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.