In the maelstrom of violence and the epidemic of the Eastern Congo the birth of a baby girl would normally pass almost unnoticed. Benedicte’s birth on 31 October in Beni would have been a moment of joy to her parents: the first child to recently married people always is. But not this time. Her mother, gravely ill with Ebola, died in childbirth. And six days later Benedicte also showed signs of the dreaded disease.
 
One can hardly imagine the trauma of dealing with such a disease in a patient this young. How do you maintain total isolation, yet give the little one the love she needs, the human contact? The heroic work of unknown health professionals should be a matter of international recognition: five weeks of round the clock treatment later, despite personal risk of infection and of bandit attacks, they could declare her free of the virus, and send her home to her father and aunt.

And on a much more personal scale, my granddaughter, Isabelle, 3, had made little sachets of lavender flowers to give to her grandmothers, aunts and female acquaintances, to put with their linen. This morning we visited my mother in the retirement home, and all the grandchildren gave her cookies and other little trinkets. Isabelle looked on, then turned to another complete stranger who sat nearby. Spontaneously she handed her gift to the ‘other grandmother’ saying: “Here, you did not get any gifts. I made it myself. It’s for you.”
 

May the Christmas spirit be with you and those who cross your path in this season and in the year to come.