On the Road Again: Jolly St. Nick???

This past Saturday night I went to help at a Christmas party for children and their families affected by HIV. The party included, food, games and presents. Santa was there too, though he (or perhaps she!) was a lot less jolly than average mall Santa in North America. This Santa didn’t Ho Ho Ho and kept sunglasses on all night. I’d say that Corina, Berwyn and I with our digital cameras were a bigger draw than Santa that night. In fact, I think we were the biggest draw in the room. Constantly surrounded my beautiful children smiling for pictures or hoping to get their hands on the camera to see the pictures or take some pictures themselves. I think Santa could have taken some tips from the Canadians on how to connect with kids!

I have to admit that when I first arrived at the party I couldn’t help but feel a certain sadness to know that all of the kids there either had HIV themselves or had a family member who did. I just felt so sad to know that these kids were impacted by something not by their own choice. As the night went on, I forgot that sadness and just had fun with the kids and they had fun with us and isn’t that the whole point of it.

For a children’s party the room was remarkably under control. The kids were so well behaved. Especially the group from the orphanage. They were eerily well behaved for a group of about 15 kids who had no immediate adult supervision sitting at the table with them. My own nieces and nephews are MUCH louder. Which makes one wonder about the possibility that there is some truth to the rumours that the orphanage is being run under a ‘firm hand’. There was this one little boy from the orphanage who kept talking to me when I would come to bring food to his table. But I was clueless as to what he was saying so I would just smile at him and kept on serving food. I finally realized he only wanted someone to occupy the empty chair beside him. At one point I watched him pat the chair inviting or rather insisting that one of the adults take a seat. I think he was maybe 3 years old or younger so funny!

The party was lovely, though I question the musical stylings of the DJ. First the music was strictly club music (at a children’s Christmas party!??!). Then I told Corina I was going to go and request some Christmas music (I know, how novel!). As I was walking up, Mr. DJ did in fact start playing a Christmas tune – Joy to the World. So I spun on my heel and turned back towards Corina. But this was no ordinary version of Joy to the World. No, this version was sampled with the Macarena (does everyone remember that annoying tune we inherited from Mexican resort bars?). I wish I could describe it Joy to the World – beat – beat – Macarena. It was just wrong. Apparently the only way we were going to get pure Christmas tunes at this party was if we sang them ourselves. So an MC took up a mic and went around the room person to person. The kids singing was so damn adorable. I didn’t understand half of it of course because 1) it was in dutch and 2) it was mostly mumbled version by kids who only know some of the words and made up the rest. I heard some VERY funny versions of Jingle Bells I’ll tell ya. Corina and I sang ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’. It wasn’t quite the same as a night of caroling with the crew back in Canada but I imagine it’s the best I’ll get here in Suriname.

Anyway, here are some pics from the party.

Corina with a few of the kids.