Christmas in Buduburam

For Christmas last month, we got a special invite from all our friends at our children's home at the Liberian Refugee camp. They wanted to have a big party and we had no other plans, so we gladly accepted. We received some donations from people who wanted it to go to books, so we had fun looking around for some good ones. We were able to get quite a few quality books for a good price, so we were excited about that.




Christmas Eve we braided our hair so we could spice it up a little. At least try to make it feel more like a holiday. It looked and felt like any old day in August, so, we had to get a little creative.

We left early Christmas morning with our friend Ahmed. We stopped where our Nigerien Tuarag friends sit during the days and gave them some oranges and biscuits and then continued on our long and hot journey out to the camp. They were just about ready to party by the time we got there. There were women cooking chicken and rice and they started peeling the oranges we brought. Once everyone was ready, they started the program. That included some introductions, speeches, songs, scripture reciting, thank you's and then presents!


Each of the orphans got a small sack of used clothes and then we gave out all the used books. They were all very excited about all of that! Then came the feast of chicken and rice and soda's and oranges and biscuits. After we cleaned up and rested a bit, the dancing started. That was fun! Man, Africans sure know how to move! It was pretty amazing to watch and pretty funny when 10 year old Jackie was teaching me how to dance.

It sure didn't look like the white Christmases we are used to, but inside, it felt like the perfect Christmas! It was awesome to get to know the kids better and to see them having fun and relaxing and not having to worry about how they were going to eat for the day. They seemed to have a very merry Christmas themselves! Thanks to everyone who helped to make that possible for them!