Over the last few weeks my classroom has been filling up with shoeboxes wrapped in cheerful Christmas paper. These have been filled by Berkley families as part of the Operation Christmas Child project.
We know that not everybody is as lucky as us so we are always keen to take part in this project. This year our boxes are going to Liberia, which is a country in Africa. It is on the Atlantic coast next door to Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. A civil war in the 1990s destroyed the economy and created thousands of refugees.
And of course many of these people are children who will not normally receive any gifts at Christmas.
This year will be different for at least 57 children because they will be receiving our shoeboxes containing pens, pencils and paper, soap and flannels, toothbrushes and toothpaste, scarves, hats and gloves [ for the cold nights – even in Africa!!], toys [I put a skipping rope in my box], sweets, hairslides and much more.
We have sent them this with all our love and we hope they enjoy the thrill of receiving these gifts from us, and the contentment of knowing that we have thought of them and care for them from thousands of miles away.
Have you made a box of love yet? If not there may still be time – or there’s always next year!
Mrs White