Christmas Time in Kenya

It will be my first Christmas away from home, and I have to admit I am getting a little homesick. I miss family and friends, not to mention that the 80 degree weather here does nothing to conjure up my usual images of the holiday season--that is, of deep snow banks outside the windows, cookies baking in the oven, and a freshly cut Christmas tree glistening in the corner of our dining room.

I suppose there are a few reminders that Christmas is approaching and that the holiday season is finally here. For one, the shopping malls in Nairobi are decorated with Christmas lights. Just the other day as I was shopping at a shoe store in town, I actually saw a Kenyan Santa Clause with a fake white beard ringing a bell for charity donations. And today I walked into my office's reception room to find that Jane, the receptionist, had put up a tiny fake Christmas tree by her desk. Even so, these elements of Kenyan Christmas cheer do not compare to Christmas time back home. I was speaking to OAIC's General Secretary Rev. Nicta Lubaale the other day, and he admitted that Kenyans do not 'do Christmas the way people in the West do it.' Nicta had just arrived back from a trip to the UK, where he had seen lights lining every street and mounds of Christmas chocolate piled high in the store windows. I tried to look for Christmas chocolate the other day as I was shopping at a supermarket, but could not find one piece. There was a whole wall of chocolate candy in the store, yet none of it was decorated with little snowmen, Santa Clauses, or holiday wreaths.

Of course I was anticipating Christmas to be different here than what I have known my entire life growing up. The consumer nature of the holiday season that has developed so intricately in the West is not necessarily indigenous to other parts of the world. Even the tradition of giving gifts is not practiced nearly as much here, whereas back home people go into an annual shopping frenzy to find the perfect Christmas presents for their family and friends. Perhaps it is good for me to spend a holiday season without all the distractions of the material world. It's important to focus upon the story of the Christ child himself and how his coming reminds us to love one another, even the less privileged in society... That is all well and good, of course, but I could still use a few more ho, ho, ho's!

Maybe I am speaking too soon. I do actually have exciting holiday plans in store. My office officially closes on December 18th and reopens again next year on January 5th. This gives me ample opportunity to celebrate the season and ring in the new year! I'll spend Christmas with the other American volunteers at our site coordinator Phyllis' house (there's rumor that she might even cook a turkey!) After Christmas on Dec. 27th I'll board a bus and head to Western Kenya to visit a friend of mine at his home village near the town of Mbale. Many of my Kenyan friends that I've met here in Nairobi are originally from Western Province, so I am excited to see the area, and to escape the city for a bit of relaxation in a new setting.

I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season wherever you might be. And to my family back home, you better still hang up my Christmas stocking! I'll be with you in spirit.