We were woken very early by a male goat on heat just outside our window, strange noises, the crowing of roosters soon followed, we were definately in the village. Wished everyone a Merry Christmas during a morning routine and thinking of home I prepared for church knowing full well that my family had done the same for midnight mass back in little old Napier. I soon found that I was to be embarrassingly under dressed, everyone was getting dressed to the nines, the suits came out complete with cuff links, frilly sparkling dresses and shawls. I ironed my cargo pants, but on a brand new African shirt and tried to look the part, It was Christmas! This was Jim's first non- white Christmas, one without snow that is, we both were excited but had some part of us somewhere else. Majority of the family were heading to the main local parish, as they were getting sons and daughters baptised in a doubly special way to spend the day, however it was decided that some of the family should make appearances at other local Churches just to keep up the family presence, we accompanied Lawrence on his mission to a small nearby Church set on top of a hill, it was perfect in its simplicity, even from afar you could see people everywhere. In Africa the people are very religious, in Uganda Christianity is the main denomination and worship is a must, at this time I strongly believe that every house in the village would have been empty, as a cat burglar from another life I pondered this fact. We had arrived late, the sermon had started, we joined the crowds outside peering in windows, when the head nun caught wind of our arrival she wasn't having anything of this standing outside business instead gave us the royal treatment right up the front, I knew what was going to happen, everyone stopped and starred, "check out the late white guys", "phh not even dressed in suits", " yep, right up the front", "every year"... haha no there was a lot of staring but it was mostly out of interest, some of these people, especially the kids had never or hardly seen whites, can you imagine.
The service was something else, they had an African choir straight from the record books, complete with a bongo drum backing they sang Christmas songs in familiar tunes with different words, we did join in for the Latin version of 'Gloria', more like a Mr. Bean rendition on our part, loud chorus, no verse. The local songs hit it off the harmony of a whole church erupting in heart felt, joyous, beautiful song is moving. They all clapped to their hearts content, swaying and dancing, the kids would jump up in down in a sweaty, moving mass the whole standing room was on fire, caught in the wave of Christmas song, this was a Christmas, and church sermon like no other. All was in the native tongue of Lugandan, we sat patiently in between speeches, took the bread in turn, donations as well, Church doesn't finish after the last song, distinguished members are invited to speak and who should be one of those but Lawrence, addressing a crowd of about 1 maybe 2 thousand he spoke in his native tongue until Jim and i heard our names mentioned and he gestured for us to join him, well they just clapped and clapped as we stood on the stage, he introduced us, we waved and sat back down to another round of applause, gee talk about flattering, I'm stoked he didn't get us to speak, what would u say. The formal proceedings ended with an auction, a way of donating alot of money to the church for a token prize. Goats, eggs, chicken, cabbages were all for the bidding. I bet one persistent old fella to a bag of four avocados, holy avocados, I looked forward to eating those. When we emerged from the mass both Jim and I were circled by many wanting to meet and greet, I managed to grab a photo with a whole bunch of kids. We meet the elders of the village some over 100 years of age, so old they themselves had lost count. We talked to everyone and were swamped by more, Lawrence took us on a visiting spree of all his dearer connections like ex-teachers, and bosses, people who used to help him herd cows as a blighter etc. the rich tapestry of people filled our morning and mid afternoon completely, meeting people so happy and content with their simple lives, true beauty... We ran into the town drunkards, ragged, senseless bunch, crazy from years of wanton abuse, mad, dancing passionately in the middle of the road, yelling at trees, man it was bizarre...
