Today we started in Mogelev. We went to a department store and bought some craft supplies for the children of the Klimovichi Orphanage. This money was donated by a man in New Zealand who has been following our blogs and watching the videos. He wanted to do something to help children here in Belarus so this was a fantastic contribution for these kids. More on this tomorrow when we make the delivery. Here we are picking out the supplies in the “Gum” store (pronounced “goom”) in Mogelev:

Our first stop was a visit with Yulia Sipailo and her mother. Yulia had a kidney transplant in Poland last fall thanks to the help of Don & Shirley Green of Brockville. This intelligent young girl was attending University as well as spending 4 hours three times a week in dialysis! This is an amazing success story that I will expand upon later with a video interview that I shot while I was there. Here is Yulia with her Mom and Dave Shaw:

Our next stop was to visit with Andre Lisov also in Mogelev. Andre also received a kidney transplant (in Moscow) courtesy of Don and Shirley Green approximately 3 years ago. He is doing terrific and is even talking about marriage with his girlfriend, he says he will invite Dave to the wedding! Here is a picture of him with CAC’s Nadia Neilson (on left) his Mom, Dad, nephew and Dave Shaw:

His Mother is an amazing cook and baker and would not let us go without tea, food and her excellent baking:

We made a quick stop at Belarus’s answer to Costco, it is called “Hippo” (pronounced gee-poh) and it is huge and unlike any other store here. If you want to feel like you are back in North America, this is a good place to stop:

Our next stop was at a little girl who’s sister is currently living in Canada with Dave’s brother and sister-in-law. Her birthday was the previous week so we stopped in and Dave presented her with birthday gifts and some fresh fruit:

We made it back to Chausy in time to attend a pancake supper at Sasha Kraskov’s home. His Mom, Lena is so thankful for everything that has been done for Sasha that she always invites the group out for “Canadian” pancakes. For more info on Sasha please click here. Recently money was raised to install a well at their home as they previously had to walk 100 metres to get water for themselves as well as all of their animals. This new well was installed right in the front yard. Here is Lena with Dave and her new well:

Just before leaving for Belarus we picked up some Maple Syrup for Sasha at Edgewood Farms. When they found out it was for Sasha they gave us some Maple Candy and a colouring book which I presented to Sasha before dinner. He was pretty excited to receive it:

Here is Lena serving up her pancakes:

All in all a great day with a wonderful finish.

Eric