24th December, 2008

Christmas Eve was a day of fun for everyone at SISP. It was the culmination of three weeks of hectic activity - end of year exams, team games, present buying, wrapping and giving, preparing a special lunch, practising dance routines - they all came together on this one very busy day.

Our children had been divided into four teams a few weeks ago and there had been much friendly rivalry between them. There were competitions for athletics, running, skipping, ball skills, dexterity skills, and so on, as well as chess, Uno, Snakes and Ladders, and carrom league games. Every day the teams each had to decorate a blackboard with a theme suggested by teacher George and this took a lot of planning, ingenuity and a little secrecy in an attempt to gain extra team marks. Doing well in the academic exams added a few extra points to the team scoreboards too and gave some students an extra incentive. The whole lot was organised by teacher George who, very early every morning, could be found sitting at his computer planning events, preparing exams, recording results and accessing performances. The other teachers were also heavily involved - four of the remaining five were team leaders with all the work that that entailed, and they all had exam papers for their own specialist subjects to prepare and mark. All in all it had been an extremely busy time!

Today started with more games while the last exams were carried out for those few children who had missed doing them previously. There were games for tug-of-war, pass the scarf, one-legged pillow fights, water relays and many others.

Simultaneously our social workers were arranging food and medicine packages for the elderly that we care for. Because there are too many for our staff to visit individually, a number of them were brought to our centre on our bus. Our workshops were busy too, fulfilling their Christmas orders. Meanwhile the final touches were being made to the Christmas decorations in the hall - everyone was involved in some way.

Then it was time for the Christmas lunch - not traditional turkey and plum pudding but a delicious green curry and chappatis followed by a mixed fruit salad. Werner and the kitchen staff did a superb job of making sure we were all fed to bursting point! There were two sittings - students first then staff second. While he staff were having theirs you could hear very excited children letting off a steam in the yard with much shrieking and laughing.

By mid-afternoon it was time for a traditional end-of-year speech from Paul followed by present giving and dances from SISP's dance group. Paul even entertained us by dressing up as a stranger from a far-away country and singing a rhyme in Dutch (I think) which everyone had to repeat. He had a surprisingly tuneful and strong singing voice! It was also lovely to see the huge bond that exists between him and the children.

Each child and staff member had bought a little present for a "Christmas Friend" and names were called out of the hat to decide who exchanged presents with who. For those who had forgotten or couldn't afford it, SISP had thoughtfully provided something small.

And finally, at last, there was the announcement of the team results, the giving of cakes and goodies to the teams, and the giving of the clothes for the children. Teacher Salim with his Superman team beat everyone conclusively - a very deserving winner who was so delighted he even did a little dance for us! The children were absolutely thrilled with their new clothes and everyone went home with a smile on his face. Paul, Werner and the whole SISP organisation can rightfully be proud of themselves for making a lot of children very happy this Christmas.

Clive
(volunteer at SISP)