2008 June

By the end of May I was back in Anna Home for a few days. It was an enormous pleasure to see all the children again. They were cheerful and looked healthy. Again it seemed to me a happy (big) family. It keeps amazing me how these kids, with such a difficult past, are able to live in harmony with each other in a house of a limited size. They seem to understand that they have to grab the opportunity for a future with both hands.

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I brought some games and soon they were playing Bingo or puzzling with clowns as is the purpose of Jumbolino.
In order to make a short film for promotional purposes I filmed for some time. The next day I was able to show them the result on the television in the house. And this was a big success. I have seldom seen such excited little faces as when they could watch themselves. This was an absolute novelty for them!
Still there are some changes. Three kids left and three new ones came to live in the house: Ankhbayr, Anuudari and Gantulga. On the pagechildren you will find pictures of all of them and short stories of many. I wonder if eventually there will be a stable group.
During my stay I was so fortunate to find a new coach and help for Boldsaikhan. Jim Moulton and his wife July have been living in Choibalsan for a year and will stay till the summer of 2009. They work for Peace Corps, the American organisation that employs very many volunteers all over the World. He will help in the management and especially in the continuation of the training of Boldsaikhan.

OUTSIDE THE HOUSE

The great expansion for Anna Home is the henhouse. This was planned in the beginning but had to wait for the frost to get out of the ground. It is a Mongolian henhouse and apparently one builds this partly underground to protect the animals from the cold. Now 20 small and 6 big chicken walk around in the upper part.

The vegetable garden has also started but can blossom only when there is water. They are waiting for a Chinese company that is able to drill 60 meters deep. There the water is, they think, and that will be used both for the garden and the house, which of course will be a major step for hygiene.Colour4Kids has promised to pay for the drilling, in anticipation of the renovation and “colouring” of Anna Home, now planned for 2009.

.INCOME

We are very grateful to many, many donors. They come from the circle of family, friends and other connections and also from circles of “Well known Dutchmen”. With all this support we manage to care well for the children.
The Saint Laurentius church in Voorschoten will start a big fundraising campaign in September for Anna Home which will last till July 5, 2009. They hope to raise enough money in all kinds of activities both inside and outside the church to build and equip a training centre in the hashaa. To prepare the children as well as possible for their future we want to teach them skills. We hope to start training for carpentry and sewing and we also hope to install some computers.
The Belgian 2GoodFun foundation will go by car from Leuven to Beijing, via Mongolia. They want to raise money for 2 orphanages, one in Thailand and the other is Anna Home! They leave July 12 and hope to arrive in one month.
We are also on the website of Sonja Bakker (cookbooks!) since her foundation contributes in the costs for Anna Home.
Maarten