PLEASE DON’T ALLOW THE GRINCH TO STEAL CHRISTMAS !!!
Project Name: “Celebrating Christmas with Joy and Cheers”
Organization: “Wi’am: Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center”
Address: Bethlehem, Hebron-Jerusalem Rd.,
P.O. Box: 1039, Bethlehem
Telephone: 2770513/ Fax: 2777333
E-mail: hope@alaslah.org
Background:
John 1:14
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”
Christmas is a delightful season full of theological and earthly meanings. It is the most wonderful time of the year indeed. This year’s Christmas comes with the hope that the Pandemic is behind our back.
Still, families face ample challenges meeting their daily needs and coping with the hard economic situation that engulfs our daily life. Christmas comes this year with many families unable either to provide their children with a decent Christmas present or having a Christmas party that brings the joy of Christmas to their doorstep.
It is time to reverse the negative mood in the community to a more positive one. Christmas, it is time to bring joy and make memories that will last a lifetime.
Our plans at Wiam is to immerse impoverished children with a unique Christmas experience helping them to re-live the sublime meaning of Christmas with Christmas carols, singing, presents, Santa, clown shows, and pleasant atmosphere all around. Our theme for Christmas will be enhancing a sense of giving to others. It inheres a practice that we need to integrate into our lives all year round.
There is a much-loved Levantine Christmas carol, Laylat al-Milad, which some of its lines say:
“When we offer a glass of water to a thirsty person, we are in Christmas
When we clothe a naked person with a gown of love, we are in Christmas”
Why Christmas Celebration?
Christmas is the season that gives vulnerable children and their families are aspiring for joy and peacefulness. Children with great excitement patiently await this occasion in which they receive presents, spend a joyful time, and the knowledge that they are valued. The most important gift children can receive is the hope that tomorrow is a better day in which they can fully enjoy their childhood away from injustices, deprivation and trauma.
Beneficiaries:
The Christmas event will target children:
The festival will directly reach 180 impoverished children (4-15 years old) and 30 elderly from Bethlehem areas and neighboring towns.
Objectives:
- To bring the spirit of Christmas and festive mood to 180 impoverished, 30 elderly and their families.
- To share the spirit of joy and giving by inculcating the message of Christmas: the spirit of peace, justice and goodness
Description of activities:
To inculcate the spirit of sharing, we will distribute a significant Christmas gift to the attendees and we will reach other marginalized kids in their homes who cannot attend the festive party.
We will organize a Christmas party inviting children in an open space. Similarly, we will pay a visit to the senior citizen’s home with Santa and a clown giving presents to 30 women and having a joyful atmosphere.
Activities:
- Christmas party for 180 children that include:
- Carol singing and a play on the birth of Christ
The carol singing will be a solemn reminder of the significance of Christmas as a symbolism of heavenly “Light” and Earthly “Hope”, and a way and to invoke the spirit of Christmas. While the play will give a chance for children to act the scene of the birth of Jesus that inheres a latent Christmas message of hope, justice and the spirit of love and peace.
- Clown Show and face painting:
The party will include a clown/puppet show suitable for children. The clowns show will involve painting-on-face for the children with symbolic figures and colors.
- CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR CHILDREN: SHARE THE JOY
This year as in other years we will continue distributing meaningful educational gifts to children that they can use in their daily life.
- A visit to senior citizen’s home in Bethlehem giving them gifts accompanied by a clown/singing.
The visit will target 30 elderly in which a clown will present an entertainment event couples with Santa giving each elderly a present that suits their age.
