Nov 4 - Lawrence
Today we visited one of the orphanages for the older kids - if they aren;t adopted from the baby houses by age seven, they are moved to this facility. Zhas Dauren is about 15 minutes from our apartment and houses about 400 kids. They all seem to be fairly upbeat and well adjusted. When we arrived, we handed out mail from American sponsor families - the children couldn't wait to read the letters form their "families." The sponsor famiies provde support with letters and also about 30 dollars a month - this provides the kids with supplies and necessities and also $900 when they come of age and leave the orphanage - that $900 will pay their first year at the university.
There are children from eleven different nationalities live in our Zhas Dauren children’s community. There are 18 family-groups with 14 to19 children of different ages and grades comprising each group. They live in groups to learn responsibility with the older kids caring for the younger children. 60 % of them are ages 14-18, 40 % of them are ages 7-13. children. There are 5 cottages in the community where 5 of these family-groups live. There are also two and three story buildings in which the other groups live. There is a combination primary and secondary school for students from the 1st through 11th grades. There is a large staff of employees, including teachers, cooks, medical workers, doctors, a librarian, mechanics/metal workers, and carpenters.
The children we met were fairly gregarious, inquisitive about the USA, and quite the hams. Alex quickly made some friends (maybe it was the penguin hat?). We were very impressed with the children, but also concerned as they do not have all they ned to get by - many kids were in open toe sandals/flip flops despite the 30 degree weather and most had fairly worn clothing. - so we have made the determination to sponsor one of the girls and help her get ahead, provide her with an American sponsor family, and give Zarina a big sister back in Kazakhstan.
posted by Lawrence @ 8:30 PM
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