Heri ya Krismasi (Merry Christmas) to you and your loved ones as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Today marks the second Christmas we are spending here in Kenya.  We have had people ask about Christmas and what we are doing here at the Mission house, if we do any decorating, or do we even see decorations in the stores.   When we were in Kisumu at a large grocery store, we saw a few artificial Christmas trees on display and some decorations that one could purchase.  Here in Kisii at the grocery store, there was a small cart that contained garland, Santa hats, and a few other decorations.  There was also a small display that had pre-made gift bags of different types of rice, spices, and other grains which was interesting!  It is nothing like back in America where you have aisles and aisles of things to choose from not to mention that you can start purchasing things in October which is not a good thing.  The commercialization of Christmas is not seen here at least from our observations.  At church, the decorations we have seen consist of ribbons or pieces of fabric tied to a line strung across the church.  Here at Gekano church, they do have a creche in the shape of the traditional hut.  On Friday, while at Manga for the Christmas gathering for the orphans, we saw several creches on the grounds around the outside altar and they were all in the shape of the traditional hut.  There are several photos in the album section of the creches only as they had not yet placed the figurines in them.  When it comes to hearing the beautiful Christmas carols as we know them, we don’t, though Fr. David tells us they do sing Christmas songs.  We just don’t recognize them because they are in Swahili or maybe the tribal language and they are put to their own melodies.  The melodies we know and recognize as soon as even a few notes are played, are not sung at the Christmas Mass so that part is hard but we also remember we are here experiencing Christmas in a new culture.  As far as the house, we didn’t put up a tree and not sure if there is one around.  What we do have to look at are some beautiful Nativity sets that belong to Fr. David.  Over the years of his travels to different countries, he has collected many unique sets ranging in size from large to small and in-between.  Fr. David writes a monthly blog and in his blog for December, he has posted a few pictures of the Nativity sets he has collected and currently has here with him.  You can see those pictures and read his post by copying and pasting the link in your browser that can be found at the end of this blog.  Note:  Because of timing and when this blog is posted, we will let you know how we actually spent Christmas Day in next week’s blog. 

In the past few weeks, the flu/cold bug has made its way to us, though not really sure which it was.  Last week, Wes had it and then this week, Kathy managed to get it and hopefully Fr. David does not.  It is to the point where one is sick of being sick!  We could’ve used some softer tissues like Puffs or Kleenex with lotion so our noses didn’t look like they belonged to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!  We didn’t see any tissue brands that might be a little softer or have some lotion in them so had to stick with the scratchy kind…we do miss some simple things and that might be one of them especially when one has a cold.  We have had people tell us this is the time of the year for getting colds though we would rather not have had one.  Hopefully, once we fully recover, we are good for some time. 

During the week, Wes went out with Emma and Lilian to do Water with Blessings follow ups and home visits since Kathy was not feeling up to par.  They conducted five follow ups between Mongorisi, Nyasumi, and Geta.  They also made eight home visits in the Kenyerere area.  Because all eight of the women were using and caring for their filter properly, all will receive a 210-liter water drum.  It is our plan to deliver approximately thirty-four water drums to the women in the Kenyerere area this coming week.  It took four days over three weeks and two different teams to make the visits but they were finally accomplished.  The next feat will be getting the drums to them.  Because we have the car and Hilux to deliver the barrels, we will probably have to make a number of trips.  The car can hold three barrels while the Hilux can take four but Wes will most likely figure out a way to strap a few on top of the Hilux.  The drive to the Kenyerere church, which will be our meeting point with the women, is probably only five to seven miles from here but the drive is all on bumpy dirt roads and if it rains a lot, we may be down to the Hilux only. We will let you know next week how it went!

Work on the shamba continues but at a slower pace for the time being due to the nature of the work.  The forms and rebar for the second level floor of the Mission house were put in place this week and after Christmas they plan to pour the concrete floor.  As for the barn, the two doors were installed, they started the process of plastering the walls, and the doors for the chicken cages were put in place along with nesting boxes and a place for them to roost.  The project is coming along nicely. 

This past week we received three inches of welcome rain - enough to keep the dust level down.  On the way to Ichuni for the Christmas gathering on Friday, we had some dicey roads to contend with but we arrived without going in the ditch! 

