Karachev – The Official Visit — Nov 17

Back on the road to Karachev; this time in daylight. Mostly during these rides Olga is either on her cell phone or talking to Victor. Gayle and I sit silently (numb from exhaustion). Gayle dozes a little.

The small hatchback car was well past its prime; there was a smell of exhaust fumes. I believe there were seat belts, but no one wears them. I don’t remember the color of the car. If it wasn’t gray, then the road grime made it look gray. I could say the same for all the other cars that I noticed.

Back at the orphanage. Just occurred to me that there are no cars parked outside (there were also none at Klintsy). Where does the staff park? Do they all take public transportation? Up the stairs, we were greeted by the Director and other staff members in the hallway. This was the first they have seen me. Olga said at they are all impressed with how much Andrew looks like me.

We continued on into an office; much smaller than the director’s office at Klintsy. We were told that it was almost naptime, so decided to go see Andrew first. Headed down a hallway, through an area torn up for remodeling, to a playroom. Several kids, mostly smaller than Andrew, were playing there. The room was cheery; with colorful walls, a large window, a big playpen and an area rug that covers most of the rest of the room.

Andrew was on a plastic rocking toy, looking very happy. The caregiver lifted him off to bring him to us. I occupied myself with operating the camcorder and camera. Gayle played with Andrew, who remained close to the caregiver. We had brought another toy for Andrew. It was a few rings connected to a disk with a mirror on one side and our picture on the other. He seemed to enjoy throwing it down. They showed us again how he was beginning to walk, when his hands were held.

He got a little fussy and began to cry a couple of times. They jumped in immediately to divert his attention and brighten his mood. Guess they wanted us to see him at his best.

After about 15 minutes, we said “paka paka” to Andrew for this trip and go back to the office. No couch, we all sat on straight chairs. The Director read from a folder. This time there was something amiss right away. The woman at the Committee had given 12/12 as Andrew’s birthday. The orphanage had 12/04. They made a copy of the birth certificate to give to Olga. December 4th is correct.

Olga jotted down the rest of the medical and family information. Gayle asked a few questions and then our time there was over. We left behind a disposable camera and asked for pictures of Andrew, staff and the facility. Hope to pick the camera up on our next visit. One was left at Kintsy for Bethany also.