This is the one day the team gets to relax after camp before they leave. The catch is 3 team members leave today. So, after breakfast we went to the underground museum. This is a place that during WWII civilians and solders hid. 15,000 soldiers plus 3,000 civilians went in. They thought the attacks would last about a month as they had before, instead it was almost 2 years. The numbers change each time we go but some where between 7 and 30 people survived. The museum has mostly original things as we walk were these people walked. We learned that the water was rationed but only among those in the hospital, the rest had to draw the water out by sucking on the stone walls. The food was rationed severely and still wasn't enough and they looked for anything that might be edible - like leather. The stories continued. In the museum are 3 mass graves. 2 of which are closed, but one has sections that they continue to add to as explorers are still finding bodies. This morning, although clearly not joyous, helped the team learn about the history of the people in Kerch, the people they are serving with, and the children they are here to serve.
The afternoon was spent with shopping, packing, and then some team bonding time before the team left the following morning.
The team traveled to Simferopal with our translator Anya and Matt. Matt would return the same day with the next team, so I did not go with. The current team got some lunch and then stopped at the hotel, followed by a trip to Mama Natasha's house for dinner. Mama Natasha has a house orphanage and was just at camp with her kids, so the team were able to see them again before they left. I can only imagine the gift that this would have been. You will have to ask them about it. They then spent the night in the hotel and flew out the next morning. I trust that they are home safely, but have not heard from any of them as most of them only got home less than 7 hours ago after about a 30 hour trip. My guess is that they are still sleeping.
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