Celebrating the day you were born is something special and really important. One day of the year that is all about you. Presents, a cake and the most important people in your life should be part of this day. It's the same at The Hope House.
Since I have been here, we have celebrated 4 birthdays together and they have all been beautiful and special. For each child's birthday, a cake is bought from the bakery. The whole room is decorated and we come together and sing Happy Birthday. They get a new outfit especially for their birthday; photos are taken and we celebrate the day together. All the staff here do their best to make the child feel loved and at home. Here, we are all a big family and especially on birthdays, I really get to realized that.
Ruby Nakka, one of the co-founders of "The Hope House", had his birthday at the end of October. The children really admire him, so we all decided to bake him a cake together. It was the first time Lili and I had baked a cake here in India and we were very excited to see how it would turn out. We made three chocolate cakes, put them together and had a great three-tier cake. The girls decorated the cake themselves with nuts and chocolate sauce. They were very proud, and the cake tasted fantastic. Ruby was surprised with balloons, a rehearsed dance and a PowerPoint. It was a very successful party with lots of fun.
It is so important that the children here realize that it is important to celebrate your own life, your own existence, because there are people who love you. Appreciating life, especially when you have had traumatic experiences, is not easy. Here is where children learn that even if you've had a hard life, life won't be like this forever and that it's a great gift to be alive.
It's always about making memories, and the birthdays at The Hope House are the kind of memories the children will never forget.
