When you work for a whole year with children from disadvantaged backgrounds, you get to know them very well. You look into their eyes, hear their stories, concerns, and desires. So when the Christmas holidays are approaching, naturally, you start to think: „wouldn’t it be nice if these children could receive a gift from Santa, and not just any gift! How nice would it be if these children could receive exactly what they are wishing for”.
This thought keeps popping up in your mind. It comes and goes. It makes you wonder, you keep thinking about it again and again. Sometimes it goes away, but then it returns persistently, pushing other thoughts from your mind. And suddenly, apparently out of the blue – because we never really know where these things come from – you find the solution.
You start by making notes on a sheet of paper; you make some calls, mobilize and involve people. Someone comes up with a computer program. Then you put all the pieces together and push an imaginary button. Miraculously, it is starting to move, like a dusty gear hidden somewhere, just waiting to be driven by the magic of Christmas.
It is the fifth year when the wheels of the mechanism started to turn. The elves have spread throughout the country and help the children to write letters for Santa and tell him what they wish to receive for Christmas this year.
