On 11 December children from the Doornkop Needy Children’s Centre attended a Christmas party co-hosted by eg. The party was partly funded by the kind donations given by eg’s clients at the eg operational excellence awards 2008.
Extracts taken from an article which appeared in South Africa – The Good News on 19 December 2008.
It was another typical Johannesburg summer day, with the temperature well into the 30s. The smoking braais reminded one of a hundred summer celebrations, and the shrieks of delight emanating from the jumping castle brought back happy memories as we watched over the running, laughing little bodies.
Under the supervision of the caretakers from Doornkop, and the staff members of crèche sponsors (South Africa – The Good News, DigiPos and eg South Africa), the Doornkop children played on the jumping castle, danced to the music pumping through the speakers and relished the attention of all the adults at their party.
For lunch, 120 children were served braai-cooked hamburgers. With a smile on their dials, and a belly full of burgers, the kids gave the jumping castle another almighty pounding.
In the early afternoon, the children curiously watched a man dressed in oriental clothing prepare a table full of boxes, cloth and rope. After sitting down the children were introduced to Professor Amigo! The magician vanished coins, broke free from chains, turned a giant bottle into a can of coke and abracadabra’d a container of burnt paper into a box full of sweets. The tricks got wilder and wilder as the children called for more, with rounds of applause and shouts of “Amigo, Amigo!”
After the magician had packed up shop and bid farewell, there came another cry of “Yo-ho-ho” from around the corner and in walked Father Christmas with a big bag of gifts. Santa gave the kids a little talk on the benefits of giving, and called them up one by one to receive a T-shirt and a big Christmas cracker.
After they had been dressed in their new clothes, it took some time before the first crackers were popped. The novelty was a new one for many of the children of Doornkop, but once they started popping, there was just no stopping.
As the late afternoon clouds gathered over Soweto, we were given our own gift. The 120 children, aged 3 to 6, all gathered to sing for us a simple yet reflective song:
“Walk up the mountain, take your time, stop to look around.”
The almost impromptu sing-along concert, with accompanied dance, was the precursor to an energetic thank you.
It was then time to go. We said goodbye, as the children boarded their busses to go back to the crèche. With their shoes and socks in hand, little bags on their backs, they all waved goodbye, except for some of the smaller ones who had already fallen asleep in the arms of a caregiver.
Read the article in South Africa – The Good News
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