You've never been shopping like this!

Thanks to a special US sponsor, Ulan children are getting to go shopping for the holidays! Interlink was given the opportunity to provide each child at Ulan with a gift for the New Year (they don't celebrate Christmas here) worth 2,000 tenge ($18). So we thought... instead of buying the gifts for them, we'll take them shopping...all 150 kids! Yup, we're a bit crazy, but with a little bit of organization, it went as smooth as butter. We worked with one of the larger shops here (a little Wal-Martesk) and arranged to bring the children in groups of 10-15 with a staff or volunteer member to escort them around the store. It was great!

My morning began with a set of boys, 10 and 11. One boy got a shirt and the other got some wheels to strap on to his shoes (like roller skates). Then I had 3 little girls determined to get baby dolls. I made sure they saw all their options first, but baby dolls it was, all pink with bibs and bottles and all! My morning finished off with two slightly older girls, one who has become very special to me over this past year. Both girls managed to find jeans on sale (shocking!) and under the cost (another shock!).

My afternoon was a bit more difficult. I had 2 older boys who more interested in the electronics the store did NOT offer, than what was available. They finally spent their money on some nice colonges and other such products. The older boys seemed the only ones not so happy with the shopping deal. But THEN they wer followed by 3 older girls. I need a cart for them! The girls sought out all the deals to get the most shampoo, lotion, soaps (etcetera) that they could! Oy vy! My next two groups of boys and girls were quickly satisfied with clearing out the barbie aisle and picking out some cool warish boy toys.

The two best moments of the day were when Inabat, my special girl, walked around clinging to me and smiling. It's children like her that are going to make it so hard to leave Kazakhstan. The second sweet memory was a comment Kiikzhan told me another girl had made. It went along the lines of "So that's what shopping is like." She had never in all her 14 years gone shopping!!! The whole day was worth it! We'll probably do this twice more in order to get all the kids.