The Christmas Café, a place where people can come together in the community.

Better than all the presents under the Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family. Cultivate your home and play with your children. May your smile be the best gift this Christmas season.

These sentences accompanied us during our December celebrations in SALEM-Ecuador, which we opened on Friday 6 December 2019 in our traditional Christmas café.

The Christmas Café is an afternoon of music, dance, good food and coming together and sharing in community.

The delicacies of Christmas delicacies prepared by the families of SALEM were offered. Coffee, chocolate and plenty of tea were the drinks we drank together. And the dances, songs and crafts provided the perfect setting to soften the chill of a rainy afternoon in Mindo.

The distinctive “Mapalé”, a traditional Afro-Ecuadorian dance, the choreography of the SALEM girls to the song “Canta Pajarillo” (Little Singing Bird) as a call for peace, the children’s choir with Christmas songs and songs of hope and the participation of young musicians filled the atmosphere with joy.

This year 2019 we also held a solidarity raffle organised by our volunteers and former SALEM girls.

Every year this event is organised to raise money for the children’s Christmas presents, but also, and above all, to meet and talk in a relaxed atmosphere.