Billy's Diary Entry by himself, hurrah

Wey hey! I’ve found a connection at last. I’m actually staying at Yuri’s (my driver) house. I’ll tell you more about Yuri and his wife Ludmilla in a while. He has internet, although it’s a dial up connection so I can’t upload any pictures as it takes far too long.

Thank you to Clive (Emazdad the magician) for updating you. Unfortunately there were no connections at all in the areas I’ve been. On many of the streets in villages, or I should say dirt tracks with huge potholes everywhere, you rarely see any cars, just horse and carts and many elderly people sat on benches outside their homes relaxed in the sunshine. You see chickens and goats everywhere, I’ve seen people taking their cows for a walk, elderly ladies travelling miles on pushbikes, although at a walking pace. The difference from main towns to outside villages is amazing. You only have to turn into off a main road to think you were travelling a 100 years back in time.

So what have I been doing? WOW, I have been very busy, so far I have performed 27 shows in 17 days. I’ve been to Minsk, Divin, Kobrin, Luninets, Gomel and Bobruskj. I have two more towns to visit, Mogilov and back to Minsk. But for four days I’ll be here in Bobruskj.

On one day alone, I had 4 shows, three in one hospital on three different levels for about 25 children in each, and then to another hospital for another show for approx 60 children. We also went back to the second hospital the following day as well as an orphanage.

My favourite show by far has to be at a special needs school. The atmosphere was fantastic. These children/young adults were aged from about 6 to 20 years old. They were so happy to see us, after talking to their school director, this is the first time they have ever had anything like this at their school.

I’ve got so many photos which I wish I could upload, but as the connection is slow, I’ll have to wait before uploading them. So many smiles, and unfortunately so many sad faces. I’ve started putting together my DVD with my favourite pictures, and each time I watch it back, it brings tears to my eyes. When you watch it, you’ll understand.

Yuri and Ludmilla have 16 children living in their house. They’ve adopted these children, apart from one, their own son. Their house is a five bedroom property with every available space made to good use. Their children are fantastic, so well behaved. They all seem to get along well, play together and all help around the house.

At the orphanage we went to yesterday, came four of the children they’ve adopted. I asked Yuri how they managed to choose the children they’ve adopted, because when you see all 60 of them in this orphanage, aged from 3 to 6 years, you want to take every single one home. It’s so sad when you think of the fact they have no parents. But, after being shown around the orphanage, I immediately realise they are so happy, and this particular orphanage has more facilities than any other I’ve seen. They even have a small swimming pool, about the size of 6 baths, with a slide and many pool toys to play with.

We left the Gomel region a few days ago, one of the worst contaminated areas of Belarus. Gomel is about an hour or two from Chernobyl. I’m told by officials here that they cannot cure the problem of the contamination in Belarus in our lifetime, but they are now learning how to live with the conditions. What helps and what doesn’t, what they can eat and what they can’t, what the can grow and what not to grow etc etc.

Yesterday, in the Gomel region, I had a meeting with a top government official in the government buildings and was presented with a book on the history of Gomel, written also in English as well as Russian, a plaque with the Gomel coat of arms, a bottle of champagne and box of chocolates. They explained they wished to thank me for my work in making so many children smile in Belarus. I was choked, how good is this!

On May 17th I have my biggest show ever in Belarus. In the morning we visited an orphanage for a few hours and in the afternoon I’m told I’m performing at a concert. I expected it to be the same as a concert the previous day with about 60 people, how wrong could I be, and unfortunately I wasn’t quite prepared for it either. At every show I’ve done, I’ve taken my small speaker, which is perfect for up to about 200 people, I then connect an Ipod to control the music.

We turn up and I suddenly notice there seems to be many people walking the same direction. When we enter backstage, I realise this isn’t a small ‘normal’ show I’ve been performing for the past month. This theatre holds well over a 1000 people with 3 tears of seats. This time, I’m a small part of a huge variety show with mostly dancers, as well as professional singers. The show lasted for four hours, I’m to perform 10 mins in that time. Performing the show wasn’t a problem for me, I was actually really excited, the bigger the audience, the big the ‘buzz’ you get during the show. My problem was my music.

My small speaker wasn’t enough to cover the first few rows, let along the whole theatre. So we speak to the music director who escorts us to his office with various music to choose from. I chose something which sounded good for my type of show.

The whole show was mainly dancers, mostly children, but very very professional. In between the dance acts were professional singers. My 10 mins are just before all the acts return to the stage for their final thanks. In the program, I’m billed as ‘Billy Wiz the magician, our special guest from England.’

It’s time, I’m introduced, walk on stage with a huge pile of balloons mostly ready made with just a few additions to add during my act. My translator stands to the right of the stage while I announce that I need eight helpers from the audience. So I go down into the audience and pick the first eight hands I see raised, but back on the stage to the amusement of the audience, I have ten, so have to politely ask two to return to their seats, I chose the tallest two.

The music starts and the show is first class fun. The audience were laughing and clapping, all the dancers and singers backstage were in the wings watching, I had a great time.

When my act is finished, I’m presented on stage with a cuddly toy and box of chocolates. I’m told that the cuddly toy is to remind me of my time in Belarus and of today’s show. Off stage, I’m also given a bottle of vodka and thanked again by the shows director.

I’m hoping to get a copy of some of the show as it was on Belarus TV, I’m also trying to get copies from the national press that were there.

I’m beginning to have a small problem, I’ve been given so many gifts from everywhere we go that I’m going to struggle to take it all home. Most of what I’ve been given has been made by the children in the orphanages and schools. Pictures, hand made flowers, chocolates, books, champagne, vodka as well as so much more. And EVERY SINGLE ONE is priceless.

Today is another great day. Tomorrow I have a day off before I travel back to the UK in ten days time.

I could talk and talk and talk about my experiences here, there is so much I want to say. But I will save some more for my next diary enter.

Until then, Keep smiling, I am, as well as shedding a few tears here and there.

Best wishes,

Graeme (Billy Wiz)