Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!  Today we had a special party at the office.  We were able to host the party because my English club took charge of all of the activities, games, and food.  Additionally, a local teacher provided gifts for the children.  So many people came together to make this a special day for eleven children.  The children came to us from an organization that helps protect the rights of those with disabilities.  Each child either had a disability, had a parent with a disability, or came from a poor family.

My English club has been planning for the party for several week.  They came in on a school holiday to prepare as well as spending most of the day today preparing and hosting the party.  They brought snacks to share with the children and prepared some fun games and skits.  The children sang, danced, colored, played games, solved riddles, and watched a puppet show.

It was really fun to see the students in my English club interact with the children.  Many of them had not interacted with a child with disabilities before and they did a wonderful job.  They made sure everyone was included.  My favorite part was when one twin girl (both of whom have Cerebral Palsy) told me "We would come to your office every day if we didn't live so far away."  In the fall these girls' mother described how her children don't like to go to preschool because the children stare at them and don't like to play with them.  I am so glad they enjoyed their time today and didn't feel ostracized.  Their smiles were contagious.

If you would like to see more pictures, you can check out Interlink's Facebook Page.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  I hope you all have a wonderful week as you celebrate Christmas!  I am having a fun time in Shymkent.  It has been snowing all day, so we will even have a White Christmas!  The last week has been a bit crazy, but fun.  Here are some of the highlights.

• Christmas party with the foreigners living in Shymkent
• Laughing with friends
• Learning more about physical therapy for children
• Purchasing equipment for the club we are going to be starting for families of children with disabilities
• Watching Christmas movies
• Decorating Christmas cookies
• Eating lots of yummy treats
• Picking up some books we had stored in Shymkent
• Visiting Savva to give out New Year's gifts
• Driving seven hours in two days
• Purchasing a crock pot (pretty excited that they have these now in Kaz)

A New Experience

My morning English club was able to participate in something brand new for them.  They went with me to do some activities with the 11 children I work with on a weekly basis.  They have a wide range of disabilities, from cleft palates to Cerebral Palsy.  Most of these children had never interacted individually with an individual with a disability.  We spent a couple weeks preparing as we looked at pictures of the children and baked cupcakes.

Last week we spent the morning with the children.  Since New Years is coming up and here they have New Years trees, we had a couple activities related to what we would call a Christmas tree in the States.  The children love having guests, although it does cause a change in routine which causes some of them to act out a bit.  We started off by allowing everyone to introduce themselves as we sat in a circle on the floor.  After introductions, each of the English club students paired off with one child and helped them color a Christmas Tree.

Then came the real fun.  We used construction paper, scissors, and glue to make Christmas trees of our own.  This was a bit of an adventure and I was thankful for the one-on-one interaction.  As I expected, none of the children had ever used scissors or glue.  As a result, our English club students worked with them to teach them how to hold the scissors.  The goal was to have each child do as much of the project as possible.  I was free to help each of the students figure out how to help each child along the way.  The most challenging ones for them included helping Baghdat (who has Cerebral Palsy) and Nurbol (who was born with no arms).  I gave some suggestions and helped out where needed, but they did a great job.

After our craft activity, we moved onto snack time.  Everyone enjoyed the chocolate cupcakes as well as some candy and cookies that were brought by the English club students.  Some of the students had also collected some used stuffed animals to give the children as well as some clothing.  It was fun to see them take the initiative to collect things on their own to bring.

As we drove back to the office, I asked the students what surprised them the most.  One of the answers they gave was that it surprised them how smart the children were.  Often times people assume that because someone has a physical disability they also have a mental disability.  If nothing else came of our visit, these youth now realize that this concept is a false stereotype.  They were touched by these children and will likely want to go back again with me.  I was proud of them for stepping up and interacting in a great way without showing the children their fear or uncertainty.  

Impacting our Community

In October I started two new English clubs.  Instead of just practicing English, I wanted us to focus on volunteering in our community.  We spent October getting to know each other and participating in some team building activities.  In November we started talking about the problems we see around us and brainstorming some ideas of things we could do to make a difference in our community.  The goal is to have at least one volunteering opportunity each month for each group (morning and afternoon).  I wanted them to take initiative and do the planning and preparation.  It has been fun to see what they have come up with.

Since this could be a lot, I'm going to split it into two posts to share about each of the projects separately.  It's fun to watch the youth give back to their communities.  

The morning group felt strongly about trying to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking.  As a result, they came up with the idea of going around town and trading people in the community an item (lollipop, gum, chocolate, or apple) for their cigarettes.  They also searched online for some pictures that demonstrated the harmful effects of smoking.  They spent an hour or two walking around town trying to impact people's lives.  

As we talked about their time, they were frustrated.  They felt like their project wasn't very successful.  They found that most people didn't take them seriously.  They were laughed.  Some people refused to make the exchange.  Others made the exchange because they were youth.  Overall though, they recognized that even those who exchanged cigarettes for another item, didn't change their thinking at all.  

Although it was challenging for them, I think this will give us a chance to learn from our mistakes as we move forward.  They will have the opportunity to learn how to be effective change makers in their community.  I look forward to seeing how they will grow throughout the year.  

Thanksgiving

I found much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.  I ended up celebrating Thanksgiving over a span of eight days … I love elongated holidays.  I found that the initial time I celebrated, things were busy and although I was thankful, I had not really taken the time to dwell on the things I was thankful for.  After eight days, I had many opportunities to once again think about all the ways God has blessed my life.

I spent Thanksgiving morning and lunch with the Stewart family here in Taraz.  We played Settlers and had a really nice lunch.  I always enjoy spending time with them.  In the afternoon I traveled to Shymkent where I would spend the rest of the holiday weekend.  Some friends, who I had gotten to know better when they showed up at the same guest house in Thailand, invited me to spend the weekend with them.  It was a fun weekend mixed with relaxation (watching Christmas movies, watching football, decorating for Christmas) and celebrating the holiday with others.   

Last Friday we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our office staff.  I found some turkey breast when I was in Shymkent, so the food was pretty authentic.  It was my first time cooking turkey breast (I have cooked turkey with a pop-up timer before) and was pretty happy with the results.  I may have to do that more often, even though I'm actually not a fan of turkey.  We had a lot of fun visiting and eating together.  

We also continued a tradition that has been in place on and off since 2006.  Our team started a tablecloth of thanks (from a tradition my mother had started in our home).  Everyone who shared Thanksgiving with us, wrote the date and what they were thankful for on the tablecloth.  When I returned last year, I found the tablecloth and started up the tradition again with our office staff.  This year we enjoyed going around the table looking at what everyone had written last year and then adding the things we were thankful for this year.  It's fun to be able to focus together as a staff on all the ways we have been blessed. 

Thank you for your friendship.  You are such a great blessing to me.