Sunday 24th November 2019

All the preparation and anticipation of attending the biggest Colombo charitable event of the year has come to an end; 3 elegant ball rooms at the Galle Face Hotel transformed into one of the biggest Christmas fayres I have ever seen.  So big that a map was produced to help everyone find their way around.

Emi and I arrived at 8.30 to find that all the tables were prepared with crisp white table cloths and the flag of each charity or country.  Everything was otherwise bare and all people were preparing and decorating their little stalls. Security checks had to take place, badges were given to all helpers, and within 2 hours the place was transformed into one big Christmas place with tables colourfully decorated with thousands of items for sale on display.  A challenge was that all edible produce had to be wrapped or sold in recyclable wrapping!  It was all fantastically organised and ran like clockwork with the doors open bang on the scheduled midday with thousands of visitors pouring in.

Emilka was with other ladies at the IEA stall selling cookies and helping with the lucky dip, whilst I was in another ballroom with my Czech friend, selling all her home-made sourdough breads and baguettes, cakes, stolen and Christmas loaves, my little plaited breads and jammy dodgers.  Her daughter Nela and her English friend Charlie were helping us.

It was pretty busy with shoppers having a treat with all the thousands items from 22 different countries for sale on the colourful stalls.  The Australians had imported wine which flew off their table in no time flat thanks to tempting prices compared to what it would cost outside with high local taxation.  All profit for the charities!  The Russians unfortunately didn’t appear to do so well as they had priced their Stolichnaya vodka expensively at normal local prices and without any Russian citizens working on the stall to help promote it.  Plenty of bottles were still on the table at the end of the bazaar.

Emi was alternating with helping and running between stalls and halls to have some fun with her friends.  Steve came with Misa at the midday opening and did some shopping, took some pictures and soaked up the buzzing atmosphere.  The kids were filmed whilst being interviewed by a reporter of the Hi TV channel so they may be online at some point.

The Czech stall was all sold out by 2pm with two hours still to go! Amazing success and a feeling of accomplishment. Marketa will count the profit in due course, all going to a chosen charity – most likely an orphanage or a children’s hospital.

We got home about 4pm, tired indeed and my body was so achy the next day like I have done a 12 hour shift on delivery suite. We all enjoyed it and I will definitely do it again with Emilka next year.

Rennie