The PTPI Mission in Action

This morning we began by traveling to the American Cultural Center to hear a presentation by a United States Foreign Service Officer currently working in the Economics Department of the American Embassy in Moscow. The officer spoke to us of her experiences in the Foreign Service and talked to us extensively about the G-8 Summit which recently concluded in St. Petersburg.

After our briefing and lunch, we journeyed to the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital. It was in better condition than I had expected, though it still was not near as sterile or modern as most hospitals in the USA. When we arrived, we were brought into a large conference room and asked to take a seat amongst approximately 100 of the patients who were at the hospital for treatment. The Chief Physician welcomed our delegation (via a translator) to the hospital and Mary Jean Eisenhower, President and CEO of PTPI, presented a donation on behalf of the delegation to the hospital. Once this was finished, all of the Russian patients in the room came and gave each of us a bag that included a shirt, hat and pen. Many of the delegates, including myself, gave the Russian patients the gifts that we had brought for them in return.

We were then split into 6 groups and taken on walking tours through various wards of the hospital to meet more patients. Each and every delegate was touched on some level by the patients we interacted with and the things we witnessed while on our tour. The patients and their families were so thankful to us for being there, and we each were moved by specific interactions we each had with certain patients.

After dinner at the Hard Rock Café, we had the opportunity to go to the Moscow Circus. It was amazing and the things that the people and animals were doing were incredible. There were monkeys, elephants, dogs, trapeze artists, ice skaters, clowns and acrobats of all kinds! Overall, everyone had a good time and we returned to the hotel exhausted after another great day. This trip is amazing, and though we are sad to leave Moscow tomorrow evening, we know that Novgorod and St. Petersburg hold great things for us!

-Written by Amanda Kincaid and Erin Lee