Aspen Hospitals Surprises St Tabitha Children

Children residing at the Saint Tabitha Children’s Home received their Christmas presents early on Friday after staff from Aspen Medical staff handed over wrapped toys.

The home is located in Saweni, Lautoka, and is home to 12 children.

Aspen Medical chief financial officer Priyashni Chand said the intiative was the collective effort of 1215 staff members from the Lautoka and Ba Aspen Hospitals respectively.

“So we collected around 80 gifts,” she said.

She said the staff were aware of the high cost of living and decided to assist the less fortunate.

“For some people, it’s going to be a very hard Christmas,” she said.

“For others it’s going to be just another Christmas and for the fortunate ones, it going to a joyous Christmas.

“We just wanted to share some gifts to the less fortunate.”

She hopes to make the Christmas occasion for St Tabitha bigger come next year.

St Tabitha Children’s Home principal Dr Eleni Athinodrou said the children saw the act of gift-giving as an outreach exercise.

“It’s not even about the toys or the gifts, it’s that they remember that there are people in the community that know they’re not invisible,” she said.

“And I think that’s important for children’s development and growth to understand that love is thicker than blood and they experienced that love through us.”

Some of the children at the home were wards of the State and the social welfare while others were children from the communities and churches, whose parents were struggling to support them.

“This is another layer of love, from the community and I think that’s a beautiful balance,” she said.

“We are very appreciative of the effort in going and buying gifts for the children and also coming and handing over and the children gaining confidence in introducing themselves and talking about themselves.”

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