Staff Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with all our staff today and it was a great celebration. We all did a little to make the day successful so it was relaxing and fun to have a few hours to share a meal and be thankful for the staff God has placed at Beautiful Gate as well as for them to be thankful that God has provided them a job. We had many donations come in over the past year so we saved up the items until we had enough for all the staff. Today we gave them all a nice blue bag, a notepad, notebook, hand cream, and the women received a few gold pins.

Bryan and I decided a few months ago to start putting aside some extra money so we could give them all a Christmas bonus of M100. The budget at BG has been very tight and we knew they would not be getting a bonus of money, yet we felt they deserve it for all their hard work and gentle care for the children here. As we put aside money, we had a few people also send money to BG to be split between the staff and the children and just yesterday we were told of another M9000 coming to be used for the staff and kids so between all these, we were able to give the staff each M200 (M8000 total for the 40 staff).

I did not get to stay and watch the staff receive their gifts as Laury, Nthabaseng (volunteer from Netherlands) and I went into the baby houses so all of the staff could be together. I heard a lot of clapping and yelling and Bryan told me that many of the women took out their cash and started fanning themselves with it while talking excitedly. Our staff work so hard and have so little, yet they just smile so much and really know how to celebrate and thank God for their blessings, whether big or small. Today I was once again reminded that it truly is better to give than to receive. Thank you to those who have shared so generously with us because you have helped us to share with our amazing staff here at Beautiful Gate!
God Bless You,
Anita