Christmas at Cornerstone

I was present at Cornerstone for Christmas 2013.  In the morning we all went to church, with the children smartly dressed in new clothes bought for them by the pastor.  Later in the day they had a very large meal of many dishes.  Afterwards one of the children described the sensation of feeling full to me, which for him was a total novelty.  He thought he was ill.  Nobody was capable of eating in the evening.

In the run-up to Christmas 2014 we were told that there was no additional funding available for a Christmas celebration.  This caused great disappointment to the children as Christmas is the highpoint of their year.  One of our new children,  who had not yet experienced Christmas at Cornerstone and is still grieving for his recently murdered parents, was particularly downhearted.

A very kind supporter from the US contacted me out of the blue to ask if there was anything needed at Cornerstone at the moment.  I told her that the main need was for money for a Christmas celebration.  She immediately responded that she would send $500 for that purpose.  She also sent another $500 for me to use in England to buy things for the children.  What a wonderful gift to our children!

We had a family meeting shortly before I left in which the children were consulted about what food they would like to have.  They came up with a long list.

I phoned on Christmas Day and spoke to several children, who all sounded very, very happy.  They had a wonderful time.  Here are some of their comments, almost entirely food-related as their hearts are firmly in their stomachs!

Stuffed children Christmas 2013 (sorry I have no pictures from this year,
but at least this gives a flavour).

“We had food and soda.”  (Soda is the word used here for any fizzy drink.)

“It was very nice.  The food and everything.”

“We had chicken and soup, cake and Irish potatoes.”

“Rice, chicken and chips, soda, biscuits, cake….”

“It was good.  There was fruit.”

“It was very nice.  I ate sweets, eggs, chapattis, milk, chicken….”

“It was very nice.  We prayed and sang.  It was a very good day.  Everyone was very excited.”

“It was very good.  Everyone was in a good mood and there was no fighting.

“It was good.  Everything was good.”

The first child I asked when I returned was the little boy who had been so despondent beforehand.  A wide grin swept his face and he said it was a lovely Christmas.  The highlight was “soda”. 

We all want to say a deeply felt thank you to Karen Morgan for her wonderful Christmas gift which meant so much to all our children and to all the staff who really wanted to provide a lovely Christmas for them.