60th Anniversary Celebration

Today was the 60th Anniversary celebration for the Shchuchinsk baby house, and also happened to be national childrens' day. Yes, Kazakhstan has a holiday for children. A number of important officials were in attendance: the governor of Shchuchinsk, the Head of the Ministry of Education, Head Doctor at the Regional Hospital, and someone from the Ministry of Health. They all gave speeches at the end of the festivities, and most gave gifts to the Director of the baby house.

The celebration was wonderful. It was about an hour long, full of skits, games, dances, and music. Both the children and the staff participated. The kids were very enthusiastic, and when they competed in games against the staff, they always seemed to win.

Linda and I also did our bit, as promised. "Itsy Bitsy Spider" went over very well with the kids, as did "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (though the adults in the audience were reluctant to participate in the latter. Then I played a borrowed guitar and Linda and I sang two verses of "Schlaf, Kindlein," a lullaby I wrote years ago. We dedicated the song to the babyhouse staff, and promised to record it when we return to the States, and send CDs. We will include a Russian verse, and if we can get someone here to work up a Kazakh verse, we might do that, too, somehow.

Tucker, by the way, sat through the whole thing like a real trooper, only getting a little restless near the end. Bacca was involved in the festivities only a little, and we didn't see her one-on-one at all today.

The staff of the baby house are truly amazing. It's humbling to see what these ladies do for these children every day, and then to see what they do for a celebration like this on top of everything else the do... it's unbelievable. We've been interviewing some of the staff for our video, and it's heartwarming to hear many of them talk about how much they love their job and admire their coworkers and adore the children, in the same breath as saying they wish their job didn't have to exist.

We spent dinnertime over at the Louca family's home away from home (the cottage), and had a sumptuous meal of various prepared salads and meats, as well as a variety of desserts, including a baked apple dish that Sirka made up.