22 Jan A NEW WAY OF CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS/SPAIN
The pandemic that we are living through has situated us before life events in a new way ,and of course, this includes Christmas.
In Atalaya, as is happening all over, we are suffering from the same situation, but at the same time we perceive that what is important transcends the difficulties, the lockdown and the restrictions. We have had to accept the health regulations, and we have done so with responsibility and prudence.
We were not able to hold any Christmas gatherings, as we had been accustomed to do, but in the tutoring program as well as in the soup kitchen we have been impressed by the solidarity, the welcoming and the generous help from entities, institutions and volunteers.
With them and thanks to them, we have been able to celebrate the joy and the wonder with gifts for more than 100 children in the tutoring program, and what is more important, they had the opportunity to be surprised. Their smiles, their excitement when the saw the gifts is a demonstration of how easy it is to spread joy.
The more than 50 guests of the soup kitchen have enjoyed tha good menus, gifts and good company, fruit of the good will of many volunteers, of the generosity of other foundations and institutions, but in a special way it was a new opportunity to experience that we are all brothers and sisters, that people are more important than borders.
We have also had a gift this Christmas. Atalaya has received some awards. The Burgos 8 in the category of “Human Values,”a merited recognition of the interest and the work of many people who struggle for the rights and the dignity of many persons.
Once again we can confirm that Christmas is revealed in the simple, in the fragile, in the small, in those who are grateful, in those who are amazed at all the good there is in life, and that is exactly where God has decided to remain among us.
Elvira Santamaria, aci
