Ulan New Years

This year we had the privilege of taking most of the children at Ulan Orphanage shopping to choose their own New Year's gifts. On the morning of December 31st our entire office staff went to Ulan Orphanage and delivered gifts. It was really fun to see the children unwrap their gifts. For me it was also exciting to have our entire office involved in the gift giving process. Often, so many of our staff play behind-the-scenes support roles and never get to see what their jobs make possible at the orphanages. We got some great pictures and even video as we went from group to group delivering gifts.

Due to some confusion, as children move regularly between groups at Ulan, some of the children did not receive their gifts when we went to their group. One thing that was fun for me was that when I promises to bring their gift when we found it, the children were willing to believe the promise. So often these children have issues with trust because they have had so many people let them down. It was encouraging for me to see that due to our longstanding relationship with them, they trusted us when we said that we would return and bring their gift. In the end, all the children received gifts and were extremely grateful to those that had donated the funds to allow them to shop for their own gifts.  You can go to the Interlink Blog for more details.