With Christmas around the corner, a family in Tuaefu has taken the initiative to share the spirit of Christmas by lighting, decorating and opening their compound to the public. 

An initiative that only began last year, last night saw the first Gala benefit concert to raise funds for Team Samoa that will participate in the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi next year.

The event was headlined by star by international music superstars, Stan Walker and Vince Harder.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Sylvia Craig-Kapu said their initiative is based on the theme Light the World, which is being spearheaded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

“It just means for people to light the world in their own community, within their own families and so we literally took that into heart and we decided to light our compound and open it to the public and allow families, especially with young children to come in and enjoy the light,” Sylvia said.

“We hope that it will be a place where they will feel loved, they feel warmth and the spirit of Christmas. So that’s why we did this.”

Sylivia said they planned to help the Special Olympics in Samoa because she is a mother of two children with special needs and that has taught her to be compassionate to other families and individuals with special needs. 

“We hope this will inspire other people to do random acts of kindness and to serve and light the world in their own way,” she said. 

“I always wanted to help the children with special needs in our own way and I thought I would do this and reach out to the business sector and support and help give proceeds to these awesome kids. 

“We hope that everyone present here tonight will join in and do something on their own as light the world is for a great cause.”

Syliva said two major challenges she faced while trying to organize the occasion were the events happening during the same time made businesses to choose, and second was they did not serve alcohol. 

“It is the value of our family just to have drinks and not alcohol as we feel this is such a special event. It is against the brains of normal events in Samoa but we hope people will enjoy the experience,” she said.

Sylvia’s Christmas message to Samoa is: “These children come to us with their special needs because they teach us great lessons. For me, I’ve learned to be compassionate and to be understanding of other people’s challenges; to me they are a gift from God. It just means we have to adjust and find a way that they can learn.” 

The compound is open to the public from 7:30pm to 10:30pm except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, until January 4.