In mid November, I visited the YMCA Kuala Lumpur to sign up for a digital photography class. After I signed up I was approached by Irene Kwan, the YMCA programme director, and was asked to volunteer as "Santa" at the YMCA KL Christmas party. The guests at the party would be children from foster homes, and children of deaf parents. How could I not volunteer, but I was worried about language and costume.
In a city of 7 million people, I thought there might be a costume shop. Little did I know that I would have several shops to chose from, with multiple styles of Santa costumes (either the European style of a St. Nicolas robe, or the suit familiar to North Americans). I chose the later which included black spats, a patent leather belt, a fake beard and fake hair. I used neither of the later two items.
On Dec 4 we were at the YMCA at the appointed time. The "we" included Liz, my niece Lydia, and me. Liz and Lydia refused to be Santa's helpers, would not wear simple elfen hats, but they did document the event with over 200 digital images. But I did have two self defined "Santatina's" to assist me.
The volunteers included a large cohort from IBM Malaysia (a multinational group including UK, US, Slovakian, Chinese, Malaysian and others whom I did not meet). They used their organization skills to stuff goodie bags, lead the children in games, and set up the queueing system to organize the children when visiting with Santa and the sponsors of the event. Mary Brown and McDonalds provided food to keep the children and volunteers well fed.
About 70 children attended the event, with many individuals documenting their activities with digital photography.
Now to the act of being Santa. It is nothing like the "Santaland Diaries" as described by David Sedaris. I was ushered in following a Disney Christmas cartoon and was asked to deliver a moral message about Santa. Santa visits people from around the world irrespective of size, race, and age. No mention of being good!
Santa then took the stage and began to receive the children. Each child was announced to the crowd and released to greet Santa. A Santa's helper gave me a goodie bag to give to each child who then met with an event sponsor to receive an individualized gift.
After all the children from an individual facility or group had received their gifts we all gathered on stage for a group picture. Individual pictures with Santa were made by the group of children by their deaf parents. Most of these children were not hearing impaired, but many had multiple disabilities.
At one point a child came over to check out my beard, and tugged on it to make sure it was real. Another child poked at my midsection to determine if it was real (yes it is, but it is getting smaller). I was glad I did not wear the fake beard. I also discovered, my half glasses were not correct, I needed "Harry Potter" glasses. I can tell you that a Santa costume is "hot", even in a heavily cooled room.
I discovered that I am a "hard nosed" Santa. I told children with lollypops in their mouths to brush their teeth, and informed a small child asking for a "big boy" motorocycle that he was not yet old enough. One small girl spent 5 minutes or so clinging to me while pictures were being taken, and one boy when presented with his gift bag sat down and went through it on the spot...checking out each and every item.
All in all, this was a very good event. The YMCA KL did a great job organizing, IBM employees spent an afternoon volunteering, and many others spent time and money to make the children happy.
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