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AUTUMN
CONVOY 2003. |
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| Other people’s
rubbish is neither helpful nor of use to
the Belarusians and that is why we
carefully select the aid to transport
across. We discuss with each recipient
what would be of the most use to them
and concentrate on collecting that.
Transportation costs are expensive and
there is little to be served by spending
money taking a lorry load of useless
materials twice a year when we can take
one lorry once a year with vital
equipment. |
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| And so the autumn
convoys 2003 started as always with the
processing of the wonderful donations of
aid from members of the public,
hospitals, local authorities, businesses
and schools from all over the country. |
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| We roped in as
many people as possible to help us load
our valuable cargo onto the lorry that
was driving it overland to Borovliani
where it would be cleared by customs and
distributed to all the hospitals,
polyclinics, boarding schools and
orphanages that were on our list. The
response to our request for help was
wonderful, even 5 year old Ellis Murphy
was on hand to “supervise” the packing! |
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| Some three hours
later the lorry was ready to set off on
its 1,500 mile journey to Minsk. One
week later we would be setting off with
the first convoy team to join it. |
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The
first team included five
boys from the Llanrumney
Youth Inclusion Project and
Peer Education Group, and
the usual cramped conditions
and cooking on the roadside
were accepted readily by
all.
We were
planning to build a
playground for the children
in the hospital to enjoy and
thought that it would
brighten the whole of the
outside area if we decorated
the walls and fencing with
brightly coloured boards. |
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Unfortunately, upon our arrival,
we discovered that the
playground area was nowhere near
ready for our input and the
Authorities were not prepared to
let us decorate the outside
walls of a hospital. So, what to
do? I had a team of willing
workers with essentially nothing
to do. Frustration and boredom
were going to set in unless I
could keep them occupied and
focussed on something positive.
We would decorate the boards and
hopefully come up with an idea
of where to put them. |
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Of
course, some of the time was
spent doing what the
majority of us enjoy the
most – playing with the
children, and especially the
abandoned babies, in the
hospital. The youngsters in
our groups always seem to go
home with one child that
they call their own, and
this trip’s boys were no
exception. I am still being
asked “How’s my baby?”
whenever I see the boys. |
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| Margaret Bamford
had told me of an excellently run
boarding school in Borissov, about 60km
from Minsk, that needed our help and a
visit there had been planned. We had
brought equipment over for the school in
the aid lorry and I was able to confirm
with the Director that Margaret had
managed to get everything that she
needed. Our discussions clarified for me
exactly the help needed. I was given a
tour of the school and had an
opportunity to meet some of the children
and then arranged to bring the team down
the next day to give the children a
party. To our delight we were treated to
a little concert and then spent time
dancing and playing with the children
before their lunch and bedtime. |
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| It was quite
apparent that the staff care for their
children and work hard at keeping the
school in good decorative order. There
was lots around to suggest that
stimulation was considered essential and
with this encouraging thought in mind we
decided to offer the school the
decorative boards we were making to
brighten the outside of their building.
They were thrilled at the idea and
whilst the children were having lunch we
started putting the boards on the wall.
The job was bigger than we had expected
and a group volunteered to come back the
next day to get things finished. It
looked great and the school was happy,
the children were happy, and the team
were happy |
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| The boy’s team
were safely home and it was time for us
to be joined by the six girls from
Llanrumney YIP and Peer Education
groups. Ann Lock was staying with me for
both convoys and the two of us went with
Luda to wait at the Minsk border for
their arrival. |
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| From there we
escorted them across the city to
Borovliani, where they had their first
taste of Belarusian life. For some it
was great to be back, but for the
newcomers tiredness and anxiety got the
better of them. It was particularly
touching for me to discover that one of
the mum’s of the patients had organised
a play for our weary travellers and, as
much as they were desperate to get to
the hostel for that badly needed shower
and hot meal, the team enjoyed and
appreciated the gesture. |
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| The playground
area was now ready for our involvement
and while the women all painted,
jig-sawed, sandpapered and varnished
their way through the boards to decorate
the fencing and trees, our three men
worked hard helping their Belarusian
workmates. |
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| Despite all of
the labour intensive grafting, no matter
when I walked into the unit, there was
always somebody cuddling, feeding,
changing the nappy of or playing with a
baby. It was lovely to witness. Suddenly
all the abandoned babies who so often
lie silent (what’s the point of
crying – no-one can come) are alert
and responding so positively to all
around them. |
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| Whilst the first
team were out, we had come across an
absolutely delightful child called
Sveta. Four year old Sveta lived in the
Zhdanovitchi orphanage for mentally
handicapped children and was in hospital
being treated for a minor complaint.
