Christmas Party in Baseco

In the Community Library with our volunteer, Natsuko Watanabe, our tour leader Ate Tessie,  our interns Deanne Gonzales and Therese Talbo .

Decorating the Community library with origami made by our volunteers and interns lead by Natsuko Watanabe .

Baseco’s established Community Library which was once a local resident’s home who generously offered a small area for it to be turned into a library.

Giving out art materials to the kids while seeing the happiness in their eyes made us feel the Christmas spirit more. Despite their situations, they still learned how to appreciate even the smallest things and express them with gratitude.  With the help of these materials, they can find a way to look for the creativity in them and use it as outlets for their minds.

Children’s skills and creativity were tested on colouring activity held during the party. Pads and colouring materials were sponsored by Smokey Tours. The only thing the children should do is have fun and spread their joy.

Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful supporters, they celebrated Christmas with its children’s groups in slum community in Baseco, Manila last December 17. These annual Christmas parties are a special time when the kids, forgetting their poverty and deprivation can freely enjoy themselves.

This year, the parties along with foods, toys, clothes and donations including the games and dances with the children

Before the party started, the volunteers and interns first cleaned the venue (the community library) and made sure it was ready for a party.

At 1pm, the event started first with the kids getting creative with making origami led by Natsuko Watanabe.

Next up was the colouring activity for the younger kids in which they coloured a bunch of different stars and shapes etc.

Meanwhile, Non, a friend of Natsuko gave away free chocolates to the kids in where the kids enjoyed it very much. Children also enjoyed a small time for dancing on the beat of the famous nursery rhyme “Baby Shark”.

Making sure the children were ready for more fun, Lucylle and Natsuko led the Christmas Quiz bee for the children as part of the program. Toys were given away as their prizes. Right after the quiz bee, they played a game called “Stop Dance” that was led by Lucylle. Each must dance on the beat of the song playing and they should freeze right when the music stops.

After that part of the program, it was time to give away the donations to the children which was led by the volunteers and interns. The kids fell in line outside of the library since the venue couldn’t accommodate a lot of people. The volunteers were inside and one by one, the kids went in and received donations such as clothing, food and toys,

As the program was coming to an end, the children sang songs such as nursery rhymes and Christmas carols to commemorate the Christmas season.

It was truly a wonderful day since everyone was having a good time and it was clear that the Christmas spirit was in them. Even though the program only lasted from 1pm to 4pm, the volunteers and everyone else managed to fit in a lot of activities for the children to enjoy.