? MEET CHRISTA FOSTER ?
Christa received a nomination from a colleague of over 15 years that read, “Christa Foster lost her partner years ago and has brought up her adopted children mostly by herself. She now cares for her grandchildren. Christa is always very dedicated to her roles at Christies Beach which have included that of carer, kitchen hand, cleaning, and laundry and in her personal life.”
In her own words, Christa and her partner owned their own business and embarked on a fertility journey that led them to adopting two beautiful children from Sri Lanka. They were each 3 weeks old when they joined the Foster family, and are 4 years apart in age.
The passing of her partner in 2001 was a very difficult time for Christa, her children were 11 and 16 years old and she closed the business 6 months later to take a breather. After taking a year long break, it was time to get back to work. “I’ve always been a very strong and independent person. I knew what I had to do, and I did it”. Christa found herself working in the kitchen of our Klemzig Facility after she initially applied believing it was a restaurant! She then added cleaning, laundry and caring to her skillset. Christa would work these four different shifts each fortnight, hardly taking a break, but motivated by being the provider for her family and fulfilling a life-long travel dream. Christa had always dreamt of seeing the pyramids in Egypt.
Christa fulfilled that dream and describes it as one of the highlights of her life, but her dreams didn’t stop there. Her wanderlust found her dreaming again, this time to visit all the wonders of the world. So Christa went back to work, committing to all 4 of her roles and working nonstop for 2 years to raise funds for next trip. This time, Christa went back to Africa to visit Victoria Falls. And she not only ‘saw’ the Falls, she hiked up the challenging track and camped along the way!
Christa continued to work at the Facility and travel the world. She visited the Taj Mahal and went on a trip to Europe where she visited all the tourist attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum.
She eventually stopped working in the kitchen, caring, and cleaning. She loves working in laundry and had lovely things to say about the housekeeping team. Speaking honestly about her experience, Christa says it took 5 years for her to start feeling herself after losing her partner, “… never rush through the process. Healing takes time and it gets better with time.” She felt it very important to make sure she took care of everyone, especially her children, she never stopped talking to her children through their healing journey.
When she is not working Christa is preparing to travel once again and tick off the ‘Wonders of the World’ list when it’s safe again to travel overseas. She always spends time with her grandchild and through everything she says, “you’ll be surprised how strong you become.”
