A Cameroonian Christmas Miracle
on The Road Less Travelled (Cameroon), 27/Dec/2010 11:23, 34 days ago
Christmas is a time for sharing, caring and bringing cheer to those around us. This year thanks to the kindness and generosity of my friends and family from Canada and the United States 123 orphans in Cameroon had a Christmas they will never forget.Father Christmas Handing Out GiftsThe Good Shepherd Home is an Abangoh based orphanage founded and directly managed by Sister Jane Mankaa. This orphanage has 85 children aged from a little under 3 months to 18. A number of the children they support recently lost their parents to AIDS. The orphanage also has another Annex Orphanage in Batibo, North West Region where there are 38 orphans many of whom are disabled or suffer from epilepsy which is highly stigmatized in Cameroon. This Christmas the children from Abangoh and Batibo were brought together to celebrate the holiday season along with about 23 volunteer from around the world.Children with their New Christmas ClothesFather Christmas, who was played by Sayo Victor a local tennis player, also joined the celebrations. He helped distribute some gifts of new Christmas clothing (thanks to the donors) to all the orphans on the 24th so that they all had a new outfit to wear to church for the Christmas eve mass, as well as to wear on the 25th for the party.Volunteers gather on Christmas day before departing to the orphanageOn the 25th, all the volunteers gathered at my house and then we all proceeded to the orphanage bearing gifts and food. The donations provided food for the orphans which should last about 5 months– 300kg of rice, 100kg of sugar, 50 kg of milk, 75kg of soybeans, 75 kg of garri, 75 kg of groundnuts and 100L of oil.The children are happy with the foodParents and students at the American School in Yaounde had donated new and used toys, books and clothes for the orphans. The orphans were thrilled with presents on Christmas as most of them had never received a gift before. The enjoyed choosing their gifts and playing with the new toys.The children playing with their toysAfter the gift opening, everyone sat down to a filling lunch with all the children’ favourites – such as water fufu, chicken, jeroff rice, and of course juice, snacks and candy. After lunch the children performed skits, songs and dances.The Children eating their Christmas MealA little boy enjoys his childen and riceEveryone had a wonderful Christmas and it was a great experience to share the Christmas spirit with the children of the Good Shepherd Orphanage. Thanks to all the donors and volunteers for making such a special occasion possible.The older girls in their new dressesThanks to all the volunteers for making the day a success!