(Suzanne) February 15th, we were invited to a tour of the baby home by the Director.When we toured the Kazakh museum last week, we noticed she received a presidential award for her work in the baby home. At the baby home, I was amazed at what services they are able to provide with such limited resources. The walls of the very old building are brightly colored with hand painted animals and cartoon characters. The director states the workers spent their off days painting, and individuals in the community paid for the paint. When foreigners come to adopt from the baby home, their donations go directly to the baby home. The money collected from the 3 couples here now paid for carpeting of a new playroom. The director states "most children will grow up here and never be adopted, so we want to make it nice". She states improvements from donating adoptive families continued for years until they finally received government assistance. When they received the government assistance, they built a sauna and indoor swimming pool for the children. The children get to swim, go in the sauna, and get massages three times weekly. Every child, including the infants, receives individual speech therapy from a licensed therapist at least once weekly. They also go to group music lessons weekly. The children receive all vaccinations at the baby home and are treated for minor illnesses there. I expected a dreary place and was pleasantly surprised.
