Christmas in Mathare

We are currently teaching photography and storytelling to a group of children and youth in Mathare. There was a bit of free time at the end of yesterday so I sat down with the little guys (8 and under) and asked them "What does Christmas mean to you?" There were only two responses. 1. It is the birth of Jesus and 2. They get to spend time with their family. Not ONE child mentioned presents, or Rudolph, or Santa. Christmas in Mathare or other slums in Nairobi is a day of rest with their family. When we ask people what they are going to do on Christmas they often tell us that they will have a very special meal of chipatis and chicken (which we eat about once every two weeks), and watch movies all day and relax with loved ones.

It makes me think about our 'Leisure Time" as Americans or Westerners. For these folks, it takes a very major holiday to take a day off, relax with one another and enjoy some movies. For us, we often have enough time to watch a movie once or twice a week. Many people who live in Mathare don't have jobs, so at first I found myself asking, "don't they have a lot of leisure time since they don't work?" But thinking back to personal experience, it is the times in life when I was unemployed and thus in theory had plenty of 'leisure time' that I found myself the most stressed and unable to relax because of the pressure I felt to always be searching for a job. I can't imagine what many of these people are going through on a daily basis. For many, they either never made it to school or were pulled out of school to begin working to support their family at a very young age, leaving them as adults with little skills to offer their community.

Before we came to Kenya, I didn't know what to expect but I was thankful to step out of American culture for a bit and see things with a new perspective. Since being here, I have often found myself more appreciative for the "American Way" that we so often target as corrupt or wrong. But yesterday I was blessed with the way children from Mathare see Christmas. I feel that they understand Christmas in a way that I don't know if I ever will.

I want to wish everyone a very wonderful Christmas! I hope that it is a day of family and peace :)

Mandy