There are many reasons to experience the annual LITTLE EDEN Christmas Concerts!
You laugh and cry in a time-span of roughly 90 minutes of watching these unique concerts, which are at the same time vastly different and surprisingly the same.
In this short time, you learn how our Angels with profound intellectual disability tap into the various forms of communication to reach out to those around them, and at the time celebrate with you, their achievements in their newly acquired skills.
The “magic” in the LITTLE EDEN concerts lies in the uniqueness of each Angel’s style of communication. Many who are unable to speak communicate with a smile, giggle or simply movement of the hands, feet or eyes. The communication can be a spiritual experience requiring able-bodied listeners to tap deep within themselves to connect with this unique experience, and discover the joy that it brings.
In Domitilla Hyams, the LITTLE EDEN founders own words “The smile of these unfortunates will be our reward”. A reward this surely is!
The words “How are you feeling?” greet you as you enter the concert hall of our Domitilla and Danny Hyams Home in Edenvale. This feeling-question is displayed because Colourful Emotions is the theme of this Home’s 2018 concert, telling our Angel’s’ story on how they experience the world. At Elvira Rota Village the residents portray their lives through their concert called The Seven Days of the Week (with Sunday prayers and all!).
LITTLE EDEN celebrates through these concerts the small, seemingly insignificant milestones that our brave residents have mastered in the past year. The ability to lift a hand, to walk, to recognise colours, to learn the alphabet and numbers or simply to wave maybe the biggest accomplishment a resident reached in a year. For example Yanga walks into his part of the concert this year, two years ago he was wheeled into the concert and last year he used a walker.
The experience includes Lesley playing the keyboard with his toes, as well as Nomfundo, who cannot talk; sing like an angel and Naftal recognising the letters in a word. Hearing the many songs – some happy ones, while others tug on your heart strings and bring a tear in your eyes.
You get a reward of a smile at these not-to-be-missed concerts full of energy and a display of love for each other. Not only the residents, but staff worked hard the past year to welcome visitors into our world.
If you missed the ones that took place on 16 and 17 November you can still join the ones at Elvira Rota Village. Remember to browse through the Christmas market for your early Christmas goodies.