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BOROVLIANI
HOSPITAL - APRIL 2002 CONVOY. |
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| 6.00 am on
Saturday 20th April and 6 blurry-eyed
youngsters from the Llanrumney Youth
Inclusion Project joined the volunteers
to make up the 22 strong team ready to
leave for 12 days hard slog getting to,
working in, and coming home from,
Belarus. |
| The team
also included Sarah Nason, a
producer and camera-woman
working for Channel 4, making 4
fifteen-minute documentaries
about the Youth Inclusion
Project for the Channel 4 News
which are due to be shown in
June. |
Sarah was always on duty. |
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| The 3-day drive
to Belarus was fairly uneventful but was
still, noticeably, the vital start to
the bonding process of the team. There
are those who have suggested that they
would prefer to fly out and meet the
team in Belarus, but they would just be
"strangers in the camp" and so it is not
something we like to encourage unless
there are medical reasons for it. |
Pit stop in Germany. |
Border Crossing in Poland. |
Driving across Poland. |
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| Our arrival in
Minsk on Monday afternoon saw us
heading, with great excitement for those
who had been before, straight to the
Novinki Orphanage to say hello to the
children. As always we were given a
wonderful reception and the atmosphere
was full of emotion. For those making
their second visit there were tears of
joy and almost disbelief that the
children remembered them; for the
newcomers the tears were from shock and
disbelief mixed with despair at what
they were seeing. They couldn't
comprehend that the improvements to the
children's lives were vast, but they had
no comparison other than to British
standards of child-care. Had any of the
team seen Novinki 5 years ago, they
would have marvelled at its progress. |
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A
very tired team outside our
"home" |
Following a
quick tour of the orphanage we
moved on to settle into the
accommodation that we had rented
for the duration of our stay. It
was a very grand house in
Borovliani and conveniently near
to the hospital where our work
was to be done.
People were allocated beds and
house rules were quickly
established. Supplies were
bought, a meal was cooked and we
managed to unwind and relax
enough to get ready for the next
few days of hard work. |
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Main Corridor. |
The
Belarusian workmen, we had
employed to do the preparatory
work, had done an absolutely
fabulous job. They had pulled
down the old and rotten ceiling,
replacing it with modern
fittings and lighting. Rooms
were built where an empty alcove
in the corridor had been, a row
of tiles had been placed around
the skirting as requested by the
staff to combat damp and all the
walls had been repaired as
necessary. Sergei and Sasha
continued working alongside us
throughout the week and quickly
became part of the team.
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The rotten ceiling. |
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| Despite the
tremendous amount of work done by our
new friends there was still an awful lot
of work to get through before the
planned Opening Ceremony. |
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| Everybody pulled
together, youngsters working alongside
adults like "best friends". Before we
left some of the boys had been attending
a Painting and Decorating Course run by
the Youth Inclusion Project and they
were able to put their newfound skills
to good use |
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Empty alcove where patients
play. |
There
were times when the workload
became too much and there
would be youthful pranks and
paint fights; but for the
most of the time, everybody
took the job very seriously. |
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| Thursday morning
saw us having the opportunity to "dress
up" as we had been invited to the
British Embassy, by the Ambassador His
Excellency Iain Kelly and wife Linda,
for morning coffee. I was very touched
to learn that, as the mother of two
teenage boys, Mrs Kelly had been up half
of the night baking cakes and "brownies"
that she knew our boys would enjoy. |
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His
Excellency had agreed to sign a
Certificate of Achievement for
each of our youngsters, and
following a very moving speech
about his "humble" beginnings
and how determination and hard
work can win through (which duly
prompted a couple of the boys to
ask him for a job!) he presented
them each with their
Certificate, a football shirt
(in Cardiff City colours) and a
Union Flag tie-pin. |
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| We were all
hugely proud of our young men as they
stood posing for their photograph, and
the expression on their faces afterwards
showed that they were rather pleased
with themselves as well. |
David shares his proud moment
with Bill. |
Matthew shows off his
Certificate to Phil. |
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| One special
moment over with and it was time to get
back to the hospital and finish getting
everything ready for the next day - the
Official Opening, with the ceremonial
"cutting of the ribbon" to be done by
Mrs Linda Kelly. There was still plenty
to get done. Painting needed to be
finished, floors needed polishing, and
we still hadn't bought the carpet, lino,
television and videos, nor the food and
champagne for the reception. |
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By 11 o'clock
on Friday morning we had done
it. It was wonderful to be able
to greet Mrs Kelly and the
Director of Borovliani, Anna
Victorovna, with a team by my
side all sporting their "Leaves
of Hope"
T-Shirts and bursting with pride
at their achievement. And proud
they deserved to be! On opening
the doors to the wing, Mrs Kelly
just stood in wonderment and
Anna Victorovna cried. She said
"At last my prayers have been
answered". |
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Click here to see the
"Before and
After" photographs |
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| There is still a
lot to be done before we can say we have
finished our work in Borovliani, but we
have made a huge start, and given a huge
incentive to the next teams going out in
August and September. The Youth
Inclusion Projects from Llanrumney in
Cardiff and Kingstanding in Birmingham
will be more than occupied in decorating
the 14 wards on the wing, but we
desperately need help from professional
plumbers, electricians and tilers as the
bathroom and toilets are in the most
deplorable state. |
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Should you
know of anyone who would like to
volunteer time and skills,
please
EMail us.
We are also seeking to provide
support by providing medical
equipment and have lots of
exciting ideas about twinning a
UK based hospital with
Borovliani.
Watch this
space for more information. |
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Our
heartfelt thanks go to the following for
their help and support:
The team: Lynda Williams, Peggy Murphy,
Phil Carney, Peggy Wallace, Bill Leigh,
Bob Porretta, Maxine Jones, Diane Evans,
Ceri Davies, Andy Goode, Yvonne and Mike
Wigg, Ann Lock, Rhiann Martin, Garry
Hennah, Christopher Smith, Matthew
Monaghan, Wayne Dacruz, Luke Cachia,
David Smith and Channel 4's Sara Nason.
Our Families and friends;
Margaret Bamford;
R&J Computers;
Ivor Cox;
Jeanette & Malcolm Aspinall;
Joan Mears;
The Llanrumney Community Church;
Llanrumney Youth Inclusion Project; |
Mowlem Construction; |
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Legal and General;
BCB Survival;
Rowan Tree Construction;
Cardiff County Council Staff;
Cardiff County Community Education
Service;
The Powerhouse Community Centre,
Llanedeyrn; |
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The Powerhouse Youth Club
Pantmawr Residents Association
(Rhiwbina);
Residents of the Pantmawr Estate;
Cyncoed Floral Group;
Mrs Llewellyn and friends from Beulah
Church;
Swansea University Students;
James McCarthy;
Charter Housing;
The Nappy Lady and customers;
Nappy Days;
Lollipop Children's Products;
The Jersey New Life Christian
Fellowship;
P&O Stenna Line;
The Salvation Army, Walker Road, Splott,
Cardiff;
Cyncoed Methodist Church;
His Excellency the British Ambassador
and Mrs Iain Kelly. |
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