Apo Can’t Wait For Christmas
His mother recounts the joy she feels when she sees Apo, her 10-year-old son, running with a ball in the churchyard. She watched the children as they had just started their outside activity after they had a Christmas meeting at the Center of Hope. She spoke about how Apo loves to run after the ball, while he plays football with some other boys, she also touched on how it felt like the walls of the buildings around echo their enthusiastic voices.
Apo is a young boy from Aleppo. He lost his father nine years ago when he was only one year old. His dad was kidnapped by extremists because he was a Christian when he was on a work trip in Syria. He never returned. His body was never found but officially Jina, Apo’s mother, is now considered a widow in Syrian law.
Before our partners went with Apo and his mother to the Center of Hope, Apo tried to stay seated on the couch as they wanted to ask him some questions about Christmas. In his brown woollen sweater with an artificial fur collar, he wasn’t very talkative. He isn’t a boy that loves sitting on a chair or couch, he doesn’t like to sit still.
He isn’t the boy who loves to keep his chair warm in the classroom of the Al Hayat school in Aleppo, where he is doing well. “What I like most at school is the sports class.” He says it with a smile while his deep brown eyes shine. But let’s talk Christmas. Of course, he knows what Christmas is about. “The day that Jesus was born, Virgin Mary gave birth to him.”
He recalls what he did last Christmas. “I went to church and when I came back home, Santa Claus knocked on my door and gave me a present.”
What do other children around the world remember the best, what the pastor said on Christmas day or the present they got? Like other children around the world, Apo remembers his present. “I got a mountain car toy that climbs walls with a remote control, and an airplane.”
He adds, “That is what I like most of Christmas, they distribute gifts. I love Christmas because they give lots of presents.” One day he might see that the present God gave by sending his Son to earth because He so loved us is the biggest present he can ever get.
“We went to the home of my grandfather and grandmother then we went together with my mother to church.” They went to one of the protestant churches, the church led by pastor Abdalla. He stops a moment. “I am longing for Christmas to come.”
When Christmas approaches, they decorate the house. “At home, my mom and I put a nativity scene and a Christmas tree with lights and stars and bells on it.”
Enough about Christmas. Apo switches to a topic that is more on the front of his mind right now. “I play basketball and sometimes the coach trains me and we play against another team. I also have swimming class and play football.” With the coming FIFA World Cup of Football, he will pay attention to one specific footballer. “I love Mbappé of the French team and of Paris Saint-Germain.” With gestures, he shows how Mbappé recently scored a goal. I don’t need a lot of imagination to ‘see’ how Mbappé passes the goalkeeper and scores.
Later, back in the schoolyard with his ball, the laughter of all those children is touching. All those children grew up during the war and don’t know what Syria was like before that terrible crisis. They’ve seen terrible things happen around them or even to their own families as Apo did.
Lord God thank you that You sent your Son to earth. Thank you, that You are there also for all these children.
Prayer version
Pray for children like Apo who lost so much during the Syrian war.
Pray that the work of the Centers of Hope will bear fruit in their lives. That they will one day fully understand how deeply God loves this world to which He sent His only begotten Son.
