DENTAL MISSION TO UKRAINE

by Suzan Johns and Nancy Stephens

September 12, 1997

Dear Vic and Bev,

Fri, 12 Sep 97 10:10:26 +0400

Yesterday (Thursday) was a day of contrast. We started off with a nice cold bath and then to the dining room for breakfast (where all the children eat). They kept bringing us more and more food. We had a plate of tomatoes and onions, some pastries, and some bread. Then came a plate of fried fish and potatoes, which we coudn't eat.

When we went downstairs Victor, Brenda, and Nelia met us as we said yesterday. We went back to our room and Victor brought the director of the children's rest camp with him. We are to meet the children on Monday. Next we left and came to the mission. We finally went to lunch. We went to the Administrative building. We first went into the main dining room, but Victor was not happy with the atmosphere, so we were moved to a private, fancy room in back. We had a very nice lunch of chicken, french fries, tomatoes, pickles, cabbage Then we came back to the mission and saw the dental equipment. We found the chair and unit we want to set up. Victor quickly rounded up three men to pull some things out of the crates. By the time it was 4:00, Nancy and I were exhausted and we told Victor we wanted to go take a nap. He had told us earlier that you and Maurice sleep a lot when you get in. He also told us Americans are rich because we work alot. Ukrainians are poor because they rest alot. He wanted us to rest so we would be poor too!!

We came back to the room, took a nap, and weren't real hungry so we ate some fruit and granola bars and a little of what Victor's wife had prepared for us for dinner. We unpacked and got organized. We are on a floor that apparently is a boys floor After dinner we took the rest of the food Victor's wife had made out to the lobby and seven boys finished it off pronto. I think we made friends, because after that more and more kids were gathering in the lobby. Someone knocked on our door but no one was there when we opened it, and they kept coming by and making noises ouside our door. I think they were seeing if we were going to make another appearance. Not till tonight!!

We caught up on our journals and went to bed.

We got up this morning (Friday) and were once again treated to a cold bath, I guess that is also part of the ambiance you mentioned?!?! Victor is going to see what he can do about it.

On the way back to the mission this morning we stopped at a dental clinic and superdoc (Victor's words) Maria (an orthodontist) came out and spoke to us. She said supplies are hard to get. She is coming to the mission at 12:00 today. We will see if we can help her out. She said the technician from her office will come here on Monday. She said he knows how to set up equipment. We are going to go downstairs now and start to sort through things.

Brenda is here, so that helps with the translating. It took us a while to figure out on the way over, that Victor wanted to see if Nancy wanted to drive. He showed us his driver's license so Nancy showed him hers. I told him it would be "ochin plahkhoy" since she said she was shiftless -can only drive an automatic.

Till tomorrow

Sue and Nancy