We made another visit to the Chechen refugee camp Sunday. But this time we brought with us a moonbounce and slide! Oh... and a unicyclist :) The sheer amazement and awe in the children's faces (and I should add adult faces also) was worth a thousand Christmases for me. I can't think of another place I would have rather been than with these people on Sunday. And even though this was one of the best days in my life, I really hate the fact that I need to write about it here. It's not that I don't want everyone to know about it, it's that I lack the writing ability to paint an accurate picture for you of what it felt like to be there! We could have cut the excitement with a knife it was so thick... but there was also this holiness that was there among us. Pure and real.
I've never seen the children so calm and orderly. They actually waited in line the entire time we were there for a turn down the slide and time to jump. No fighting. No pushing. A complete 180 from our first meeting. A school counselor came, who is wanting to cooperate with us, and thought it may work better if some of the kids who were standing in line came to play with the parachute for a while and later the groups could switch. I couldn't help myself by blurting out with a big grin on my face, " What you're looking at is a miracle! It's not terrible that they're standing in line... it's an absolute miracle!" She caught my drift. The men came and supervised all the happenings- making sure that no one cut in line or went out of turn. The men even asked me to take their pictures (a sign of less uneasiness and trust towards us) although I must still blur their faces since most men are wanted by the Russian authorities for crimes against the state.
To view more pics click here. We will be going back in November for a big Chechen feast that they have invited us to. They want to serve and bless us! Wow... something we never expected. And more ways to help out?! The group is in huge need of diapers... the Polish gov't doesn't provide for that in the health care system and since the Chechens don't have work permission yet they don't have money for this. So you can donate money to diapers for all the little babies and pregnant women.
I've never seen the children so calm and orderly. They actually waited in line the entire time we were there for a turn down the slide and time to jump. No fighting. No pushing. A complete 180 from our first meeting. A school counselor came, who is wanting to cooperate with us, and thought it may work better if some of the kids who were standing in line came to play with the parachute for a while and later the groups could switch. I couldn't help myself by blurting out with a big grin on my face, " What you're looking at is a miracle! It's not terrible that they're standing in line... it's an absolute miracle!" She caught my drift. The men came and supervised all the happenings- making sure that no one cut in line or went out of turn. The men even asked me to take their pictures (a sign of less uneasiness and trust towards us) although I must still blur their faces since most men are wanted by the Russian authorities for crimes against the state.
To view more pics click here. We will be going back in November for a big Chechen feast that they have invited us to. They want to serve and bless us! Wow... something we never expected. And more ways to help out?! The group is in huge need of diapers... the Polish gov't doesn't provide for that in the health care system and since the Chechens don't have work permission yet they don't have money for this. So you can donate money to diapers for all the little babies and pregnant women.
