Report # 13
Friday April 8th
Still not spring yet, except for the flowers and trees out in bloom and leaf. Cold winds and rain and sleet off and on.
We had bought 53 pairs of running shoes for the school in Yablunov and so decided to deliver them today. We wanted to get a picture of the kids with the shoes for the record, so got about a dozen of them holding them and standing with the bags of shoes in front of them. Like most kids, they love something new and don’t get much new in orphanages, usually peoples old cast offs.
On our way back we looked at a house that a man told us was for sale for $40.000. We took pictures and thought, what a buy for someone who wanted to live in this small town. It’s a 2 story house sitting on about an acre of land, with the forest as a back drop. Gas, water and electricity as well, this is rare in some of these small towns.
We headed back home and went straight to Marika and her mother Anya’s apartment for a lunch/supper. They had a most interesting old lady with them named Paulina, a cousin of Anya. She was 89 years old and as sharp as a whip. She could still read without glasses, but only large print. She had never married and had worked all her work life on a communist collective farm in Odessa Ukraine. She worked 20 years in the fields and 30 years milking cows by hand. She had 12 cows that were her responsibility. I asked her whether the time under communism was better than now ? She said they were both good! That was a surprising answer, but she said that she now gets a pension for working so long and it is ok.
The most exciting thing was that she was, as far as we could hear, a believer in the Lord Jesus, though still a Catholic. She knew so much of the bible it was refreshing to meet this happy old lady. I took a picture of her alone because I think I could sell it as an advertisement for “Happy Ukrainians”.
So ended another day. Not too many days left so plan a busy week next week.
Dan and Malcolm.
Saturday April 9th
Saturday was not nice day weather wise at all. Rain and some slush snow, and a very cold wind.
Fortunately, we had no plans to travel today so cleaned house, did laundry and got ready for Sunday. Dan was supposed to go swimming at 7am with Vadym but Vadym’s phone ran out of battery and he didn’t wake until 8am. They only swim until 9a.m so it wasn’t worth going.
We went to Andre from Solidarity (some of you will remember that he was our first contact in Ivano) for supper at 5pm. We had a great time with the family, his wife and 2 lovely girls. They have moved to a lovely new duplex home. 3,000sq meters. Massive and lovely. His wife has 100 plants and trees in the house.
Malcolm & Dan
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