The Jakarta Post, Sunday, April 16, 2006
Her already bulging pockets did not stop a five-year-old girl from running around and picking up more colorful Easter eggs to stuff in her overalls and inside her cap.
Despite the organizer’s “five eggs for snack gifts” policy, many children, like the abovementioned girl, ended up collecting more than the allotted number for the fun of it.
The Greatest Easter Egg Hunt 2006, held at Lippo Karawaci’s golf driving range in Tangerang, was organized by the Mission Youth for Christ (MYC) organization. Saturday’s free event attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 children and parents.
“That looks so much fun, I wish I could join,” Luciana, who had just passed the age limit of 5 to 12 years, told her mother, who was watching over another of her children hunting for eggs.
From 8 a.m. until 2 p.m., some 100,000 brightly colored Easter eggs were scattered throughout the grounds of the driving range for children from the surrounding areas of Tangerang, Serpong and even Jakarta.
“The idea is to mark the resurrection of Jesus, but also to have a great day for the community,” organizer William Butte told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Although the Easter egg hunt was held to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the event was open to people of all religions.
“The event is to show how MYC youths could be of service to their community, and by serving others also serve God,” said Butte.
MYC youths — mainly students from surrounding Pelita Harapan School, Pelita Harapan University and other schools — helped with grouping children according to their age range, so the smaller children wouldn’t get trampled on by bigger ones.
They also managed overexcited parents, missing children and in handing out snack parcels and popsicles as gifts at the end of the event.
MYC held a similar activity last year that involved some 2,000 children from orphanages around Lippo Karawaci, Butte said. By organizing a bigger Easter egg hunt this year, he added, MYC hoped to reach more people in the community.
“We plan to make the event annual, and want to make it so even more kids are involved,” he said.
