Dasha's Diaries: Dwelling in the Shelter...

As predicted, a light rain fell on Sumy on and off all day, Tuesday. As we prayed, we asked God to protect all the families who had appointments and to hold back any barriers that would hinder them from coming to the clinic. With a few new strategies in place, our clinic opened on time. The doors to the wheel chair storage room were now locked and we had a new system which allowed only 2 family members to come into the clinic while the patient was being fitted. These two changes made a big difference in the flow of our work.

Vladik, learning how to drive

Vladik and his mother, Sveta, live in a one room apartment on the 5th floor of their building. Vladik is 15 years old and has CP, like most of the other children we served. He was a sweet young man and his mother said Vladik's father left them when he found out the child was disabled. Up until today, Vladik never owned a wheel chair. He could walk, slowly, by holding on to his mother's hand. When he leaves the apartment building, he has to pull himself up the stairs to the fifth floor to return home. Sveta left her job to care for Vladik and to home school him; they live off of government assistance. We saw them at the rehab center a couple of times after he was given a wheel chair because he comes there a couple of times a week for therapy. Once Cindy and Ura got the chair ready, Vladik could hardly wait to get in and start wheeling himself around. He grinned from ear to ear with excitement as he pushed the wheels and made circles, turned corners and went forward and back. Mobility is a very special gift for someone who has never had it before. The exuberant joy on Vladik's face was priceless. I have to hand it to his mom, Vladik was impeccably clean, polite and happy. I encouraged her in her role as caretaker and single mother. Her whole life is dedicated to caring for this child. Sveta gets an A+ in my book for good parenting. Vladik got a denim bag for his chair to match his denim jacket; which he thought was pretty cool.

Behind Vladik you can see our reception area where we offered hospitality to the patients and families. It was chilly outside so hot tea and coffee were available along with cookies and other simple snacks.

Vladik, his Mama & our team

Igor, & Ura adjust the chair for Ilya

Our next patient was an adorable, freckle faced boy named Ilya. His papa, Igor, brought him to be fitted for a wheel chair. Igor was very talkative and was the only parent who asked me questions about myself. When he found out I was from Kansas, he wanted to know all about tornadoes, if I had ever seen one, if I had been in one...etc. Then he asked about Toto (the dog from Wizard of Oz)! In Ukraine, Toto is known as Tatochka. We had a delightful conversation as Cindy and Ura were fitting Ilya for a wheel chair. Igor told us he made a riding toy for Ilya by combining a stroller and a bicycle. I was amazed at his creativity. Igor took a great interest in helping Ura prepare the chair for Ilya. Igor asked if we were Christians to which our interpreter replied, yes. I was not aware of this part of the conversation but was told later by our interpreter, Sasha. Igor was quite surprised that "believers" would dress in "hip" clothing.He must have been referring to the way our interpreters were dressed because our team was dressed for comfort, not style! Ilya didn't have heavy enough clothes on so we got him a hand knit stocking cap from the gift pile and put it on him. He seemed very pleased with his new hat. After lifting the foot rests and adding a chest harness to the chair, Ilya was ready to roll. Just before leaving, Igor handed a business card to Sasha, our interpreter for the day. Now his questions and curiosity made more sense, Igor was in the TV and radio broadcast business!