Orphans experience spirit of Christmas
Orphans experience spirit of Christmas
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
To 10-year-old Petrus, Christmas does not mean getting new toys
from his mother. Rather, the dark-skinned, slender boy sees the
season as a time when he can spend more quality time with his
family.
"I feel so happy whenever Christmas comes around because it
means that I'm going to go home to my mom, my brother and my
sister. I can't wait to go home," said the boy, his eyes beaming
with happiness.
His mother, who is a cook at a plant in Tangerang, Banten,
rarely has time to visit him -- only once a month -- since she
has to work to provide food for Petrus' younger siblings.
Petrus is one among 50 children -- sheltering in the Hati Suci
orphanage in Menteng, Central Jakarta -- who will have the chance
to go home as a Christmas gift.
"The children here are not all orphans. Some of them have
parents, but they are too poor to take care of their children and
thus, have decided to entrust their kids with us here," said Hati
Suci staff Kristiani Nurhayati.
And since the parents rarely visit the children and only had
spare time during Christmas, most of them bring their children
home to spend the joyous occasion together, she said.
A humble sermon will follow after the children come back from
their holidays, where they will exchange gifts with one another.
She explained that for exchange gifts, each person was told
not to buy a gift worth more than Rp 5,000 (54 U.S. cents).
"The purpose is to teach them to live in a very modest way and
not to spend money on useless things," she said.
Unlike Petrus and his friends at Hati Suci orphanage, seven-
year-old Lukas, who stays at Vincentius orphanage in Kramat,
Central Jakarta, doesn't have to buy anything to give to his
friends as Christmas gift.
"We don't have exchange gifts as we want them to understand
that they're living due to other people's mercy and so they have
to learn to live very modestly," said Vincentius orphanage
director Father Urbanus.
He said that instead of gift sharing, the children will
receive new clothes and new pair of shoes -- all provided for by
the orphanage -- as Christmas gifts.
"Those who have parents usually go home to celebrate Christmas
with their families. Then, we'll have a Christmas celebration
here in the orphanage after they all come back from their
holidays," he said.
The Christmas celebration, he said, would comprise a mass and
variety of dances all performed by the children.
"Without expensive gifts and toys, the celebration may be
modest by other people's standards, but for the children, it is a
chance to share joy and happiness with one another," said Father
Urbanus.