One of the highlights for the Canadians every trip is the “Day of the Angel Party”.  The Rotary Clubs of Brockville have been supporting the celebration of Birthdays twice a year for this special group of children.  They also provide medical assistance and special needs to help improve the quality of life and have been doing so for the past eight years!  This local group is here to help support the “Families of Invalid Children” and is headed up by an amazing woman, Irina Denisyenko (seen at the right in the photo below).

On behalf of the Rotarians, Dave Shaw (seen above) addressed the children and their families expressing congratulations on their Birthdays and wishing them health and happiness, through one of our interpreters, Tanya Gorivaya.

Neil Matheson (seen in previous post) and Lisa Axworthy (seen below) are the coordinators of the Guardian Angel Program and their tireless efforts help see that the help gets to the right families when they need it.

The party is a real celebration, not only do we get to celebrate the children, but they show us their appreciation for everything we do.  It is really a special treat for these children to be recognized as important and loved.  This little fellow was dressed up in his finest clothes for the occasion!

It is easy to look around and see the love and care given to these children by their families.

Of course our good friend Sasha Krasikov was there with his mother Lena.  Sasha has brittle bone disease and has been to Canada for medical attention.  He always has an ear-to-ear smile for the Canadians!

This boy was so proud that I wanted his picture he could hardly contain himself!  What a joy spending time with these kids, there is entertainment and lots of games that the Canadians participate in with the children.  Everyone leaves with a warm glow!

All of our deliveries are at a standstill until we get approval, which we hope will come in time for the weekend.  In the meantime all other projects take priority.  Stephen MacKinnon is busy working with the children at the Chausy Orphanage.  Today he was training two of the students to head up an “e-pals” project.  This is where the children are paired up with students from Athens District High School for a modern version of “pen-pals”.  The children will communicate through a special secure e-mail system specifically for this purpose.  In the picture below you can see three of the kids writing out their messages prior to entering them in the computer.  They were very excited and are anticipating replies very soon!

Progress was also made today on the foundation for the Poultry Barn.  Here the crew is preparing the forms for the pouring of the cement pad.

Here it is at the end of the day ready for cement tomorrow.

Lot’s of excitement and activity to come, especially once the shipment is released.

Eric McKenzie