Christmas
This Advent flew by incredibly quickly! Christmas will be here in just a few days. At the moment I am often having difficulties falling asleep, as so many thoughts are racing through my head and I am just bursting with gratitude and joy. So many old and new friends have accompanied me and supported me through the last weeks. From the very start everybody wanted to help me to reach my goal. So many people, many whom I do not even know at all, have sponsored me. So many have written or posted that my campaign has inspired or motivated them. If I hadn’t always had a goal clear in my mind, the success could have swept me off my feet (although that’s a bit difficult if you are sitting in a 195 kg wheelchair).
But I feel really strongly what it is that makes Mary’s Meals so special: following a joint vision! Everyone in his or her own way, with their own special talents and gifts. Familiar faces like Annie Lennox with her fantastic voice and her song “Universal Child” — perhaps you have already spotted her on Mary’s Meals’ Social Media, otherwise you can watch it here. Or Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, who sent me such a nice video greeting. (Do you remember the film The Intouchables which told his life story?) You can watch his video message on my Instagram page here. And the many many people all over the world, who help with “little acts of love”, as Magnus (the founder of Mary’s Meals) calls them, so that even the poorest children get a chance in life. And all of us together throughout the whole of Advent! On December 24th (what a day to be on air!) an interview will be broadcasted at 11:10am on Deutschlandfunk Nova (for the German speakers amongst you) with me and my cousin, Felicitas Boeselager (who is also my friend). Many thanks, Flitze!
We recently received a small collection of children’s quotes from Zambia. The children were asked what Christmas meant to them and how they would be celebrating. They celebrate the birth of Christ just like we do, they go to Mass, dress smartly, sing Christmas carols, watch nativity plays or even act in them. They all write that they celebrate with their family and in their village communities. They meet, exchange presents, laugh, dance and eat something special.
At Christmas the joy is the same for all of us, even though the conditions, the presents and the food differ so widely. But this year Christmas will be very different for all of us. A tough year lies behind us, and it was particularly hard for the families in our project countries.
Normally we celebrate in a big gathering with my relatives including uncles and aunts, cousins and lots of dogs. Unfortunately, that won’t be possible this year, but at least a small number of relatives will be joining us in Frankfurt (just as many as is permitted) und I am already really looking forward to it. We will definitely be raising our glasses to the overwhelming success of the “Felix runs for Mary’s Meals” campaign and to our great joy that so many children will be able to go to school and learn without feeling hungry for an entire year.
So how many children will we be giving the present of a daily meal to this Christmas? I will let you know here on this blog — but you will have to wait until after Christmas. We still have a few days ahead of us!
You can still support my run for Mary’s Meals here: marysmeals.org/Felix
