The Gulag Museum

Sofia was in a very good mood today. She smiled a lot. It's nice to come in and get a happy response from her. Galina brought the bottle while I was trying to take some pictures. She put it in her mouth just for show. I usually hold her to give her a bottle.

During our afternoon break, Natasha (Natalia) our translator arranged to take us to see the Gulag Museum. I had mentioned it to her last week and told her the similarities of what my family went through. She is also interested in learning more about it and so we went. It is an hour south of Karaganda so it gave us a chance to see the countryside and small villages along the way.


The Gulag was a labor camp set up by Stalin in 1931. It was the size of France!! Many people were brought there to do forced labor. Volga Germans, Ukrainians. Chechnians, Koreans, Bulgarians, etc.. As well as political figures, artists, writers, etc. At this camp outside of Karaganda, the prisoners worked in coal mines, steel plants, collective farms and they built the city of Karaganda. It was a very hard life. The camps were closed in the early 1950's, but many of the ethnic groups remained in the small villages in the area and in Karaganda. In 1991, Kazakhstan became independent from the Soviet Union and most ethnic people went home to their country of nationality. Some still remain in the area. That is why Kazakhstan is made up of such a diverse group of people. That's why Sofie has so many nationalities.

We were asked to not put pictures on the internet. So I will show you when I get home.

Send prayers this way again. Tomorrow at 4:00pm is the interview with the Ministry of Education. It can last from 15 minutes to an hour. They'll ask me many questions and they are the people who will give a recommendation to the court for me to adopt their baby. My court date is set for October 27th.

Have a great Tuesday