It’s that time of the year again, when we eat too much, drink too much and spend too much money. Well, most of us in any case. For a huge portion of our population, it is a time where people feel the most at loss, especially when it comes to making it a special time for their children.

Enter Dlala Nje’s annual Christmas Party. These guys run a cultural games emporium in Ponte City for the children of Hillbrow and surrounds and throw a Christmas party for these kids every year. They provide a space for children to have fun in a safe environment and enjoy all sorts of activities for the afternoon. They even get a present each and a chance to sit on Santa’s lap!

For a lot of these children, this will be the only Christmas fun that they experience and the only gift that they receive. Orphanages in the area are also invited and it is an afternoon of (mad) fun with face painting, crafts, cupcakes, jumping castles, performances and of course, presents!

We managed to collect about 1000 gifts from many kind hearts (which wasn’t enough!) and spent our afternoon madly helping out with the party. There were so many smiling faces and I am so happy to have been a part of such an amazing initiative. I have all the time in the world for these guys and their cause.

Here are some pictures from the day. I hope that you will be there next year too, to help make a child smile, as Madiba would have liked it!

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela

Apparently this is me as an angel – bless!

What counts in life

It’s not a party ’til there’s a jumping castle

DJ rocking the decks

When making angels turned into making binoculars

THIS is the coolest car in the world. He was so chuffed with his gift!

So proud of her snow man Christmas tree decoration

Face painting is always a hit – even when we have no idea what to paint or how!