Papai Noel Visiting a Pre-school Serving Children from a Favela 12/22/2006
In December of 2006, my wife and I went to Salvador do Bahia, Brazil. We had decided to spend our Christmas volunteering. We hooked up with Global Volunteers, a nondenominational NGO that had programs all over the world. We picked Global Volunteers because their emphasis was not religious and as they told us, “We don’t dictate what our volunteers do, our in-country hosts do.” We could be certain that what ever we did, it would be something that our Brazilian hosts thought was important.
We and the other volunteers spent two weeks doing a variety of tasks. Some of worked in a children’s cancer clinic or doing administrative tasks, others in a support house where the parents of children at the clinic could stay, and at a pre-school that served about 300 children from a nearby favela. I had the good fortune to work both at the cancer clinic doing administrative tasks and at the pre-school.
On the first day I started at the school the Principal told me that he had a special job for me on the last day of the school year: because we were on the other side of the equator, the Brazilian summer break starts just before Christmas.
The last day of the school year was celebrated with a school pageant. Each class sang or danced or did a recitation. The theme was Christmas.
About a half hour before the festivities began, the Principal took me aside and told me that he had a special suit for me to wear: red with white trim. I was to be Papai Noel (Santa Claus) and pass out gifts with the help of the teachers.
The pageant went beautifully with the children and their parents having a great time. Then it was my turn. I came out from a side door into the schoolyard where everyone was assembled. The children were taken by surprise. In an instant all order broke down and 300 small children swarmed around me cheering, “Papai Noel, Papai Noel!”
I did a pseudo samba dance step around the schoolyard, the center of ecstatic children. Teachers and parents laughed and clapped.
Once order was restored, the children went to their classrooms where they were served their lunches. I went to each class and passed out gifts.
In return, the children gave me the best Christmas gift that I’ve ever had.
To everyone, Peace On Earth and Good Will Towards All.
Photo by Caio Silva one of the Brazilian host staff.