After attending the Midnight Mass at the St George’s Church in Conoor on Christmas Eve, we were getting into the real spirit of Christmas. This church is an Anglican Protestant Church which was established in 1885! And even has a grand ‘Pipe Organ’ which is the only one of its kind in the whole of the country. We woke up to a late, but great start to a beautiful Christmas morning, our day began as we ate ‘Boori Masal” as it is called locally. Today was a special Christmas day in our life, as we were to share it with 12 Orphans who lived in a shelter run by a Pastor and his wife, who also had 2 of their own daughters amongst these kids. We waited restlessly for the children to arrive at our residence. As we were raring to go, with our plan of Games, Activities, Skill Building and Bonding exercises, meticulously put together by Amrit, Karan and Tushar. As soon as they arrived, we began with the ice breaking sessions followed by the rest of the activities that we had planned for them.
We started our day with them by playing ‘Dog and the Bone’ in which our teacher Mr. Guru helped us translate the rules of the game and then gave them our brief introduction. This made the children comfortable around us and they got to know us better apart from giving us the opportunity to roll on the floor with laughter to see Guru sir in his element, with his colloquial Tamil! This included games like ‘musical chairs’ and ‘Rajni Kamal’ followed by a great football game. We then continued dancing and having a stupendous time with the kids. We had lunch with the kids and even fed them which we enjoyed thoroughly. It is important to note that the kids ranged from being 3 yr old to barely 10 years of age. We contributed and bought some soft for all of them as a token of our love. The teachers then took all of us to the ‘Sim’s Park’ where the kids throroughly enjoyed the swings and boating. By now our bond with the kids was strong and we had all formed a new relation with them, which made it difficult for us to let them go!
It was an amazing experience and through this we realized how it feels to see a smile on someone’s face. Every Christmas we spend our time with our loved ones not realizing and valuing the constant effort they put for us, but after making the kids happy today we realized how it feels to make someone else happy by entertaining them and getting to know them, was truly overwhelming. This was especially important, as we came to know heart rending stories about how these orphans came under the care of the Pastor and his wife and how we could contribute in a tiny but sustainable way in making them independent with nutrition and education, till they step out into the world on their own. After this wonderful experience we then took a break and went for shopping to the local market for tea, coffee, spices, honey and aromatic oils.
Soon, we returned to our camp and attended our last de-briefing session in which we shared our thoughts about the day. For many, including me, this was the best Christmas ever! We ended our day by appreciating the support staff at our campus who made our stay rather comfortable and safe by gifting them warm blankets from our own contribution.
We started our day with them by playing ‘Dog and the Bone’ in which our teacher Mr. Guru helped us translate the rules of the game and then gave them our brief introduction. This made the children comfortable around us and they got to know us better apart from giving us the opportunity to roll on the floor with laughter to see Guru sir in his element, with his colloquial Tamil! This included games like ‘musical chairs’ and ‘Rajni Kamal’ followed by a great football game. We then continued dancing and having a stupendous time with the kids. We had lunch with the kids and even fed them which we enjoyed thoroughly. It is important to note that the kids ranged from being 3 yr old to barely 10 years of age. We contributed and bought some soft for all of them as a token of our love. The teachers then took all of us to the ‘Sim’s Park’ where the kids throroughly enjoyed the swings and boating. By now our bond with the kids was strong and we had all formed a new relation with them, which made it difficult for us to let them go!
It was an amazing experience and through this we realized how it feels to see a smile on someone’s face. Every Christmas we spend our time with our loved ones not realizing and valuing the constant effort they put for us, but after making the kids happy today we realized how it feels to make someone else happy by entertaining them and getting to know them, was truly overwhelming. This was especially important, as we came to know heart rending stories about how these orphans came under the care of the Pastor and his wife and how we could contribute in a tiny but sustainable way in making them independent with nutrition and education, till they step out into the world on their own. After this wonderful experience we then took a break and went for shopping to the local market for tea, coffee, spices, honey and aromatic oils.
Soon, we returned to our camp and attended our last de-briefing session in which we shared our thoughts about the day. For many, including me, this was the best Christmas ever! We ended our day by appreciating the support staff at our campus who made our stay rather comfortable and safe by gifting them warm blankets from our own contribution.