The City is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of this partnership which seeks to advance the outcomes of the global Sustainable Development Goals. The city-to-city alliance also promotes and encourages collaboration between the academic, business and civil society sectors of the cities. Earlier this year Aachen Lord Mayor, Marcel Philipp, led a strong delegation of government, business and education leaders to Cape Town.

While on a visit to Aachen last month, Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, came across a decorated Christmas tree in the Aachen City Hall, covered in colourful notelets. When learning that the notelets represented Christmas wishes from vulnerable children in Aachen and that these transformed into real gifts in time for Christmas, Alderman Nieuwoudt decided to replicate the project in Cape Town.

The City of Aachen encouraged the City to involve Nazareth House in this year’s project. A cluster pine, provided by the City’s invasive species unit, was decorated and the wishes of 39 children from Nazareth House were attached to the tree.

Some of the wishes read as follows: ‘My name is Busi. I am a girl. I am 18 years old, I wish for a drum instrument’; ‘My name is Lisa, I am a girl. I am 11 years old, I wish for a princess set’; ‘My name is Rose, I am a girl. I am 3 years old, I wish for a music box’; ‘My name is Asanda. I am a girl. I am 10 years old, I wish for a soft toy’.

Councillors and the staff of the Environmental Management Department volunteered time and money to make the children’s Christmas wishes come true.

Alderman Nieuwoudt handed out the gifts to Sister Virginia and Lizl König, a social worker, earlier this morning, 23 December 2019. The children will receive their gifts on Christmas Day.

‘This is only the beginning of a bigger project. Next year we hope to have a Christmas tree with thousands of presents for orphaned children. As human beings, we are taught to care for those we know, and with this gesture I wish to install an awareness of caring and giving for those we do not know and may not even see in our daily lives. We can achieve anything and make our beautiful city a home for all if we care more about one another,’ said Alderman Nieuwoudt.