"For unto us a Child is born..." (Isaiah 9:6)
Merry Christmas to all of you, our dear friends!
We had a glorious time here, the service at Revival Tabernacle was wonderful and exciting. The members of the church contributed funds to have a cake, which we shared after service with a soda. This made the day especially for some who could not afford a soda on such a wonderful day.
Christmas in Africa has always been characterized as a day when every one has to go to church even those that have not gone there for months. Then after church, traditionally, Christmas is a time for family members to come together. Normally around this time transport fares are hiked to take advantage of the many people traveling up country to join their families. Families, share together big meals on this day. it is normally a time to change on food menus to special dishes and different food you have not eaten in a while; many families eat beef, rice and Matoke. After food family members gather in groups and start telling interesting stories, both from history and current events.
On this day many dress smartly(fancy and neat clothes). Normally on Christmas eve, shops are jammed with people shopping for Christmas.
In our childhood, this is one memorable day we always looked to with great excitement; for we knew we will dress well and put on shoes, we also knew we will eat beef and rice.
As a church, God has called us to minister to the poor and hurting children of our community. Because most of the children in our community are orphans or from very poor families, most of them cannot afford a good meal on Christmas and they always feel bad and move around begging for food. I feel a burden to feed as many children with good as possible.
This year, my desire was to feed 150 children but we were not able to raise enough funds to do this but thanks be to God with support from our friends we were able to feed more than 100 children at my house.
It was hard to determine which children should come, but we finally had to consider the children that are already in our children program. The children were very excited to know that they are coming to our house for Christmas. Children who have been coming now for the last three years, know what to expect, they always tell their friends about it and many children always ask us to come, unfortunately we cannot invite more children than we able to feed.
We prepared enough food with different food stuffs to give our children a good meal. We had beef, chicken, goat meat, cabbages and green beans with Matoke (African dish), rice and potatoes. Each child was also given a soda (coke).
Children were very excited! Children who came for their first time said that this was their first time to have a soda! One girl said that, "my mother has been promising to buy for us rice but no matter how much we have waited, i had never tasted rice until now" The boys from House of Hope children home said that they almost failed to walk back because they were so full. One boy said, "i wish every day was Christmas!"
Thank you dear friends for putting a smile on the faces of these precious children. We are so grateful for your support that made my dream come true! Thank you for being a blessing to these children.
May the good Lord bless you.
"for i was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in" (Matthew 25:35)
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