Last month, the orphans in our Chifundo program in Kalieka Township had a two day Christmas celebration they will never forget. It started when a woman emailed Ancient Path to ask if she could give gifts to our Malawian Chifundo children as a special Christmas surprise for her mother. We contacted Chifundo director, Moses M’Tambo to ask if he could buy the gifts and perhaps have his team cook a Christmas feast for the kids. He and his team did much more than that! They took them all shopping for school shoes, distributed new clothing, took them on an outing to a wildlife sanctuary where they also enjoyed a traditional Malawian Christmas feast. Below is Moses’ written report on the Chifundo Christmas ( with a few of my notes thrown in) – as well as a photo gallery.
CHIFUNDO CHRISTMAS PARTY
Chifundo kids on 25th December had a memorable moment in their lives. These kids have lived in the town ship since they were born but if asked one by one you can tell that they have never had a Christmas party before and this day marked a great uniqueness in their lives. The kids were very happy when they learnt that they were going to have a party and not just a party only, but they were going to have gifts and not just gifts they were also going to have such a nice day at the wild life center all these things made this day so prominent and fantastic. The following are the events that took place on the 24th and 25th December.
GIFTS
The school curriculum of Malawi has changed this year. The change is that the school calendar begins in early December that means the kids had a holiday just for a few days during the festive season. The Chifundo kids had such a timely special gift they were going to have black school shoes as their Christmas gifts. Most of the children in the town ship do not have school shoes but the Chifundo kids are happy now that they will have these school shoes.
BUYING THE SHOES (GIFTS)
Buying shoes for the Chifundo kids would not have been easy because they put on shoes of different sizes. Measuring their feet with strings would have not been so appropriate. The only best way of doing this was to take the kids on board to town so that they could try on the shoes. The whole team was involved in organizing and controlling the kids when looking for the shoes. The process was a success because each kid got the size of their shoes. ( Having shopped for children’s shoes many times in Malawi, we can tell you this is not as easy than it sounds! Digging through cardboard boxes of shoes in tiny, crowded shops to find two shoes the same size and style is only the beginning of the problem. Needless to say, we were all very impressed that Moses and his team took such care to ensure the kids had shoes that fit and had fun in the process!)
GIVING THE GIFTS
The shoes were given soon after we arrived from town. The kids were happy when they received these shoes because they will no longer have to walk bare footed when going to school. The Chifundo will be first to be noticed at school because of this special gift anyone will tell that they have a gift indeed, as soon as they are back to school. (You’ll also see from the photos that all the girls received a beautiful satin dress and the boys got matching denim outfits…)
NATURE SANCTUARY
On 25th of December morning the kids were so early that we did not have wait for them but they actually waited for us. They were really keen to visit the wild life center. The team was split into two; the other team directly accompanied the kids to the wild life center the other team stayed behind to prepare the food with the help of two guardians of the kids. (Keep in mind that preparing Christmas dinner includes slaughtering and plucking the chickens, hauling water and firewood and cooking everything over an open fire.)
TOUR IN NATURE SANCTUARY
When the kids arrived at the nature sanctuary and all the transaction were completed, the kids and the accompanying team were given a guider. The tour was for about an hour and the first cage visited had two crocodiles. The kids had never seen a crocodile before and this really excited them. The journey continued on to the cages of Monkeys, Baboons and amidst the tour the cages of a hyena, a leopard and a Lion were visited. Finally at the very end of the tour a python cage was visited. The kids were very happy to have seen these animals.
PLAY TIME
When the tour was over the kids ran straight to play galley which has a lot of things to play with. The kids played a lot of games and most the games were new to them.
TIME TO EAT
After encountering all the games the kids were now very hungry and it was time for food. The team that had stayed behind came with the food on time. All the kids were told to go up into the adventure house to get their meal for this day. The food was served and the kids had their meal in the adventure house suspended on poles.
TIME TO GO
When feasting was over the kids were also given some toys which were taken on board so they played with them. After all these activities it was time to call it a day. The kids were taken back home and this marked the end of the most memorable Christmas to the Chifundo kids
COMMENTS
The guardians of the kids were very grateful because of this special gift of shoes and they said it came at the right time when the kids really needed the shoes when they are going back to school. The guardians are so grateful to the one who gave this timely wonderful gift and in their message they said “GOD BLESS YOU, SO MUCH”. The Chifundo team is also very grateful for these gifts which have come at the right time. Thank you very much for the wonderful work that you are doing GOD BLESS YOU!!
And we add a big thank you to Moses, his team, and the orphans’ guardians who helped give these children a day out from the township and a memory that will last a lifetime. Enjoy the photos! (Just click once on each picture to enlarge.)
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