Hong Kong hotel group spreads Christmas cheer with party for Nepalese children

The lobby of the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel was filled with festive cheer as 20 Nepalese children sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

To thank the hotel for a special day, they made the extra effort to sing the song in Cantonese.

The children are pupils at the Integrated Brilliant Education Trust, an organisation that provides educational support to the ethnic minority community, and were invited to take part in a Christmas party hosted by Sino Hotels Group.

The group is helping raise funds for Operation Santa Claus, the annual charity appeal organised by the South China Morning Post and RTHK.

Hotel staff prepared a string of activities for the children, including a Christmas buffet with more than a dozen dishes, followed by a gingerbread-making workshop.

The hotel group management, including Royal Pacific Hotel and Towers general manager Kevin Chuc and Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel general manager Robert Hon Pan-ching, were on hand to help the children roll out the dough and decorate the gingerbread, which was immediately baked in the oven for the children to take home as a souvenir.

Jason Rai, five, said he was thrilled by the size of the feast and that he had fun making the gingerbread.

“It’s my first time making this cookie, and I really want to eat it because it smells so nice,” he said.

The children were also given cards to write their wishes on, which were then hung on the Christmas tree in the hotel lobby.

Sabin Limbu said she was very happy to see her four-year-old son having so much fun.

“It’s the first time for my boy and I to have buffet at a hotel, so it’s very nice to see him and other children so excited and enjoy the day,” she said. “I have to work all the time, and I don’t have time to spend with him, so it’s a very special day for us.”

Sino Hotels group general manager Yngvar Stray said the staff were touched by the Christmas song dedicated to them by the children.

“The performance was wonderful, and when we learned that they had spent one month practising Chinese carols to sing for us and our guests, it really touched all our hearts,” he said.

Stray added that for the hotel group, Christmas was a time for sharing, and they were delighted to have worked with Operation Santa Claus for many years to spread the message of love and caring.