Posted by Daphne, Delegate
The Ulan work group camp turned into the Vanofka work group camp which turned our world upside down. Schedules, agenda, and any form of a plan completely went out the window for this trip. This change of plans allowed us more time with the children at Vanofka which excited me very much. A group of children that I work with in Indiana have been raising money for the children of Vanofka. One of the desires of my heart for this trip was to build a relationship between the children in Indiana and the children at Vanofka. Last year they raised over $800, and Tony Hart was able to visit the Vanofka kids and bring them gifts purchased from the fund but left a remaining balance. The kids goal for 2008 is to raise $1000.
To help build this relationship, the kids in Indiana made cards, sang a song in Kazakh, and wrapped gifts that were purchased with their funds to give as gifts. All of these activities were captured on video and made into a movie for the Vanofka kids to watch.
As plans began to change and the door was shut for us to hold the camp for Ulan kids, the doors opened at Vanofka for us to spend 3 days with them. This has allowed us to spend much more time with them. The director is excited about the fact that we will have time to do some teaching of life lessons, rather than just playing with them, as we have done in the past.
Today was a GREAT day for our team. We arrived and unpacked our supplies and organized ourselves. The kids knew we were coming and were excited to meet us. Sara, Bethany and Karen had all been to Vanofka in the past at some point, but this was Ila and my first time to visit.
We first took a tour of the facility, and I was amazed at how nicely decorated and kept up it was. It is very clean and the kids are so well behaved. We gathered the kids together in the living room space and with our translators’s help explained who had sent the gifts and cards. We let the kids watch the video of the children from Indiana and then gave the gifts (a boy’s pair and a girl’s pair of roller blades, a skate board with helmet and pads, a basketball, a soccer ball, Barbie Dolls, and several games including Jenga, Yahtzee, Skipbo, and Uno).
Paper went flying as the children unwrapped the gifts. Joy and excitement filled the room when they saw all of the toys. The kids were so excited to start playing right away. We were able to show them how to play the games right away. They showed us a few new domino versions as well.
