#HelloWorld

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Trying to weave a fence, one of my finished mini fences, laying a path and meeting a beautiful puppy!

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Super behind on these. Whoops!

Day 5 was a long day we were up and out of the centre by 7:45am. We drove around 3 hours to get to Mama Irina's house.

Mama Irina supports 6 girls by herself. She does an incredible job in a house she built with the help of her 2 grown up son's. We went to Mama Irina's house to help her in her garden and her home. We wanted to bless her. To do some of the hard work for her, and boy was it hard work!

We made a garden path, wove fences, fit structures around the windows to make them more secure and insulated. Plastered walls, moved cut down trees, re-wired electrics, chopped firewood and more!

Mama Irina even took it upon herself to teach me to make Pluska - a traditional Belarussian desert which is a little like cinnamon swirls. 

Mama Irina felt called to foster the girls, she told us she was a little strict with the girls but this is because she loves them so much. She's given a lot for the girls and works incredibly hard looking after them by herself. She's a strong woman. And the love in her home was shown in her girls who were constantly looking for each other, helping each other.

Mama Irina is cultivating a culture of love and care in young people for young people.

It was an honour to serve her.

It's said that those who bless are blessed. I felt that on this day - after all the work we did and eating my attempt at the belarussian desert of Plushka I got to meet their newly born goat, a 1 week old kitten and a 4 week old puppy!!

Those who know me know I love animals so this was immense! 

I won't forget Mama Irina.

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I met my baby sister at Natasha and Leyosha's house! Naasdyia. Beautiful and lovely girl who's parents didn't deserve to have her anyway. She is settling into her foster family really well.

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Day 4

This morning we went to a meeting an hour away. This will be described in much more detail once we're back safe..! It was beautiful and moving and humbling.

This afternoon was so much fun. We went to bless an incredible family, Leyosha and his wife Natasha. They have 3 of their own children, 2 young foster children, one fostered baby and are currently processing the documents for another foster baby! 

It was an absolute honour to spend time with this family today and I feel a lot of love for them. They are so caring and kind it can be felt in their home, they fill their children with hope and support them in so many ways.  I felt proud to be able to say I spoke with them, heard their story and was able to support them along with the rest of the team that visited by just spending time with them and playing with the children and eating the incredible well BBQ'd chicken shashlik! 

Leyosha is a huge blessing to Andrew and Avril who run TopKids. Leyosha and Natasha once came round for dinner, some time after the meal Leyosha disappeared. Andrew found him later chopping all the wood for the winter as he knew Andrew would struggle. (Leyosha is also HUGE!). Some time later when the next supply of fire wood arrived Leyosha returned with friends to chop all the wood. This says a lot about his attitude and shows you a lot about their family - they are all generous and kind.

Natasha is also an incredible singer and after a long afternoon of playing football, table tennis, play fighting, drawing she sang and played guitar to us.

I must also confess that myself and the baby got on very well, I made him laugh and Sam (almost) made him cry! :) He's a beautiful baby that was adopted from the baby ward at the hospital by Leyosha and Natasha. The babies mother struggled with alcohol and was even present at the hospital when the baby was taken but did not say goodbye. Alcohol is a problem for the women here as well as the men and although the government will try and help her over the next 6 months if she wants to try and get the baby back there is still a feeling of little hope across Belarus and so the drinking continues.

Before we left we were able to share some more gifts with the children; water balloons went down incredibly well! We also left with them lots of sweets, colouring pens, colouring pencils, papers and stickers.

I hope very much to visit this family again one day and can only hope the family I may have one day feels a lot like theirs.

*******Pictures to come**********

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Day 3

Saturday was a rest day and felt very needed.

The boys went to experience a Belarussian tradition; visiting the Banya. I shan't describe it too much but be careful googling it and looking for images..! It's a little like visiting a steam room or sauna and involves hitting yourself with a branch. Its very ritualistic and symbolises cleansing.

I accompanied Avril on a small food shop and we stopped by 2 indoor markets. One was built during the Soviet Union and the other afterwards. The difference in the buildings was astounding and although Uusda (the area) was quiet is was interesting to see Avril so excited about now being able to buy certain produce locally. For many people walking or driving 15 minutes to a shop to buy everything you need for the month just isn't possible.

