and sponsors back home who help make all this happen.

Thanks you one and all and may this year be a super year for all our children.

Savva Orphanage Dec. B-Day party

Since we can't host a special Birthday party for each child, we have birthday parties for Savva, Ulan and Saramoldaeva orphanages once a month, celebrating birthdays for all children, in the given month.

In December, we went to the Savva orphanage, and celebrated birthdays for about 14 children.
We have cakes, snacks, candy and chips with soft drinks. We play games like Musical Chairs, 4 Corners and Hot Potato. We also have a time to give out gifts which are a package of school supplies. It's a lot of fun for the children and we really enjoy our time with them there.

We also take photos throughout the event and next month give out little photo albums for all the birthday children. They especially love letters and pictures.
How many of you get to have fun celebrating birthdays every month! We love doing that here. Wish you could join us.

Ulan Orphanage New Year Gift Delivery!

Here, in Kazakhstan, New Years is the BIGGEST holiday of the year. So we decided to do something very special for the children at the Ulan orphanage. With a generous donation from back home we took the children shopping about a month ago, as I shared in an earlier blog, then took the gifts to the office to wrap and give for New Years! This was the day of giving those gifts back to the children.
It was such a joy to be a blessing to these children who have so much less than we do. In the first photo I am at a table helping the children to open and assemble their gifts. Their faces were filled with happiness.

Here, in the second photo, I am standing with my sponsored child Dina, after giving her a volley ball. She loves sports and since I am here it is easy for me to give her a personal gift.
We had so many children to visit and give gifts to that the other Interlink staff all came to help out. Thanks to all of you back home for helping to make this possible, and a special thanks to the family who donated these funds so the children could buy something special.