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A sunny Christmas surprise

Children from the Sunshine Centre were pleasantly surprised by the Pandula Trust. (Photograph contributed)More than a 100 pairs of eyes were bright with expectation and wonder, when Santa Clause appeared at the Christmas party for disabled and mentally handicapped children at the recently inaugurated Othithiya Building in Walvis Bay.
The party was organised by the Pandula Trust, an employee driven initiative of Manica Group Namibia, aimed at providing charity support and assistance to those in need.
According to a Pandula Trust member, Francis Angula, it was the first time that Manica hosted a party of this nature for the children of the Sunshine Centre.
“The Manica employees felt that we should do something special for the Sunshine Centre this year, and decided on a surprise Christmas party. We support the needy in our communities regularly, but we sometimes forget about the disabled. Many children don’t know what it feels like to get a gift from Father Christmas, so we decided to make that possible. We had 106 children, some accompanied by their care givers and parents as well as volunteers from Swakopmund. We intend to make this an annual initiative, by also reaching out to other institutions and communities that are often neglected or forgotten over the holidays,” Angula said.
The children especially enjoyed the ‘Mother Christmas’ whose quips about Father Christmas had them in stitches. They were also entertained with a puppet show, a karate performance, dance and treated with a delicious Christmas lunch.
The Trust supports a number of community upliftment projects such as helping to dish up food at the Promiseland feeding project in Kuisebmond, paying school fees for children in need, providing food vouchers to destitute families and providing support to vulnerable children, senior citizens and other charity organisations.

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