Wednesday, December 31, 2014

     Christmas is a very different animal in Burundi.  A family will save up money for weeks in order to buy some meat for Christmas dinner.  Gifts are not given much.  Perhaps parents will be able to get a piece of clothing for their kids.  (Perhaps.)  For those of you totally against the commercialization of Christmas, Burundi is the place for you!  We even had to buy birthday wrapping paper to wrap the small gifts for the missionaries, as there is not even any Christmas wrapping paper available.

These are the little trees we saw being sold on the side of the roads.  We did see a decorated fake tree in the lobby of a hotel and in a nicer market.
On Christmas Eve, Gary and I got up early, turned on our "tree", put on Christmas music and opened up a wonderful big box of gifts from my sister and my kids.  It was so much fun!  I'm sure we had the best Christmas in Bujumbura!

Later that day we drove to the Market of Sion to pick up Kim's adopted son from Rwanda, Emmy. He took the bus to Bujumbura to be with us. It was great to have him join us for the Christmas holidays!

On Christmas Day, we hosted all the full-time missionaries, one of our gate guards, and Emmy for a big Christmas dinner.  There were 17 of us in all.  The main course was fou-fou, lovingly made my one of the sister missionaries, Sister Nkuka.  For the un-initiated, fou-fou is simply corn flour, manioc flour, and water, cooked on top of the stove until it is thick.  (Have any of you ever made play-dough?)


Fou-fou is a popular dish among the Congolese because it sits heavy in your stomach,  and you feel full.
We also served rice, a meat sauce, green beans, a cabbage salad, fresh fruit, bread and rolls, tarts and frosted cake.  And all the Fanta your little heart could desire.


This is Emmy, our Christmas guest, along with me and Gary who is so pleased with his Christmas tie!

After dinner, we sang carols and read from Luke.  Then we played 3 games which were crazy and fun.  And then there was singing from the Elders and the Sisters.  They really got into it!




Merry Christmas to Kim from Emmy and Susann!

1 comment:

  1. Susann, I've enjoyed reading your blog this year, what an amazing experience you've had! Your "accidental artwork" is beautiful, you should frame it when you get back. Je vous adresse tous ses meilleurs voeux pour l'année 2015. Salut ! Sandra

    ReplyDelete