RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

At a time when many fam­i­lies are strug­gling to cope be­cause of high crime, pover­ty and un­em­ploy­ment, a Gas­par­il­lo fam­i­ly has opened up their home and hearts to spread Christ­mas joy.

Fer­ose Ali, of Mar­cus Street, Ben Lomond Vil­lage, Williamsville, says he want­ed to dis­pel the dark­ness that has shroud­ed T&T by light­ing up his home with over 750,000 lights.

Speak­ing ex­clu­sive­ly to Guardian Me­dia, Ali said he want­ed to give peo­ple a rea­son to smile at a time when many were de­pressed and frus­trat­ed.

“We have our an­nu­al light show with a Christ­mas mu­si­cal. This year, the Christ­mas vil­lage is much big­ger. Since COVID is re­moved, we opened the vil­lage and it is all free,” he said.

The chil­dren who at­tend­ed the show on Sat­ur­day night were giv­en par­ty bags. Cool­ers filled with phoulo­rie and sa­heenas were al­so dis­trib­uted to the pub­lic.

Al­though elec­tric­i­ty rates are set to in­crease and Ali’s elec­tric­i­ty bill has al­ready tripled, he said he will con­tin­ue to have the show an­nu­al­ly.

“It’s a joy to see chil­dren come out with their par­ents and grand­par­ents. This is all about giv­ing back love to the coun­try at large,” he said.

He added: “The chil­dren have told me this is heav­en. That is the joy we see. The par­ents and el­ders are hap­py. It is amaz­ing to see how this makes peo­ple hap­py and it en­cour­ages fam­i­lies to be to­geth­er.

“The dark­ness of this coun­try is over­bur­den­ing. When we saw the op­por­tu­ni­ty to bring light in­to the com­mu­ni­ty and the coun­try we de­cid­ed we will do it. Je­sus Christ is the light of the world.”

Ali re­vealed that many peo­ple who did not vis­it last year be­cause of COVID are com­ing to the Christ­mas vil­lage this year.

“Some peo­ple told me they could not come last week. The roads are so bad, the floods were bad but they came still and I am so hap­py to hear how much joy this gave to them,” Ali said.

It took the fam­i­ly three months to dec­o­rate the house. The show start­ed on De­cem­ber 1 and will end on De­cem­ber 21 with a grand fi­nale.