Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!

I’m not quite sure how or when the holiday season made it’s stealthy approach, but all of a sudden it has shown up on my doorstep unannounced, bringing with it the signs that Christmas is right on it’s heels. I walk down the streets of Dodoma and see shops displaying artificial trees with colorful blinking lights and tacky, over-sized cards with images of jolly Santas and trite holiday greetings. The Christmas carols which have been playing from the bus station for months finally have relevance to the season, and the craft vendors offer cards painted with images of the nativity rather than those with giraffes and other wildlife. Despite all these signs, however, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. Perhaps it’s because it’s still a sweltering 90+ degrees, rather than the biting cold of December back home. Or perhaps it’s because I haven’t heard Mariah Carey and Nat King Cole belting out their holiday anthems on the radio for the last month and a half. Or maybe it’s simply because the holidays are a time for catching up with relatives and friends, and I know that for me, this tradition will have to wait until my return in April.

The holidays this year will be a time for celebrating with new friends and making new traditions, and I’m really looking forward to it. Last Sunday night marked the first official Christmas celebration of the season. Some of the missionaries in town and a few locals gathered for a combination going-away party for a Canadian couple and a singing of Christmas carols. After a pot-luck dinner, the group of about 50 people gathered in the hosts’ garden, surrounded by trees strung with lights and paper bag lanterns scattered along the ground. Each person held a candle to light the pages of printed music, and the flickering of candlelight gave a beautiful ambiance to the evening. Carols were sung to the accompaniment of a keyboard and verses were read as the group sat perched on chairs, benches, and on woven mats on the ground. It was a bit surreal to be sitting outside in the warmth of a Tanzanian evening singing Christmas carols, but nonetheless it brought back all the nostalgia of an American holiday. I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite traditions of the holidays back home: the midnight service on Christmas Eve. Not only is this service my favorite of the entire year, but it also marks my favorite part of the Dailey family Christmas tradition. The songs, the lighting of the candles at the end of the service, the happy buzz in the air – all these things contribute to the “feel-good” atmosphere that the midnight service creates. It also is one of the few times that my entire family goes to church together, as our activities usually do not find Jennifer, Christina, and I home at the same time. Of course, however, we have to admire Dad from afar, as he has his priestly duties to uphold! Though I am excited to make new traditions this year, this is one I will be sorry to miss.

Our work in the office is winding down, and only four working days remain before the long-awaited holiday break. We finished off our distributions for the year at the end of November, visiting the parishes of Mayamaya and Izava. These two distributions made a great end to the year, as they were among my favorite villages I have visited thus far. The people – though friendly at every village – were very talkative and outgoing, and the children were also more vocal and engaging. I was also given a Chigogo name at Izava, which is a dialect spoken in most of the villages in addition to Kiswahili and some English. Callum and Liz had received their Chigogo names at a previous distribution (Callum’s means “Chief”, while Liz’s means “Our Beloved”), so it was decided that I needed one as well. After a brief consultation, it was decided that my name would be Mamvula, which is the word used for the season when the rain comes. I was given this name because it was indeed raining when we arrived, and since the Tanzanians see rain as a great blessing, I guess I can’t complain! I was encouraged to add this name to my ordinary introduction spiel in the church, which everyone found to be quite amusing. The end of the distributions mean that we have one less working day a week, but as December and January are slow months for us, Pastor Noah was quite content for us to work from home, which we were all happy to hear. I’m not sure I could handle an additional day per week in our hot office, not to mention that my productivity level is substantially higher at home.

After finishing up work, Liz and I will catch a bus on the 22nd to Dar es Salaam before continuing by ferry to the island of Zanzibar. A day later we will meet up with Leane and her son, Josiah, along with Maaike, Liaane, and another missionary and her daughter. From there all of us will be traveling to the opposite side of the island for our stay on the beach. It will be nice to spend Christmas Day with the people that have become my closest friends here, and being on the beautiful beaches of Zanzibar will not be difficult to get used to! After a few relaxing days on the white sands of Bwejuu beach, I will travel back to Dar es Salaam to meet my parents at the airport. Though it seemed that they might not make it here during my stay, their tickets are finally booked, and I can’t wait for them to arrive! It will be wonderful to be able to share my experiences of Africa with them, and for them to see where I have lived and worked for the past several months. I’m not quite sure what our itinerary will involve during their stay, but Dar, Dodoma, and a safari along the way are all on the list. Although it will be hard to see them go at the end of their two-week stay, I have a sneaky suspicion that my final months here will fly by – maybe faster than I’d like – and that I’ll see them again soon enough.

We’ve had a few new additions to the Dodoma family of missionaries lately, two of which moved into Liz’s old apartment a few feet away from my door. Scott and Nikki Wheeler are 25-year old New Zealanders who are here for three months to help out with various programs around Dodoma. They have seamlessly joined into our weekly routine of dinner and movie nights (and a newly established poker night for the guys), and it has been wonderful to add a few more young adults to the ranks. Scott is really hoping to make their stay a little longer, but as Nikki would say, “He has to convince his wife first!” We have discussed the possibility that he could help fill the gaps in Carpenter’s Kids after I leave, a prospect which he is quite excited by. It will be interesting to see how their plans progress. Another newcomer is Brandon, a 21-year old American taking a year off between his second and third years at Westpoint. He is volunteering at St. John’s University, and he has also joined in on our weekly festivities. His Army mentality left many people amazed (and cringing!) a few days ago after he ate a live scorpion, so he has definitely been a dynamic addition to our crew!

Last weekend a group of about 15 of us took a long-anticipated Saturday outing to climb Lion Rock, a small “mountain” on the edge of town. I have been looking forward to climbing to the top since I arrived, so I was happy that we had finally arranged a trip. We headed out fairly early with our Tanzanian guide to beat the midday heat, and after a brief walk along a flat trail we found ourselves briskly climbing up a steep path. Several rock landings along the way made great photo-ops, and the view of Dodoma below us as we climbed got better and better as we rose in elevation. After a short but steep climb, we found ourselves near the highest point after about 40 minutes. Though most of us would not attempt to climb the highest rock at the summit due to the scaling that was involved, Callum impressed us all by his seemingly effortless scamper up to the top. We all stood below and hoped he wouldn’t slip off the steep face, but to our relief he made it up and down safely. After comments by all about how easy he made it look and his insistence that it was easy, we did discover that he had done a bit of mountain climbing in the past: “Oh, I just won a few national climbing competitions back home.” After that statement, none of us felt quite so athletically challenged any longer! The group spent a long time at the top of the rock, taking photos and enjoying the amazing view. It’s always great to see things from a different viewpoint, and this view was no different. It was interesting to look across Dodoma and see how quickly the landscape changed from being clustered with buildings in the city center to the dirt roads and mud-brick houses of the outlying villages. After a precarious and slippery walk (or slide!) back down the hill, we found ourselves hot and tired at the bottom, but appreciative for the great view and good company we had enjoyed. I hope to make climbs up Lion Rock a more frequent occurrence, and I’m already looking forward to our next trip.

Though there are days that I feel can’t pass by quickly enough, I hope that the next few weeks are exactly the opposite. I’m looking forward to our holiday trips and my parents’ visit, and I want to enjoy every minute. Spending Christmas in Africa could turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I plan to take advantage of it. I am finding that the saying about friends is also true of making new traditions: “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold”. The memories I create this year will be just as precious as all the old ones I know I will miss, but I plan to treasure them all just the same.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Tanzania!