On Friday the 21st of December 2018 – Nachchikuda came alive with 650+ children and 250+ adults. It was the annual Christmas program organized by the Appe Lanka counselling team and the Divisional Secretariat of Poonakary.

 The day began at 10 am with carol singing, a Christmas skit and an hour and a half of fun and games and dancing followed by a scrumptious lunch cooked by the ladies of Poonakary.

 The afternoon was an amazing cultural performance by the students of Poonakary with a Christmas skit and carols and different sized Santa’s roaming around sharing sweets and welcoming everyone

 When the event concluded at 4.30 pm, everyone was tired but happy

 A year ended but a year to look forward to.

 A PICTORIAL STORY OF – “THIS IS CHRISTMAS” – POONAKARY

As soon as Jordan Bolling finished his O’Level examination he volunteered to help organize our Annual Christmas Program in Poonakary. The Appe Lanka team were overjoyed to have him on their team; these are his comments. Thank You Jordan

Have a blessed year ahead

Shaan

UNITY BY JORDAN BOLLING

Unity…..A word that symbolizes brotherhood and connection. There have been many times in my life where I have felt the force of unity and bond. I have only felt it in small proportions. That was until I traveled across the country to a very poor and almost village-like district called Poonakary. This was to be my first ever visit to that part the country and to what felt like a new world.

 The extremely early morning departure and the journey was tiresome to say the least. After a few paratas and coffees in a small kadde in Mannar we were on our way. The population in the region was almost ‘all Tamil’ which surprised me at first. All the meetings and encounters were extremely friendly and their kind-hearted nature could easily be understood. 

 It was not until about 10.30 that we finally reached the place of the event, in Nachchikuda. We were warmly welcomed by the people of Poonakary who came from all over the district and their respective villages. 

 The event as a whole was momentous occasion. Rumors of the occasion had spread far and wide across the district and the total number of children exceeded the expected five hundred. There were easily a thousand people there. Initially, I thought to myself, “Why? Why, would so many people decide to travel quite a distance just for such a small Christmas festival?”. It was during the main proceedings of the event where I understood this. Just seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids  made me start to understand what kind of environment these kids came from and how much excitement and happiness this brought to them. I too then felt this same happiness and compassion. The amount of effort put in to make the festival very watchable, the quality of the nativity and even the stage presentation just goes to show the happiness, dedication and purity of the people of Poonakary. 

 One thing that really caught my eye was, how the kids gradually started to get involved in the singing and dancing with the Appe Lanka team. At first they were just trying to copy the dance moves because they were too shy. Soon almost all the kids were sprinting up and down, barely able to contain their joy. This was followed by some balloon related games of which the most exciting one was the balloon popping game where each participant was provided with the objective of protecting their balloon from enemy attacks in addition to making attacks 

themselves. The winner to everyone’s surprise was the smallest out of the lot who had taken a more conservative approach and had restricted himself to hiding behind a tree and swooping in for the final kill! After a hefty lunch the main part of the event had kicked off. It consisted of songs, plays, speeches and the main nativity. The best act of the day by far was what we called “The dancing Santas”. Little children dressed in little Santa outfits with pouches full of candy and when asked, they would each take a hand full of it and throw it towards the crowd of other excited kids. This created quite a riot as all the children were battling it out and sometimes even battling themselves for as much candy as they could possibly get, much to the dismay of the teachers who were scrambling to banish the whole lot from the arena. The nativity was based on ridding a soul of demons and devils, and the power of Christ. This brought out the religious aspect of the event and showed the impact of Christ and faith on the population of Poonakary.

The finale of the event was the gifting of the five hundred sets of books to the school children. It was interesting to note how eager these kids were and their appreciation towards towards this kind gesture. I remember one man was instructed to control all the pushing and jumping of the line. This made me pause and think about how lucky we were to receive almost everything we wanted off shop shelves. I had a new compassion and awe towards these kids who without the help of Aunty Shaan and the Appe Lanka team could barely fulfill their basic needs. The whole event was very enlightening for both the children of Poonakary and for my life where I have come to appreciate everything that I have. I feel inspired Aunty Shaan and the Appe Lanka team who have made me feel as though one day I should do something help people that need our support and consider them as our brothers and sisters of our motherland in unity.

The Children were overjoyed to receive a gift set of exercise books at the Appe Lanka Christmas Event.

Thank you so much for helping.