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Christmas smells of mandarins
For fourteen years, Mandarine Land has been bringing Christmas to children who need it most.
Help us make this December happen.
Ask anyone what Christmas smells like, and sooner or later someone says: mandarins. Peel drying on the radiator, sticky fingers, a tree in the corner, and that childhood certainty that tonight something good is bound to happen.
Not every child gets to feel that. Fourteen years ago, the team of the cultural association Alternatīvā Realitāte decided that more of them should. They meant children from orphanages and crisis centres, boarding schools and refugee families, children who rarely have the sense that anyone is thinking about them. That is how Mandarine Land began: a charity marathon of Christmas parties, one after another, through the last weeks of December.
There is a tree, presents, games, craft workshops, a proper festive table, a mountain of mandarins — and Santa. A real one. Strictly speaking he is one of our volunteers, but he starts growing his beard in summer, and we think that counts.
Our Santa. The beard is real
Santa never works alone, though. Behind every party stand a few dozen people. One is wearing a fairy-tale costume, another is running the craft table, a third is on the floor playing tag with a six-year-old. Somebody paid for the pizzas; somebody found us a bus. Many of them are young volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps from all over Europe. The children don't always share their language, and it has never once mattered.
More than 3,600 children have come to Mandarine Land over the years, over 2,400 of them from vulnerable backgrounds. Each season they get through more than 300 kg of mandarins — eaten on the spot, packed into gift bags and smuggled out in pockets. Some of the kids who came to us years ago now come back as volunteers, to give others what they once got here themselves.
Christmas on the road
Not every child can make it to Riga. Illness, distance, circumstances get in the way. So Christmas packs its bags and goes to them: this December we travel to Rēzekne, Daugavpils and Liepāja.
This year there will be 9 parties and more than 400 children.
[Dates block — small heading]
Where and when
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Riga — 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27 December
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Liepāja — 24 December
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Rēzekne — 29 December
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Daugavpils — 30 December
SUPPORT OR DONATE:
GIFTS
A true taste of Christmas
Christmas gift is an evidence of all miracles in the world.
At the end of the event, each child receives a sweet gift. With your support a gifts can be bigger and more sweet!
MEALS
A table children actually want
Nobody here needs a banquet.
Children want pizza, burgers, chips, juice, sweets — and mandarins, obviously. One party takes at least 20 large pizzas, 5-7 kg of mandarins and 30 big bottles of soft drinks or juices
TRANSPORT
A bus that brings Christmas
€1,500 + €500
Transport is our single biggest cost.
We need to rent a bus
for two trips:
Riga → Rēzekne → Daugavpils → Riga, 2 days — approx. €1,500 + VAT
Riga → Liepāja → Riga, 1 day — approx. €500 + VAT
Help that isn't money
One contact
Perhaps you know a café that could feed thirty hungry children, a bakery with a soft spot for gingerbread, a transport company with a free bus at the end of December, or a business that could help with presents or materials.
One phone call from you might solve a problem we have been stuck on for weeks.
Want to become part of the team? Apply!
The project "Mandarine Land" was created for active people who are interested in working with children, volunteering and helping people. No special skills are required to join, but we welcome open-minded and creative people. No professional qualifications are required either, but your interest and enthusiasm!
We invite active and open-minded young people aged between 18 and 30 from Latvia, Europe and EU partner countries to participate in ESC volunteering project "Mandarine Land"!
You can fill out this form to apply for membership or contact us by phone number using contacts.