Alice D’Souza
It’s Christmas in the year 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Face masking, hand sanitising and social distancing are the norm. Spending is restricted to bare necessities because finances are tight. Who then will go about spreading joy and cheer especially to the less fortunate?
Enter Yeh-lo Santa and the Santa Kaun-spiracy!
Every Christmas, under the guidance of their Principal, Fr. Magi Murzello, the boys at St. Andrew High School, Bandra participate in a Yeh-lo Santa project. While the red Santa gives gifts to children on Christmas day, the yellow (Yeh-lo) Santa collects gifts from children after Christmas and distributes it to the needy.
This year the theme was ‘Kaun Banega Santa? – Join the Santa Kaun-spiracy’; the concept being ‘Will you be the courageous one and reach out to those in need? Do not let the fear of the virus stop you from being generous.’ Each Andrean was therefore gifted with a Happiness Jar filled with items to keep them safe. Santa’s PPE kit comprising a PPE suit, a pair of latex gloves, soaps, hand sanitizer, tissues and a customised ‘Proud to be Andrean’ face mask were each wrapped in individual packaging by the Women’s Cell of St. Andrew Parish and placed neatly inside the jar. The students could wear/ use the items as they went about distributing joy. They were also asked to return the jars to the School filled with goodies for the girl child which would then be distributed to orphanages.
Fr. Magi and his staff were overwhelmed when reports of the students’ generosity started coming in. Not only did the students form a network to ensure that their needy classmates were taken care of but their magnanimity also shone through when the jars were returned to the School. Toys, personal care products, hair accessories, clothing, stationery, etc. came in large quantities. What was heart-warming to see was the care taken to pack the jars keeping the age of the recipient in mind. Some even had handmade decorations and little cards in it. Many also did not restrict themselves to the size of the jar but gave sacks of items for the girls.
The concept of the Santa Kaun-spiracy was also shared with the community around as well as benefactors of the School. Before he knew it, Fr. Magi had well-wishers from Australia and Canada logging on to Amazon and D-Mart to order basics for the orphanages. He was simply amazed, having never imagined that the idea would touch so many hearts!
On Saturday, 30th January 2021, the Women’s Cell and Fr. Magi set out to distribute the goodies to the orphanages. Shraddha Vihar at Andheri West, Bal Sadan, Uttan Rehabilitation Centre and Dilkhush were the recipients of Yeh-Lo Santa’s largesse. Because of the pandemic, it was not possible to interact closely with the children but that did not stop the children at Shraddha Vihar from greeting the group with a welcome song nor the children at Bal Sadan from turning up in their Sunday best. Seeing the children’s excitement and the sisters’ gratitude made the entire exercise a worthwhile one.
Each project has its fair share of learnings and Yeh-Lo Santa is no exception. In 2019, under the Santa SurpRICE, jars were filled with eatables worth more than Rs. 200. The jars were to be returned with uncooked rice that would then be distributed to the needy. While the School students gave sacks of rice, many in the community took the jars promising to return them as directed but did not do so. The organisers learnt that generosity could be abused. This time, there was a charge of Rs. 100 attached to the jar even though the goods were worth far more than that amount.
They also learnt that the concept had to be explained clearly to one and all as not all read the poster or the jar label. Some felt that the items in the jar had to be given to the house-help to keep them safe from the coronavirus while others wondered why they were receiving soap and hand sanitizer in the jar when these could be given directly to the orphanages.
Nonetheless, the good far outweighs the bad. The students and the benefactors of St. Andrew High School will continue to aid Yeh-Lo Santa in his mission to spread joy and happiness to those who need it the most.