The service was something else, they had an African choir straight from the record books, complete with a bongo drum backing they sang Christmas songs in familiar tunes with different words, we did join in for the Latin version of 'Gloria', more like a Mr. Bean rendition on our part, loud chorus, no verse. The local songs hit it off the harmony of a whole church erupting in heart felt, joyous, beautiful song is moving. They all clapped to their hearts content, swaying and dancing, the kids would jump up in down in a sweaty, moving mass the whole standing room was on fire, caught in the wave of Christmas song, this was a Christmas, and church sermon like no other. All was in the native tongue of Lugandan, we sat patiently in between speeches, took the bread in turn, donations as well, Church doesn't finish after the last song, distinguished members are invited to speak and who should be one of those but Lawrence, addressing a crowd of about 1 maybe 2 thousand he spoke in his native tongue until Jim and i heard our names mentioned and he gestured for us to join him, well they just clapped and clapped as we stood on the stage, he introduced us, we waved and sat back down to another round of applause, gee talk about flattering, I'm stoked he didn't get us to speak, what would u say. The formal proceedings ended with an auction, a way of donating alot of money to the church for a token prize. Goats, eggs, chicken, cabbages were all for the bidding. I bet one persistent old fella to a bag of four avocados, holy avocados, I looked forward to eating those. When we emerged from the mass both Jim and I were circled by many wanting to meet and greet, I managed to grab a photo with a whole bunch of kids. We meet the elders of the village some over 100 years of age, so old they themselves had lost count. We talked to everyone and were swamped by more, Lawrence took us on a visiting spree of all his dearer connections like ex-teachers, and bosses, people who used to help him herd cows as a blighter etc. the rich tapestry of people filled our morning and mid afternoon completely, meeting people so happy and content with their simple lives, true beauty... We ran into the town drunkards, ragged, senseless bunch, crazy from years of wanton abuse, mad, dancing passionately in the middle of the road, yelling at trees, man it was bizarre...
Lunch with a happy, well dressed, reunited family the sound of catch ups taking place all over, Christmas overseas for me was really special.
In the evening after another meal with family Lawrence took us to visit his old boss the 'Village King', this gentleman, Sam he humbly called himself, high up in the government owned a massive elaborate mansion, we were metaphorically transported out of the village just for the evening and delivered into the lap of luxury, I was introduced by Lawrence with a slip of the tongue as a Lawyer, well, I tried to live up to this introduction as we discussed many issues global through domestic, economic through legal, arts etc, he was a well travelled, well educated man with alot to say, he took a liking to Jim and I, taking us outside to a table amongst his decorative garden, he brought tray upon tray of alcohol and finger food, Heineken, Johnny walker black, leiphroag, all sorts of African beer, wine and liqueur, I never knew some of these drinks existed and had never seen some of these familiar brands here in Africa, finger food was fantastic, his family and friends joined us and we were waited upon by servants, it was luxurious I felt again like a true foreign prince, he wanted our opinions on all and questioned us amoungst the many stories throughout the night, as a campfire emerged, so did the laughter. We made it home to find a couple of drunkards, seriously intoxicated since we had left them feasting on the left overs of our earlier meal, they were having a merry Christmas aswell by the looks, it was good to see, they made happy noises and continued hoing down the food and their liquid mixtures at an alarming rate. A seriously surreal day, how to do justice by explanation to a Christmas such as this is really beyond my means.
In the evening after another meal with family Lawrence took us to visit his old boss the 'Village King', this gentleman, Sam he humbly called himself, high up in the government owned a massive elaborate mansion, we were metaphorically transported out of the village just for the evening and delivered into the lap of luxury, I was introduced by Lawrence with a slip of the tongue as a Lawyer, well, I tried to live up to this introduction as we discussed many issues global through domestic, economic through legal, arts etc, he was a well travelled, well educated man with alot to say, he took a liking to Jim and I, taking us outside to a table amongst his decorative garden, he brought tray upon tray of alcohol and finger food, Heineken, Johnny walker black, leiphroag, all sorts of African beer, wine and liqueur, I never knew some of these drinks existed and had never seen some of these familiar brands here in Africa, finger food was fantastic, his family and friends joined us and we were waited upon by servants, it was luxurious I felt again like a true foreign prince, he wanted our opinions on all and questioned us amoungst the many stories throughout the night, as a campfire emerged, so did the laughter. We made it home to find a couple of drunkards, seriously intoxicated since we had left them feasting on the left overs of our earlier meal, they were having a merry Christmas aswell by the looks, it was good to see, they made happy noises and continued hoing down the food and their liquid mixtures at an alarming rate. A seriously surreal day, how to do justice by explanation to a Christmas such as this is really beyond my means.
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