It’s Christ­mas morn­ing in Trinidad and To­ba­go; the traf­fic, hus­tle and bus­tle of shop­ping, paint­ing, new cur­tains, clean­ing, bak­ing ham and turkey, peel­ing sor­rel, look­ing for gin­ger in the mar­ket, press­ing pastelles and wrap­ping gifts is fi­nal­ly over- more or less.

Chil­dren are scream­ing, lov­ing their toys, oth­ers scream­ing, hat­ing theirs. But with one com­mong cel­e­bra­tion in mind, we all say, Hap­py Birth­day Je­sus! Wal­lets are now emp­ty and bel­lies are full, but the joy and laugh­ter of fam­i­lies com­ing to­geth­er can bright­en any­one’s day. And we too would like to wish you a very Mer­ry Christ­mas!!

In our neck of the woods we have two lit­tle girls who have been di­ag­nosed with can­cer and they would like to share with you what Christ­mas means to them.

“JBF Talks” to 11-Year-old Kiar­ra, who is from To­ba­go. She re­cent­ly lost her leg due to os­teosar­co­ma – can­cer of the bone.

What do you like most about Christ­mas?

My favourite thing about Christ­mas is the food. Christ­mas isn’t Christ­mas with­out ham, the sponge cake and the black cake. Every year my mom and I are busy in the kitchen bak­ing and prepar­ing these treats for the sea­son. I’ll pass on the gin­ger beer, but Sor­rel is a must have sweet treat for me every sin­gle year. It’s fam­i­ly time where ex­tend­ed fam­i­lies come to­geth­er. My favourite aun­ty who lives in Amer­i­ca comes to vis­it and this makes it even more ex­cit­ing.

Can you tell us about a Christ­mas tra­di­tion in To­ba­go?

In To­ba­go, you know it is Christ­mas when there are a lot of fam­i­ly gath­er­ings. We cook a lot of food and most hous­es are busy bak­ing hams and cakes. There is a lot of giv­ing and shar­ing of presents amongst every­one in the com­mu­ni­ty, but the one tra­di­tion that I love is kite fly­ing. Dur­ing Christ­mas the sky is colour­ful with kites and we get a lit­tle taste of East­er be­cause the breeze is re­al­ly strong. We don’t have parang­ing as much as be­fore be­cause now, it is more of a gath­er­ing than a lime.

Just months ago, you were di­ag­nosed with, and are be­ing treat­ed for os­teosar­co­ma. Do you think this would af­fect your Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tions?

I can’t move around as I want to and I can no longer eat a lot of the stuff that I used to at this time of year. I can­not par­tic­i­pate in dance and dra­ma with my group ‘MI­TA’ and at events at my school, Pen­te­costal Light and Life Foun­da­tion Pri­ma­ry. Al­though I know it is for a short while, I still feel as though life is un­fair- es­pe­cial­ly with the food. I have cup­cakes in the freez­er and every time I go for wa­ter they tempt me, but I’m al­lowed to break the rules some­times right? On the brighter side, I’ve ac­cept­ed that this is what God wants for me. I am con­tent­ed and pos­i­tive about the fu­ture and with God at my side, I can do all things.

What would you like to be­come when you grow up?

A teacher. Prefer­ably a preschool or low­er pri­ma­ry school teacher be­cause I re­al­ly en­joy work­ing with and help­ing chil­dren. I have younger sib­lings, and be­ing around them, play­ing with them, help­ing them to un­der­stand things and cheer­ing them up when they cry is a good, fun ex­pe­ri­ence. I’ve had won­der­ful teach­ers from Pre-school to my cur­rent pri­ma­ry school. My cur­rent teacher Ms. Si­mone Mc­Neil makes wak­ing up for school worth it and my school re­al­ly in­spires me to be­come a teacher- every­one at school is so sup­port­ive.

Do you have any wish­es for 2019?

Less mur­ders in Trinidad and To­ba­go. I al­so wish for my fam­i­ly to be unit­ed like we were be­fore. More than any­thing, I just want to get bet­ter and be able to do things like be­fore. I am ea­ger for the new year and new changes.

What are you an­tic­i­pat­ing this Christ­mas?

Open­ing presents. I love art, bak­ing and beau­ty things so I wished for any­thing that is art­sy or will al­low me to be cre­ative. I love craft mak­ing be­cause it re­lax­es me and I en­joy it. It al­so in­spires me be­cause I feel great on the in­side when I make things. Even in the JBF Ward, I would make hand bands and oth­er crafts for the kids and we would ex­change through our par­ents since I was un­able to move about. I al­so love bak­ing so hope­ful­ly I get some bak­ing items.

Please send a Christ­mas greet­ing to chil­dren through­out T&T.

It doesn’t mat­ter what you are go­ing through be­cause God is al­ways with you. Even if you are dif­fer­ent and think you can’t do any­thing, re­mem­ber that God made you spe­cial and you can do any­thing through Christ who strength­ens you.

“JBF Talks” to 9-yer-old Is­hana Ram­dass. She was di­ag­nosed with A.L.L (Acute Lym­phoblas­tic Leukaemia) – Can­cer of the Blood

What do you think, feel and wish for dur­ing the Christ­mas hol­i­days?

When I think Christ­mas, I imag­ine fam­i­ly, love, ex­cite­ment and bond­ing. I wish that this to­geth­er­ness could be felt through­out the year and that I can for­ev­er have a big, hap­py fam­i­ly.

What are you an­tic­i­pat­ing this Christ­mas?

I am ex­treme­ly ex­cit­ed to open presents. My fam­i­ly has a Christ­mas tra­di­tion where we all wake up at 5 o’clock in the morn­ing to open presents to­geth­er. Christ­mas day is the one chance I get every sin­gle year to see, feel and be a part of the joy, laugh­ter and warm emo­tions that my dad, mom and sib­lings let out. This year I’m wish­ing for an ice-cream mak­er ma­chine or a cash reg­is­ter toy. Ice-cream turns my bad days in­to fun, good days. The on­ly hap­pi­ness I need when I’m down is ice-cream. I can’t be­gin to imag­ine hav­ing my own ice-cream mak­er set.

What is your favourite Christ­mas dish?

Bar­beque! and I must have some sor­rel every sin­gle year. Bar­beque and sor­rel are a com­bi­na­tion that feed my Christ­mas spir­it. It is a must in my house dur­ing the sea­son. The red colour of Sor­rel rep­re­sents Christ­mas.

Which per­son in your life de­serves a spe­cial Christ­mas greet­ing?

Def­i­nite­ly my grand­fa­ther. He is still my favourite hu­man in the world and I wish and hope with all my heart that wher­ev­er you are, your soul is at peace. I love you no mat­ter what and I know that you are my guid­ing light in this try­ing time. Even though I was on­ly two at the time of your pass­ing your com­fort is still felt. I know that you are look­ing af­ter me and I be­lieve that you are my strength and rea­son for life.

Two beau­ti­ful, brave, bril­liant young girls are so in­spir­ing to us all! As you en­joy this day please re­mem­ber our lit­tle sol­diers that are fight­ing but still smil­ing throught it all.

Wish­ing you and yours all the best, from all of us at The Just Be­cause Foun­da­tion.

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