A Special Gift from a Special Person

As you might know meanwhile that we are sponsoring several children in need in Armenia. We always enjoy getting news from them, either by reports from the charity Diaconia or by their own letters which are of course translated from Armenian to German. Sometimes we are even getting gifts from them like self-made pictures or needlework. These gifts are always a special treasure to us.

Today we received such a very special gift which we were very surprised and delighted about – a beadwork picture made by one of “our” girls, Astghik (propably with the help of her mother).

Astghik is the latest of our sponsored children (only since 2011) and the only one we don’t know personally. She is 15 years old and apart from “just” living in deep poverty has to cope with various disabilities and chronic illnesses. This can be tough enough in wealthy countries, but in a country like Armenia, where even healthy people are often struggling with finding a way to earn their living, disabled and chronically ill people hardly ever get a chance. Welfare payments for those unemployed or unable to work are by far not enough for even the most basic needs, let alone for any medical treatment which has to be paid for in full by the patients or their relatives. As long as our sponsorship lasts, Astghik will get basic medical treatment for free, as well as food, clothing and school supplies.

We pray that in the future even when the sponsorship ends she will be able to live a life in dignity and not end up in devastating conditions like far too many people in Armenia!

Exploring London with a Chronic Illness

Travelling in general has become more complicated for me since I gradually developed adhesions as a result of a surgery in 2005. They are now part of my body and that for the rest of my life (unless it pleases God to free me from them). Most likely they won’t kill me, which is a good thing, but they are unpredictable, so I never know what will happen within the following few minutes. I can feel great in one minute and terrible in the next. They can cause more or less severe pain, nausea or bowel issues (which means I have to be careful what and how much I eat), low blood pressure and general indisposition and weakness.

Therefore planning the trip started with how to get to London. Hermann is very fond of going by train, so if I had still been healthy we probably would have taken a train to Paris and the Eurostar from there, but since I’m unable to sit for such long hours it was out of the question. Of course one can move around a bit in a train, but not enough for my needs. So flying was the better option. We took a flight from Stuttgart to Heathrow which meant a little more than one hour by car, about 1.5 hours by plane and from Heathrow another hour by tube.

As accommodation we booked a holiday apartment, so that I could take my time in the morning and was able to eat breakfast in the comfortable clothes I usually wear in the house and with my feet on a chair which helps my blood pressure remain stable. Of course I couldn’t have done these things in a hotel. Also we were able to cook our own food, so that we decided and knew what was in there. For several days we lived on pasta with tomato purée and salad. Not very original, but good for my well-being.

The apartment was quite close to the city centre and had a tube station nearby, so we were able to get back in a rather short period of time, if I started feeling unwell (which wasn’t often the case, thank God!). Also our daily schedule was not as full as that of normal tourists. We took our time in the mornings and sometimes returned to the apartment during the day to take a break before visiting the next destination. For some people this may sound like a terrible waste of time, but it wasn’t for us. We enjoyed just being in London and also in the very comfortable flat. Even though we wished we could have stayed longer we didn’t have the feeling that we had missed anything. Instead of visiting lots of museums and other typical tourist sites, we looked at rather unusual places and met wonderful London people like Gordon and Ruth from Belmont Hall in Harrow, Laura from About London, Lauren a.k.a. Deadly Knitshade and several others – which was worth more than anything else :)

I’m really grateful for having had the opportunity to get to know a different side of London and we are both looking forward to (and planning!) our next visit already which will most certainly not be a typical tourist visit either ;)

Everyday Blogging

I really admire those of you who are keeping up their blogs by writing about everyday happenings. For me this is difficult, because what I find interesting in other blogs I always think others will find boring in mine. I have just finished reading “Jane Austen’s Letters” and I’m astonished how she fills many pages just writing (usually to her sister Cassandra) about what she has done all day, who she met and of course the latest events among family and friends. Of course, personal letters are different than a blog which can be read by anyone. One cannot tell too many details, but I think my inability to write about everyday things is that I’m not a “small talker”. Or rather, I’m just learning to be one. Meanwhile I can talk quite a while about “the weather and the state of the roads”, as Jane Austen would put it ;)

When I think about last week I suppose my most interesting days have been Friday and Saturday. One reason was that from Tuesday till Thursday I suffered from low blood pressure and even had to cancel a dentist appointment. On Friday Hermann and I attended a birthday party and in the evening I released a book into the wild. This is the BookCrossing term for putting a book where other people can find it and hopefully take it home and register it at the BookCrossing site. So I left a book on a park bench (wrapped into a plastic bag, of course). Yesterday morning it had still been there, but I’m hoping for many passers-by today afternoon, especially as the weather is fine, and that one of them will take the book.

Yesterday we received the good news that one of the Armenian children we are sponsoring no longer needs our help, because the family is doing much better financially. We also received the request to support another child, which we agreed to. Astghik is 12 years old and suffering from cerebral palsy and eye problems. As if this wasn’t enough her father left the mother before the child’s birth, so the two have to get along by themselves. At least the girl is able to attend school despite her disabilities and via the sponsorship she can get some medical help, too, apart from other things like food and clothing.

This afternoon I hope to be able to go for a walk, but this depends on what Miss Migraine says.

This Makes Your Heart Cry

I found the video above on Renee’s blog and I just had to show it here as well. This little girl is just one of many helpless children who suffer from disease, starvation, neglect, etc. The reason for this is certainly NOT that there in not enough money in this world:

Green Pastures

This is a project Hermann and I have been supporting for a while. I had met the initiators, a US American couple, in 2004, just before the project was starting and – thinking of my own mentally disabled brother – liked the idea immediately. “Green Pastures” is a centre for children with special needs in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. Here they do not only get therapy, but also the parents and relatives can meet and receive information about their child’s particular needs. Meanwhile they even have a day-care centre, where the children can acquire some abilities which in western countries would be taught in special schools. Thinking of the fact that in many countries of the former Soviet Union disabled people are at the lowest end of society and many children are hidden by their parents because they fear the “shame”, not to talk about therapy or schooling for such kids, this centre makes a remarkable difference and I hope that by and by it also contributes to changing the view of the local society on disabled people!