As a thank you to Vuleka School for allowing St Stithians Boys’ College to partner with them, the St Stithians Boys’ College has made it an annual event to host Vuleka School for a Christmas party.
Through its community engagement programme, St Stithians Boys’ College has partnered with Vuleka School in Rosebank over several years. The partnership involves sending eight to 10 Grade 9 boys from St Stithians to Vuleka every Thursday, throughout the year.
Director of community engagement at St Stithians Boys’ Gladys Ayaya said that while at Vuleka, the boys read to the little children, engage in games with them, and even help them to prepare their lunch by working in the St Martin’s soup kitchen.
“These children have come to love Thursdays as their best day of the week, a day in which they anticipate the arrival of their big brothers, who they idolise as role models,” she said.
At the party, the school had the boys organising an array of entertainment, ranging from singing, orchestra, drama performances and many more.
Lizette Baker, the head of Vuleka Rosebank said that the weeks leading up to the party were filled with much excitement as the children just couldn’t wait to attend. “It is the highlight of their school year. They talked about the Christmas party non-stop. They also kept asking whether Santa is real and if he comes from the North Pole? They imagined their gifts, what food would be served, and just the idea of being at St Stithians to them a great day out, on a big beautiful park.”
This year, the children were offered a chance to decorate their own Christmas tree, entertained by a band, and went to the theatre for a movie on the big screen. The final bit of entertainment was in the Marimba Room where they were taught to play Marimbas and drums.
The climax of the day was the arrival of Santa, who came bearing loads of gifts for each child, and he had time to take individual photos with all of them. In the gift pack was a book for every child from the Travelling Bookshop, a regular promoter of reading at the school.
St Stithians Boys’ College said they are very grateful for the partnership that it has with Vuleka School.
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