On January 30th, Donovan Larson, Dan Herron, and Bill Brinkhorst picked up a washing machine and dryer that had been generously donated for our Afghan family. They used Bill Beidenstein’s truck to transport the appliances to the family’s apartment. With the help of the father, they unloaded the appliances and moved them into the basement of the building. They installed hoses and dryer venting to connect the machines. After confirming that everything was working, they explained to the dad how to use the various controls to work the appliances. The family was overjoyed to have a washer & dryer to use. When the work was completed all went upstairs to the apartment and enjoyed tea and conversation.
On January 31, Paul Litzsinger and Shirley Bild delivered to the family donations of a brand new Chromebook, two children’s chairs, and a container of nuts. The mother frequently serves nuts along with the tea when we visit. Shirley helped the family go through the initial setup of the Chromebook. First, we connected it to the Wi-Fi hotspot they have borrowed from the library. They can use the hotspot at no cost through the end of June. After having some problems with passwords, we got the Chromebook working. Now they can search the internet, play YouTube videos, work on documents or emails, etc. with a 14-inch screen instead of just using their cell phones.
They served some delicious tea and nuts. The 6-year-old was writing her name multiple times in a notebook and indicated that she likes school. We talked about the eye test for driver's license, the fabric store, and the expected snowstorm. The sewing machine had a small part that was broken, so we took it with us to get it repaired. All of them seem to be able to understand more English now. I think they must be picking up a lot of English from the donated TV and from school. Once again, they were very glad to see us and expressed their appreciation for the help we've provided.
We had scheduled an appointment at the International Institute for Thursday to get the mother tested and enrolled in an online English class she can take at home, while caring for the children. We also had scheduled a meeting with a translator for Thursday. Because of the snowstorm, both of those things ended up getting postponed to the following week.
More news to come,
Shirley Bild