Encouraging sightings

The other day I was walking to the market when I spied a familiar piece of equipment.  In super-sneaky fashion I as able to get this shot from my phone (from the hip).  

It's a guy using one of the walkers from our humanitarian aid shipments.  We get these by the ton and while I know they are very useful, this is the first time I had seen someone using one outside the hospitals.  This particular model has 4 thick, soft rubber wheels (very important on these sidewalks), a cargo basket, a seat for when the user gets tired and hand breaks for control... absolutely perfect for this man.  For a society that largely walks where they are going and shops in outdoor markets, these walkers are a God-send for the elderly.  Thank you Salvation Army - Sweden!

Posting this reminded me that I hadn't posted on my visit to the mental hospital down the street.  We also provide equipment to them and I had a chance to tour some of the ways it was being used.  Sometimes Andrey uses my American-ness as a smoke screen to get us photo access to places that don't usually allow it.  GA is a US-based organization and thus the people who receive our aid have a vested interest in being hospitable to our American visitors.

Here is a shot of the hospitals picking up some of the beds which go....

...directly into hospital rooms like this one.  This is at the mental hospital and the bloody cloth on the left of the photo is a clue of what a difficult place this is.  Andrey said his last visitor got a full tour and promptly went outside to vomit.

This young man was very sweet and understood that posing for this picture was a good thing for the hospital.  For his efforts he got a tender kiss on the forehead from our tour guide;  a very nice lady.

We also provide furniture, office equipment and lab items like this rolling cart.

Andrey told me the other night that we are the only entity in Kerch that doesn't pay property tax and it is a direct response to our constant community involvement.