Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All?

Written on 27/01/2013

So Christmas has come and gone in Africa in the blink of an eye!  As I lye here and think about December, I have to say it’s probably one of the best to date.  There’s so much to say so I’ll just say the highlights:

‘Christmas Day’ at Bethany

We had the Christmas party at Bethany on 21^st.  In the early hours of the morning the girls and I all dressed up as Santa Claus, sneaked into the kids dorms and put presents on the end of their beds.  A few woke up and the look on their faces when they thought Santa had come was the cutest thing ever.  Although one of the older boys, Apile, said ‘Enkosi (thank you) Sally’ as I handed him a present.  I thought I was quite a believable Santa!! Turns out kids aren’t as naïve as I thought.  The next morning I was awoken by lots of laughing and joyful screams.  I walked out of the flat to the courtyard to find all the kids playing with their new toys and treasuring them.  I did nearly cry at this point because it was so beautiful to see them all so happy and the thought that I helped contribute to that made it extra special.  After lots of fun and games that day, the ‘real Santa’ came to visit Bethany.  He turned up in a fire truck (turns out the usual sleigh that he uses was ‘out of order’, oh well, I guess a fire truck is close enough… sort of?! Well it’s red.)  Santa brought each child a rucksack full of little toys and sweeties, which the kids adored. 

Then came the much awaited ‘Christmas Dinner’.  I have to say when I walked into the kitchen and didn’t see a turkey in sight I was slightly disappointed, but hey, fried chicken is the next best thing right?!!  It was a real treat for the kids to get deep fried chicken, roast potato’s, mashed butternut and chocolate cake.  It was also a nice change from Pap for us girls.J After the kids went to bed, all the staff came together for a Braai.  SO MUCH FOOD.  But its rude in the Xhosa culture to turn down food so I powered through and finished off that dinner too.  That was my Cape Town diet out the window; I was surprised I didn’t chunder everywarrr! 

So I guess this day brings me back to the title of this blog, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All?’  A famous question once asked by Band Aid and people have questioned it ever since.  Well guys, no need to fret anymore, I can confirm that they certainly DO know it’s Christmas time.  We made sure of that at Bethany Home.