Parties are usually a luxury for poor families, single parents included. It is hard enough for them to find the money to put food on the table let alone pay for a glittery, fanciful event like a birthday party. So when the invitation came for poor families and single parents to celebrate two very special events, Jumble Station and PWP jumped at the golden opportunity.
The first was the day-long celebration of Nestle’s 100 year involvement in Malaysia where a carnival like atmosphere was evident at the Merdeka Square or Dataran Merdeka as we know it. Our kids were part of the thousands of Nestle invitees encouraged to participate in games, sample all the foods that Nestle is so famous for and gape in admiration at the many different performers that showed off their talents. Despite the long queues that one had to endure before one could get to the games stall, the food stall or the performance itself, the effort was well worth it and the laughter, fun and camaraderie made for a truly fun filled celebratory day indeed.
The second invite was to attend the birthday of Jasmine Leong who was turning all of 10 years. Four poor kids were specially invited for this event which was themed “Alice In Wonderland” and boy were our kids truly impressed! Karthik, 13, the son of a single mother for one had never had a real birthday party and it was the same with Min Min, NurFain and Nur Fazlin. They were truly in awe of the decorations, the games, the bouncy playground, the costumes, the food spread and the ventriloquist that had been hired just for the purpose of making a huge and colourful impact. Even the face painting had them giggling with happiness and the ease with which they won prizes brought smiles to their faces. By the time they left, they had armloads of goodies – from cotton sugar to popcorns, from toys to fancy hats. What is even more wonderful is the fact that birthday girl Jasmine was willing to share her birthday celebration with the less priviledged and so doing, enabled them to realise that there can be a better life ahead for them, if they only work hard at succeeding someday!
