De:16:14:
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and...the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
Thank God Christianity came with some freedom from the shackles of our past. Scriptural verses on joy and happiness abound in the bible that frees man to pursue some happiness for his own good. If nothing at all, I know for a fact that it is more healthy to be happy than to patronise hospitals.
In my last message, I paused on a joyful thought. The night of the dinner came, for once there was an occasion when it was considered proper to indulge regardless of who was watching. In that cold December night, my people were busy having fun: wining, dining and dancing! And the day been boxing day, the bazaar was just fantastic!
But even as I reminisce now, there are some lessons I learnt which may make sense to you as well. By the time the program started, we knew right then that we have bitten more than we could chew! As our invited guests were getting seated, we had to contend with the pressure at the gate, many people had come to pay whatever price to enter! Willy and Adolf were tasked to MC the program, I joined Grace and Helena (both are MRS now) to be in charge of welfare. Since I was quite freer, I came to the gate...
Before I could sell any ticket to anyone, I explained to the couple there would be not enough food to provide them. Drinks were in abundance. Thinking they would go away, they just didn't mind. "We have had our fill with food, today is 26th remember?" They would remind me. And yes, the party was 'jamming' enough to let go because of food. At the gate I sold more tickets than we sold all week!
I was still there when Adolf called out that it is time for the organisers' speech, a sort of welcome address. As I stood at the pulpit, Willy and Adolf on each side, the high table filled to capacity with statesmen, executives, and businessmen&women, dinner tables beautifully decorated and candle-lit, sweet looking people (singles, married, and still searching people) gleaming with surprise and wonderment at our joint success, I was inspired to say what I did't plan on. I don't remember exactly all what I said, but I remember the applause that followed. In brief, I challenged the leadership of the town, from the palace to politics to the chapels to give the youth a chance. Then the honour was mine to declare the feast officially started. Of course music and dance followed.
Right about then, our ladies started serving wine and later on the main meal. Then the major problem kicked in; how do we determine who paid earlier or at the gate? Everyone was demanding a full plate. I quickly rushed out to order more from our cook and she gratefully served me on the spot. Thank God! I walked that five hundred metres back to the venue, carrying the meal, and was in time early enough to satisfy our 'hungry?' customers. lol
For the next hour or so, there was this joyful staccatic noise of happy people seriously enjoying their hitherto newest, freshest, most jamming Christmas party ever! We were overjoyed!
Like all executive gatherings, we let time for speeches. Something politicians and the clergy capitalize on to reach out. But before any of them could speak, we sent out a passionate appeal to the people to contribute to the event so we can continue to organise it every other year.
The then DCD, Mr Sarfo Katanka, was first to speak, followed by the MP, Emmanuel Gyamfi, and then it went on... Thankfully none of them ended without donating 'something' to the cause. In the end, we were beautifully surprised the amount we realised. We all knew the Dinner Dance had come to stay. It's new name was born that same night: Annual Fund-raising Dinner Night. It made sense this way in that, for a fledgling youth group, steady financing is an essential requirement.
This year, hopefully 26th December, 2010, The Jacobu Youth Association (the new organisers) shall continue the good work those three rugged youngsters started. It shall be the seventh.
And it keeps getting better. So YOU are cordially invited!
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