Christmas in Kenya

On the eve of Christmas Eve we shopped and bought gifts and food for Christmas, and started to decorate the house. We also put on Christmassy tunes on the cassette player and got into the mood. Naomy went and picked up her mum, and her six year old niece Virginia, who were coming to spend Christmas with us. That evening we sang some Christmas carols with Naomy's mum singing the same tunes in Kinyore whilst we sang in English or hummed along.

On Christmas Eve we finished decorating the house, brought in a branch of Cyprus for our tree and made the front room very pretty. Whilst Naomy and her mum went off visiting I cooked a traditional (ish) English christmas dinner, with the chicken that I had been fattening up - had to have a little cry at its demise as I had got used to it pecking around the garden, but it seems better this way somehow - at least you know what you are eating!

The evening came and we ate our Chirstmas meal. Afterwards the children got very homesick and both had a cry, Mark and I were homesick too. Later we sang more carols and had a nice evening. People nearby were banging drums and Naomy told us that Pentecostalists and some others stay up all night on Christmas Eve.

The next morning the girls woke up to (surprise) stockings - we had a nice time unwrapping them together and they gave us some nice gifts too. We had received a few texts in the night and we read them out - which cheered them up no end - never underestimate what it means to us to hear from our folks back home - we are having a great time and love being here but we still miss you all terribly. I went off to make eggie bread and baked beans for breakfast and after that we all sat around the tree and opened our presents.

We all had one or two presents and to be honest it felt as good to me as when there are a huge heap (but I doubt the girls will agree) - I got some chocolates and an African kikoye (sarong) - very happy with them. Everyone seemed happy with their gifts and it felt nice. We were going to visit a friend of Naomy's for lunch and, to be honest, I don't think any of us were looking forward to leaving the house again after such a lot of travelling but we finally went at midday.

After a very long (2 and a half hour) and very hot drive we arrived at Wilbroda's house and straight away were made to feel very welcome and happy that we had taken the trouble to come. Wilbroda, and her husband Juma, work in Nairobi (she's a Luyha lawyer!) but have a shamba (farm, homestead) in the countryside, where Juma's mum and dad are buried. They have a large extended family and cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, dogs and even pigs so I was in my element and got to feed the pigs - the highlight for me! The countryside around was incredibly beautiful and I could see why we 'wazungu' had so wanted to steal it away from the Africans. That area had been very popular with the British colonists and it was easy to see why.

We ate a huge meal outside under a canvas canopy - there were roasted goat, beef and chicken stew, rice, pilau, chapatis, pasta, cabbage and tomato salad. This was followed by watermelon and a massive birthday cake for their son who was celebrating his ninth birthday and the fact that he had just been through circumcision and was now a man! On our journey there we had seen whole gangs of little boys covered in clay and painted fiercely who had been recently circumcised and were spending time 'in the forest', some had clubs and looked a little scarey. Mark will put photos up eventually. Our host's son Emmanual was dressed conventionally for his birthday but had been similarly attired before our arrival!

Finally I drove us all home in the dark, exhausting! It's like driving in rural England at night but with many potholes, speed bumps (many unmarked), bikes without lights and many people - some of whom were obviously a little worse for Christmas cheer! Boxing Day saw us four wazungu collapsed in a state of exhaustion, reading our Christmas books (me and Melissa both read a book each and Mark and Rosa two!) and feeling rather pathetic whilst the Wafricans carried on working as normal around us. - Heather