On Friday and Saturday, we held the Christmas gatherings for the 463 orphans between Ichuni, Manga, and Gekano.  On Friday, we went to Ichuni and Manga to serve around 155 orphans and on Saturday, here at Gekano, served around 310 orphans.  The event at each place began with a reading from scripture, a short reflection, and prayer by Fr. David.  He also sang a few verses of O Come, All Ye Faithful in English and translated a couple of the verses into Swahili and sang it for them!  Most of those present had never hear this beautiful Christmas Carol in either, English or Kiswahili, as it is not a song they sing.  After Fr. David, each one of us that works with the Mission spoke a few words and then the celebration began.  Just as on Mission Saturday, each family was called by their letter and after Fr. David visited with them briefly, they proceeded to pick up their gifts.  Each child was given a loaf of bread, a bottle of soda, Ksh 500 ($4.06) a small jug of cooking oil, and a 2.2 kg (5 lb.) bag of flour.  As stated last week, the flour and oil will most likely be used to make mandazi (deep fried bread dough) or maybe chapati (unleavened flat bread comparable to a tortilla) which is a treat they don’t often get due to the increased prices for cooking oil and flour.  Last year, the most popular soda was orange Fanta with Coca-Cola coming in second.  This year, orange Fanta was again the overwhelming favorite with Sprite coming in second.  It’s interesting because we see Coca-Cola advertised a lot on signs, buildings, billboards, etc., yet the children like their orange Fanta!  This year, just as last year, it was very humbling to observe the gratitude the children expressed for the gifts received – to see the excitement and smiles on their faces, especially the younger ones, when they got in line to get their Shillings, soda, bread, flour and cooking oil; how happy they were for that simple loaf of bread and soda as their immediate treat, then the flour and oil to take home and finally who doesn’t like a few extra Shillings!  One of the young ladies we talked to, relayed that she started her walk from their shamba to Manga at 6 am so she could arrive at the gathering which started at 9 am – not sure how many young people in America would do that for these same gifts.  Some of the younger faces and their excitement brought back memories of our own two sons when they were little and finding there was a gift under the tree for them to open.  Here, there was no Christmas tree or wrapped gifts under it but there was joy and excitement.  Christmas is about the birth of the baby Jesus and what His coming into this world meant for us.   God gave us the gift of His only son and having been given the gift of Jesus, we give gifts to others.  Christmas is also about hope, love, and joy.  It is because of the generosity and support of people back home in the Bismarck diocese and others who may reside outside the diocese, that these children are given the gift of hope and love year-round through the programs the Mission supports.  These children know that people on the other side of the world care about them and their welfare.  The Mission touches so many lives throughout the year and again even more so at Christmas with the little extras that mean a lot. 

This week, the Mission received a Thank You letter from a young lady named Janet who just finished her university studies graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree as an Agronomist.  She is an orphan, who after graduating from Form 4, applied for and received a scholarship to go to college; one of the programs the Mission administers.  Here is a portion of her letter addressed to the Bismarck Mission
 
Thank you for both spiritual and financial support.  Thank you for enabling me to achieve my aim and allowing me to focus on my goals without being distracted by financial worries.  I am also happy to let you know that I am the first person in my family to graduate with a degree from a university.  It would not have been possible without your donation.  My vision is working hard and do my best to help others especially Bismarck Mission orphans as you have helped me achieve my dream.

It was last weekend at Mission Saturday that we met Janet and she is a pleasant young woman who very much wants to give back to the Mission, if she can, in gratitude for all that the Mission has done for her to help her achieve her goals.  The Mission continues to make a difference in the lives of so many children who would not otherwise have a chance to succeed in life and it is only possible by the grace of God and the prayers and financial support of so many people half way around the world.
 
As we stated at the beginning of the blog, this is our second Christmas here and though we yearned to be with family and friends on this Christmas Day, we are grateful to have this experience here in a different culture with the people of Kenya.   Heri ya Krismasi! 

Please know that we keep you in our prayers and ask that you keep us, the Mission, and those we serve in yours.  Mungu Akubariki!

Fr. David’s monthly blog can be found at:  https://notesfromafricablog.wordpress.com/2022/12/22/notes-from-africa-191/

See photos from this week in the album section:

Note:  if unable to access through the button below, you will have to log onto St. Joseph's Church website and check out all the photos in the photo album there.  The power went out briefly in the middle of posting and not sure how to fix it and Kathy didn't want to go back and find all fifty some pictures and label them again.  So sorry!  

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-12-25-22