There's a strange feeling in the air. Having lived in the Northern Hemisphere all our lives, December is meant to be cold dark and festive ... often to the point of excessiveness! And yet we are halfway through December and things don't feel anything like that at all here in Dodoma.
The weather is HOT, there is the odd random straggly Christmas tree available in town and a few very tacky Christmas decorations are visible, but you can probably count them on one hand! Yesterday we were even surprised to see a half-life-sized Father Christmas outside a local hotel. To be honest though you would be forgiven for forgetting that Christmas was less than 2 weeks away!
Christmas itself is essentially a Christian celebration and the community of Dodoma is a real mix of religions, Muslim and Christian being the main two but also many who are Sikh and Hindu ... and the western trappings of a 'holiday season' don't really extend to the heart of Tanzania. So to counteract the lack of Christmas in the community, we've been getting festive in our home here in Dodoma.
On the 1st of December we got out our Christmas Tree and had some friends round to help decorate (whilst listening to Christmas music!), eat Jenny's homemade mince pies and we all watched 'A Muppet's Christmas Carol' together!
They did a great job ... and we have had lots of guests round since complementing us on our tree! It's really unusual to have one like that here but was one of the things we packed into the container. While it might seem a little excessive and unnecessary on one hand, it has caused such excitement for us and many others because it is something unexpected (and homely) in Dodoma when you're so far from the familiar. It has already been a blessing to many and was totally worth bringing with us!
Last weekend Jenny and Abigail went to the Candlelight Carol Service at the Cathedral which was lots of fun and in spite of the temperature did feel really festive. It's the first Carol Service we've had the chance to go to in years, as it wasn't something that typically happened when we were in the States. It was a great chance to get Christmassy ... and be reminded of the true meaning of why we celebrate.
Term ends this week and many of the teachers are returning home for Christmas (to various locations all over the world!) or moving on to their next adventures! We invited 5 of them round for a pre-Christmas feast this weekend as we will miss them over the 5 week break. Instead of individual mince pies we made a delicious mincemeat tart ... it tasted just like Christmas! Once the girls were tucked up in bed, we played some games and many tears of laughter were shed!
Today at church, all the Sunday School children got a small Christmas gift in the service and then they went out and enjoyed a fun Christmas party which started with them all singing 'Happy Birthday Jesus', followed by lots of games and laughter!
While many of our friends and family associate Christmas with cold and snow, here in Dodoma it is completely different. It is still hot (it always is!) but Christmas falls in the rainy season ... if the rains come as expected, which isn't always the case. The intensity of the heat has increased over the last few weeks and last weekend we had a small shower of rain that we all went outside and danced in because it was so exciting.
It didn't bring the relief we were hoping for. Not long enough or heavy enough. But on Thursday there was a much heavier, more extended downpour and it has rained a few times since, thick grey clouds, thunderstorms and heavy rain!
Never did we think we would be so relieved and so happy to see rain. Isn't it something that us Brits are meant to get too much of and spend half our lives complaining about? Not here in Dodoma. We are praying that it will be sustained and useful for local farmers. For us as a family, the rains will now signify that Christmas is coming and so therefore something that we hope to get used to being festive over the years to come!
