Welcome in Belarus!

First day in Belarus and there was no time for hanging about. We were out at the church to get ready for the parties where we’d be dishing out the Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes to disabled and terminally ill children. We blew up many balloons (no prob for me with plenty of hot air) and organised the boxes into boys/girls, then the different ages. The disabled children we met weren’t necessarily affected by Chernobyl, but they still had a hard life as the government did little for them, and many had seen their fathers abandon them when they found out they were disabled. I think the majority of the terminally ill children were affected by the continued fallout from the disaster which happened in 1986. (We had been warned not to drink the tap water, or eat fish/mushrooms as radiation was still present) It was a moving experience. Knowing that most of these children just get this one box, versus what children in our country get for their Christmas – and the gratitude - was very humbling.

We spent the afternoon having a wander around the city of Grodno. First stop was the currency exchange though as we had no rubles. Imagine my delight when I realised my $320 got me 833,600 rubles!! I’ve never felt so loaded in my life... It is funny money though – a 100 ruble note is only worth 0.025p despite sounding like a lot. We did keep getting caught out on that one.

Grodno was lovely but very cold – minus 14. Despite the thermals, there was a chill wind as we wandered about so just as well the company was warm! We explored round the square and some of the shops before meeting the rest of the team for a pizza.
Over the next couple of days we did lots of visits to disabled and ill children in their homes. I think these visits were the most moving part of the trip. Some of the homes were very poor - like a but and ben - and what was really touching was how pleased the families were to see us. By this time in the trip, I was feeling a bit of a fraud as I felt I hadn’t really done anything much. Ok we’d sung a few songs at the parties, helped give out presents and talked to folk – but I didn’t feel like I’d contributed much. However, I came to realise that what was important to the Belarussians was that we had made the effort to come over and to spend time with them, and that we genuinely cared about their situation.

We left Grodno for Minsk on Thursday 8th – a pretty treacherous 2 hr drive because of the ice and snow. However, we arrived safely at our hotel, settled in, then it was out to work! We visited a family who were being accommodated upstairs in the local church as they were homeless. There were three delightful wee girls who had been adopted by a couple. One of the girls, aged four, is suffering from AIDS. That was heartbreaking, especially after hearing of the circumstances of her infection. After that, on to Sergei’s house where he and his wife have adopted eight, yes EIGHT, boys from the local orphanage. They also have two children at their own. Their big heart for these kids and commitment to giving them a better future was admirable and challenging.

Did you know there’s a TGI Fridays in Minsk? Neither did I. It was hilarious – same decor, same signs, same nattily dressed waiting staff........could have been at Aberdeen beach. It was cold enough ;)

PS another house update - survey had been fine so it seems to be sold! Hurrah and thank God :)