In the afternoon we walked around a huge lake. Belarus is full of lakes and they are all incredibly beautiful. Belarus is very green and full of forests and meadows and lakes, it's easy to forget how beautiful nature is, especially if you live in Birmingham, UK!

My Russian is also much better! I still don't understand the alphabet at all but I can at least say hello, please, thankyou and bye which is sufficient!

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Day 2 (The afternoon):

This afternoon we went to a preét. This is a childrens shelter. There were 9 children here and these children will stay in the preét until they are taken in by a foster family. The children should only stay in the shelter for a maximum of 6 months, although it is a loving and suitable place it’s a lot like a school and is a little institutional. Unfortunately there were some children in the preét that had been there for 2 years. We entered the shelter each carrying lots of teddy’s - we’d bought with us one teddy for each of the children staying at the shelter.

Many of the children here had lost their fathers through alcohol and in most cases their mothers were unable to continue to care for the children alone. Usually the government will work with the families to resolve this but unfortunately some children need to be removed from their family all together.

After looking around the shelter and hearing how some of the children came to be there we went to play with them in the sun. We spent almost 3 hours outside playing football, volleyball, tag and some Russian ball games  that the children taught us, It was great to just hear them laughing and cheering and enjoying the day.

Before we left we shared with the children some treats. Below in a previous post you can see one of the children with their sweets. The children don’t often get gifts so it was lovely to bless them in that way and see their faces as we shared the sweets and toys with them.

T

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Day 2:

Today we learnt about the hold that vodka has on this nation, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Vodka is cheap $3-4 for half a litre and many turn to it. In the homes today we learnt that many fathers drown after drinking too much. This story was to be repeated a lot.

This morning we visited Valentina and her family. Valentina has 8 foster children (here in Belarus fostering is similar to adoption). We spent some time hearing Valentina’s story and she told us about how some of the children had come to her and also the work she does in ensuring they learn various social and life skills that they weren’t able to learn at home. Her home is incredibly loving. We’d also bought aid to Valentina - in the winter they were cut off for 5 days because the snow was so deep. Their clothes were wrecked clearing the snow so we bought them boxes of winter clothes for the next season.

After hearing from Valentina we went outside to play with the children. We played football and had a laugh with them as they picked on Sam and another volunteer, Vladeem. Before we left we gave them gifts from England; some sweets, pens, crayons, stickers and some nail varnish for the girls

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Sacsha enjoying his sweets from the UK.

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First Full Day in Belarus

Preveét!

This day in Belarus is a national holiday, 'Victory day'! Which means we were able to stay at the centre to recover from the journey here, or so we thought..

Today we've been working on an outbuilding at the centre we're staying out. This centre houses the full time volunteer team as well as visiting teams. The dream is to build additional homes on this 3.47 hector site to host the foster families to allow for local support for them and their children.

During the heavy snow last month a large out building collapsed. This building was going to be used for children's play spaces. The team have decided to pull down the remainder of the wooden structure so that the space can be cleared and the building rebuilt. Along with local volunteers we've spent most of today armed with chainsaws, crowbars and hammers to aid in the organised destruction of the building! 

We also got to spend some time with the father of one of the charities foster families. They have 3 of their own children (aged 14, 7 and 3), one fostered 3 year old and yesterday an adoption for a baby was cleared (they are also awaiting the clearance for another baby!!)! We were able to hear a little bit about what his family does to support the children of Belarus and it was very humbling.

Also I wouldn't be British if I didn't also mention the fact that it's sunny and hot, people in Belarus airports don't queue properly and I'm a buffet for mosquitos.. 

Over.

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We arrived at the airport in belarus at midnight last night and I needed the toilet.

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We've arrived safely in Frankfurt! Currently sat in the sun whilst we await our connecting flight to Minsk.

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I have the best colleagues and friends! Thanks for all the donations guys!

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We're Going to Belarus!

Me and my brother are heading to Belarus to support the charity Top Kids. We're incredibly excited to be able to support the incredible work they're doing and to be able to bring a little light and love to their world.

Feel free to check back here and we'll update as much as we can to let you know how the trip is going! 

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It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.

- Mother Teresa

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Want to learn more about the charity we're supporting?

Want to donate? 

Visit their website :)