This blog topic is a bit late I suppose since people naturally think about Christmas gifts in December rather than May. SP is well known for its program of Operation Christmas child (OCC) - enabling people to donate their own practical Christmas gifts to children around the world in poorer countries, Niger included.I (Tim) work in the relief and development wing of SP so I don't have much involvement in OCC but I do have some! I had the privilege several months ago to coordinate giving these gifts to children in the Bani-Bangou area located near the north border with Mali.
Pictures speak a thousand words - here's a few...
Most children in Niger have never received a Christmas gift in their entire life.
The gifts that I and my colleagues gave out would have been the first (and only) Christmas gifts they receive, since the OCC distribution has not been done in this village area before.
As you might expect, the children were thrilled and honoured to receive the gifts.
We gave out the gifts one by one by calling the names of the students (in the classroom during a regular school day), and then when the gifts were all given (in that class), we would let the kids tear open the boxes.
We were wondering if there might be a riotous commotion but in fact the kids were very well behaved (likely due mainly to the presence of the town mayor, the village chief, the school director, and a foreigner or (myself!) overseeing the event. Actually for the schools we visited, we only had enough for 10% of the children, and so we had asked/prearranged that the school administration choose the top 10% of students to receive gifts. The other 90% of children were fascinated to watch the whole gift giving event nonetheless. The children also receive a cartoon book (in French) called "the greatest gift" which talks about God's love. The village leaders actually asked if they could get a copy of this for themselves too.
The photos also show the classrooms - the pictures speak for themselves.None of the classrooms have enough desks, often 3 - 6 kids must sit in a dilapidated desk built for 2 kids. Many kids have no desks. In fact many kids have no chairs, and many classrooms have no regular walls (they are in straw huts). We are well known in these parts as we are the main organisation helping there with basic needs - primarily nutrition and clean water and latrines, and so they were also very welcoming to receive the gifts for the kids.
Giving out gifts is great fun! Little did I know that playing with the gifts would be an immediate need for me!! This need suddenly became apparent when we noticed the kids looking at many of the gifts in bewilderment.
Not only have these kids not received gifts before, many of the toys or objects are completely unknown to them. I quickly opened the brightly coloured play dough and I sculptured a dog, or was it a camel, anyway once they saw my art work they actually figured it out, I guess it was not all that bad. Quickly I made the rounds to play with/operate toys that were mysterious to them. Good thing I worked in the Sears toy department many years ago! Even our local SP staff do not know toys that are common place for Canadians/Americans. I think play dough is a great gift to give, but the kids initially thought it was some strange food.
Fortunately many gift items require no explanation - such as pens, combs, soap, stuffed/toy animals ... These are great gift items. Actually a pen or pencil would be a gift well cherished by a child in this culture. Some gifts come in plastic boxes which are themselves great items. There were a few "embarrasing" gift items: in a African islamic culture where women dress very conservatively and most of the body and legs (most skin) are not shown in public, the skimpy blond barbie dolls in short skirts and tops were not so good.
As with any activity we do, there is plenty of organising that happens, and coordination and approvals with the local village/town authorities. Since we are already well known in this area for our development projects, it was easy to arrange in the end.
Prior to the event, I was seriously worried about problems we might encounter, especially with only having enough gifts for 1 out of very 10 children, and second that it is a "Christmas" event in a town where Christianity and Christians are completely unknown. However everyone was very well natured and easy going about it all. Even the local Imam Muslim leader participated and asked if he could hand out a few gifts which he did.
So the next time you complain about not getting enough stuff from Santa, think again! Here in Niger a few gifts to a few children has made many giggles and tiny smiling faces...
