Just a short post today as it has been a long day and it is now after midnight here.  We spent the day trying to finish off deliveries but it was difficult as it is a holiday here and many people were not home.  The holiday is “Radonitsa”, which in the Russian Orthodox Church is a commemoration of the departed.  People travel to their home villages to visit the cemeteries where their loved ones and ancestors are buried.

We ended the day by travelling to Mogilev to deliver some care packages to some of the kids in our Orphan Education program and then taking them out to dinner.  The kids in the picture below all grew up at the Chausy Orphanage and have become real success stories.  From the left, Nikita is studying construction in Mogilev, Yana is in Forestry in the Northern Vetibsk region and Karina and Katya are both in Chef school in Mogilev.  Vadime is still in High School in Chausy and was helping us deliver the boxes.  He is also friends with the other four.

These kids are all doing very well at school, sticking with their studies and have their lives heading in a positive direction. When we delivered the boxes to Nikita he was very proud to show us his final project, which is due this Friday.  It consisted of about 12 sheets of detailed AutoCad drawings he had created of a large multi-level school.

We are so proud of this group as they have really stuck together and supported each other through life at the orphanage as well as post-secondary education.

Support and guidance provided, success achieved!

Eric McKenzie