Christmas was ushered in during the wee hours by the first real thunderstorm I've experienced since coming to the village, and I awoke at 6am to the sound of an unrelenting steady rain. While I'd planned to go to mass at 7:00, a couple of cups of coffee and a warm bath later, I decided it would be foolhardy to go and get myself soaked given the state of my cold. I settled for some quiet meditation, alone with God on the back stoop, and hoped I wouldn't subsequently be declared to be a pagan by the community.
By 9am the rain had slowed to a drizzle so I popped over to Mara's little house in the compound to deliver his Christmas present. What a sight! While he had been away with us on the retreat in Arusha (a grand total of 4 days away), there had been a major termite invasion in his house. The place is now covered in many unbelievably large piles of termite-leavings (I have no idea how these critters work so fast...the mind boggles. I started to think about why my guesthouse isn't subject to similar infestations then thought better of pondering that too far. Here I am, Ms. Environmental Sensitivity and I'm probably living in a house that is drenched in some sort of nasty insecticide to keep the pests at bay...yikes! That would certainly account for some portion of my feeling not-quite-right healthwise.)
Then, I had a run of visitors. Mama Farajah came to the door as she was arriving for a late start at work. She gave me a wonderful Christmas card, complete with pop-up Nativity scene. We shared hugs and best wishes as she headed to the hostel to start a normal workday.
Next came Maali. I had given him a card and a 5,000 shilling note yesterday, with thanks for keeping me so safe and sound here. So, he popped in at the end of his night shift to wish me a Merry Christmas, offer many hugs and to thank me for the gazillionth time for my friendship and kindness. I think it's now official, although it was probably always true. My Maasai askari friend would probably step boldly between me and a lion if required, armed with nothing more than his stick and short spear.
And then, a phone call at 9:40 from Justinian, the acting Director of LOOCIP, hoping I was okay since I'd missed the 7:00am Mass which had just ended (hey, only 2.5 hours long). I assured him I was okay, hoping all the while that I wouldn't be judged too harshly for my no-show, and wished his family well.
Around 11am Joseph came by, having fought his battle with the termites, to give me a Christmas card and to share my coffee with 2 of his friends. Cremora (the Coffeemate available here) is quite the hit with everyone. Personally I prefer the boiled cow's milk I'm served in other people's homes but my consumption is too small to warrant buying a milk supply from the pastor next door, without access to refrigerated storage. One of Joseph's friends is a traditional Maasai moran (young warrior) and he was fascinated with seeing photos of Joseph on my laptop. I'm not sure if he had ever seen a photograph of himself or any of his friends. Thus began a photo session which gave us all a lot of laughs.
At noon, my first host of the day showed up to let us know it was time to come for Christmas lunch. We had a terrific meal, with roasted meat and potatoes and lots of other goodies. They had another pair of visitors there from the US and the husband, being originally from Montreal, was quite familiar with Ottawa and keen to share stories. Joseph & I slipped away shortly after 2pm and stopped to wish Nai a Merry Christmas at her home. Of course the first request was that I sit and join them for a meal, but I had to beg off from that one, with a promise to share food with her at New Years. We came back to the guest house, where I hoped to get in a few hours of digestion prior to our evening invitation to dinner. However, shortly after arriving, I was asked if I would come and meet with a group of seven young men who were visiting here, on a very short break from their school. Of course I agreed to go and chat with them, and on arrival discovered there was a meal laid out. Never one to offend, I put tiny bits of chicken wings and rice on my plate, loosened the waistband on my skirt a notch, and got into a great conversation with this group of fine young fellows about their aspirations on completion of their A level exams this February.
And here I'll digress a bit about how money is shared here in Africa. Remember that $10 I gave to Mama Farajah yesterday to help with Christmas expenses? Well, I can almost certainly imagine that much of that money went to providing today's square meal, and a tiny bit of celebration to be shared with her son Ivan's classmates, none of whom could get home for Christmas. This is the African way. Whatever you have, you share.
At 7:30pm, we headed out for our final Christmas celebratory meal of the day. What a surprise to arrive at this home, and find a small artificial Christmas tree, and strings of twinkling lights. Again, far too much food was offered (and consumed, since this Mama wasn't interested in taking no for an answer) and then we watched a Story of Jesus movie in badly-dubbed Kiswahili. The company was wonderful, and made for a terrific finale to the day. And then, home to bed, as Boxing Day promises an amazing adventure. I'm off to participate in a Maasai wedding celebration in the village of Engarenaibor...a potentially nasty road trip, but I'm sure a huge adventure is in store. Stay tuned.
Merry Christmas
Jotu.
No comments:
Post a Comment