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| We discovered a
bright, but painfully shy and withdrawn
child, who’s Mother was a long-term
patient in one of the city’s adult
asylums. Sveta was diagnosed as being
“backward” when the Psychologist
assessing her could not get the child to
speak. We wanted to learn more about her
and, along with some of the second team,
set off to Zhdanovitchi to do just that. |
| The Director and
staff of the orphanage made us very
welcome and it was lovely to see all of
the children out in the grounds playing
in the fresh air. We found Sveta almost
immediately and enjoyed then playing
with the children and having our full
tour. |
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Our team got
so much pleasure out of being
with these delightful children,
everybody was moved. It was
obvious that the staff cared for
them and did their best to make
life as interesting as their
very limited budget would allow. |
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We met a
little boy called Igor who
suffered from an appalling
skin condition caused by the
after-effects of Chernobyl.
It seemed that he was so
used to never being picked
up that when Lydia did pick
him up it was a bit of a
shock. He very quickly
adapted to having attention
and thoroughly enjoyed the
treats. |
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| Despite
everybody’s hard work, time was against
us. There was no way that we were going
to get the playground completely
finished before we left. The team had
made a valiant effort though and an
opening ceremony was held on behalf of
both groups and the girls dutifully
christened the area with the finest of
Belarusian Champagne. |
| The Belarusian
workmen continued after we left and it
was not very long after we were home
that the first photographs of the
finished area filtered through. We still
need some more equipment in there and in
the spring we shall be landscaping it,
but as it stands it is a huge
improvement on what was waste land and
the children are enjoying the
facilities. |
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| Both teams were
invited to the British Embassy for
coffee by HE British Ambassador Brian
Bennett. His Excellency is very
supportive for our work with the
socially excluded young and always makes
time to see us to present the young
people with their Certificate of
Achievement. |
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| This summer’s two
groups were no exception and whereas the
boys were uncharacteristically shy, the
girls chatted away merrily showing no
signs of inhibitions by their rather
splendid surroundings. |
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The playground
was not the only project that we have
seen through this summer, but experience
has taught us that there are some jobs
best left to the experts and the
refurbishing of the toilets was no
exception.
I am delighted to report that our two
faithful friends, Sasha and Sergei,
worked tirelessly and skilfully to
completely transform the toilets into
something unrecognisable. This included
the building of a disabled toilet and a
wash area. The whole place looks utterly
fantastic and I am so looking forward to
seeing it at Christmas. |
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My
thanks go to:
Luda Tagay, her family and Ann Lock, all
of whom put up with me for nearly a full
month in Belarus and gave their endless
support.
Dr Anna Victorovna, Dr Tereza Ivanovna
and their staff at Borovliani hospital
for, once again, tolerating the mayhem
that comes with the benefits of having
us there.
Sergei, Sasha and Vitalik for their
fantastic workmanship, great
imagination, friendship and loyalty.
Margaret Bamford for her endless sources
of aid.
Ivor Cox for keeping on top of my
demands with our website. |
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| The Teams: |
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Boys:
Joseph Anzani, Aaron Morgan,
Liam Roberts, Christopher
Smith and Karl Sprayson.
Volunteers: Malcolm Bates,
Ceri Davies, Jayne Hobby,
Maxine Jones, Ann Lock,
Peggy Murphy, Lynda Rosser,
Andrea Tuck and Lynda
Williams. |
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Girls:
Gemma Bunce, Stacey Dean,
Charlene Forster, Sarah
King, Rachael Tarr and Sarah
Todd.
Volunteers: Cheryl Cawte,
Claire Cawte, Gareth
Croxton, Anthony Forster,
Maria Forster, Nicola
Griffiths, Paulette
Hanscombe, Ann Lock, Keith
(Freddie) Moorhead, and
Lydia Spurrier-Dawes. |
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Llanrumney Community
Church;
Charles Gee and Co;
Legal & General;
Glebelands Day Centre, Shoreham, West
Sussex;
Royal Surrey Hospital;
Staff and users of The Powerhouse
Community Education Centre, Llanedeyrn;
Cardiff County Council Community
Education Staff;
Jim Hughes;
Hilary and Colin Rampton (Hong Kong);
Gail Armstrong and Colin Davies;
Gill and Philip Cordery;
Gina and Gerry Daniels;
Dave Crump;
Jan Kelly;
The Lock Family (Brentwood);
Val Burt and colleagues at The Theatre
Royal and Lipson Vale Primary School,
Plymouth;
Ann Way and friends;
Phyllis Thomas;
Ysgol Bro Eirwg, Llanrumney;
Jackie Liburd;
Joan Mears;
Jeanette and Malcolm Aspinall;
Emyr Roberts;
Mark Runacres;
Staff and customers of The Railway Inn,
Ely Bridge, Cardiff;
Pathway Care Independent Fostering
Services and their staff;
Rowan Tree Construction;
Glenwood Church, Cardiff;
Students and staff of The Cardiff Basic
Skills Service and Family Learning
Project;
Everybody who helped in any way at all. |
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