Barbara Dickinson
Mission Partner
Kenya
February 2004
Barbara wrote about the tragic death of Dietmar and Birgit Zeigler and of the Maua hospital’s still desperate need for doctors. Below is the description of Christmas in Kenya.
Christmas Eve 2003 dawned at 6.30 am with clear blue skies. Not the pale blue of England, but the pure azure of the holiday brochures. It was going to be a hot day if it stayed like that. The Management Team had their usual Wednesday business meeting. Unusually it finished in time for the midday start of the staff Christmas Party.
The food was served – two different types of beans in a mashed potato/banana mix. Carrots in stew and roast beef cubes, rice with small pieces of meat mixed in, mashed banana with “sweetmeat” (if intestines can be called sweet!). A traditional Kenyan celebration meal.
The Management Team sang Come and Join the Celebration. The staff of the Nursing School sang Joy to the world in English and Kiswahili. The students sang two lovely Kiswahili Christmas songs.
By 6.30 pm the sun set. By 7 pm when the Carol singing around the wards began it was already pitch dark. There was a small crescent moon, brilliant stars shining in a clear sky. After the carol singing around the wards many of the students went to Maua Methodist church to join in their activities.
On Christmas morning we joined as many patients as were able to move out of the wards at the Maternity Square of the students’ presentation of the Nativity story. The angel’s appearance to the shepherds abiding in the fields frightened the sheep - who fled rather quickly before the angel could deliver his/her message of great tidings. This year one of the shepherds had a serious physical disability, but managed to hop off-stage full of joy after visiting the couple with their newborn baby.
The European and American staff from Maua and KEMU joined together in Claire’s house for Christmas lunch. We ended up having a traditional turkey lunch with all the trimmings, plus a few different dishes as we were joined by people from Denmark and Germany. Rice allemande is a new dish to me – cooked rice with cream and crushed almonds – served chilled – wonderful.