After a very busy month with many of our children going to stay with extended families for a few weeks, Christmas is a time for everyone to be reunited at the orphanage. Thanks to the generosity of Mike & Kay Flynn who make a donation to cover the Christmas Day party where not just our own GLO children are in attendance but also the children of our staff and some of the local children enjoy a wonderful meal of Pilau, sodas and sweets. It is a big celebration which everyone looks forward to and for many it may be the only meat they savour in months.
This year with extra special with Magarstone, Ali and Annie Njeri receiving their 1st Holy Communion and Collins was baptised. They looked so smart going to Church and thanks to their sponsors had new outfits to mark the importance of the day. Whilst the children attended church, the Mamas & support staff were busy preparing the scrumptious meal of Pilau which is only cooked on special occasions.
The children all settled down to their Christmas Dinner, Kenya style, and enjoyed the festivities of the day with special songs, dancing and poems. Then it was time to cut the cake which is always a highlight of GLO celebratory days although it is a tad too sweet for our palates the children absolutely love it.
This year a very good friend of Papa Kevin & Mama Mary, Gulnara made a very generous donation which was used to buy much needed school shoes for all the children. As you can imagine the children went crazy when they received their Christmas presents, having a good pair of shoes in Kenya is a status symbol and we know they will look after the shoes like new born babies!
Also this year some of the parcels from the children’s sponsors actually reached The GLO in time for Christmas, sadly some are still in transit but at least we know now the Kenyan postal system has improved over the past seven years as this would have been an impossibility in 2008 when the orphanage opened. The children were amazed to receive the gifts and shared them with the children who did not receive any.
Thank You so much for making this Christmas Day a very enjoyable one at The GLO, without the generosity of Mike & Kay, Gulnara, Ian Manners, all the sponsors and the hardworking GLO Staff it would not be possible to make these children feel special.
Lovely to read this blog and to see how these beautiful children live out the true message of Christmas – sharing their gifts with those who didn’t have any. Here’s hoping that they will continue to be delighted when the remaining gifts (hopefully!) arrive. Happy New Year to all at GLO.
Fabulous pictures of the children looking so happy ! Happy new year to Mary and Kevin and all the children and staff of the GLO and good Health xxxxxx the Keogh family