Who says a payment services professionals don't have hearts?

C&J- We recently received a package from our friends at ICBA Bancard (my former employer) containing things to help out in the kids here (as well as a few goodies for Jessica and I, which we very much appreciate). There were school supplies, toys, pain killers, vitamins, craft supplies, and other things I am probably forgetting. It took us some time to get it from the post office. The conversation went something like this:

me: "here is all the information, can you look to see if this package is here?"
lethargic mongolian postal slacker: [barely looking up] "no"
me: "can you look?"
lmps: "we don't have it"
me: "it has been three months. it should be here."
lmps: [still not moving a muscle to look through the antiquated log book] "we don't have it"
[at this point an english speaking mongolian woman intervened on our behalf]
lmps: "no"

At this point we are about to leave when, lo and behold, the package appears out of the back room. As usual, the postal slacker offered no explanation, apology, or friendly banter about our previous exchange. He just sent us over to customs.

We decided to take the items to Mongolian office of Christina Noble Children's Foundation, where Jessica volunteers. You can get more information from the website, but, in a nutshell, this is one of the most respected organizations here helping orphans, street kids, incarcerated kids, and poor families. The director already had a lot of ideas for the items all of you at ICBA donated. The organization goes out at night with a van to provide food, medical attention, and a warm place to stay to street kids - if only for a night. Apparently a lot of these kids have been complaining of headaches but the organization hasn't had any pain killers. Now they do. Also, they have kids that are awaiting surgery and will really benefit from those vitamins before and after their operations. The foundation serves about 5,000 kids here, so even with the generous number of toys sent, it isn't enough to stretch. However, in a few weeks the foundation will hold a week-long event for the kids, including recitals and singing as well as sports, art, and writing competitions. The toys sent will be used as prizes to reward the kids for their hard work and preparation.

This organization really does good work here and does everything they can to provide quality services to the kids here. Take a look at the website and see how your generosity is paying dividends half-way around the world. Again, thank you to everyone at ICBA. We'll take some pictures at the children's event and put them up here for everyone to see. Also, thank you to everyone else who has sent things for us, and for others here in Mongolia. We appreciate it, and we're lucky to have friends and family like all of you (or friends of friends, or just random readers, I guess).