Christmas with the “Lions”

Several weeks ago Lillian, from our Sunday School class invited us to her family home for Christmas. Later we found out that this family (a widow and her six grown daughters and their families and friends) is known for their hospitality. Our mutual friend, Connie, has been their guest for many years now. We deeply appreciated their willingness to include us and looked forward to experiencing a Ugandan Christmas.

Christmas proved to be like no other Christmas in our experience. After an amazing Christmas breakfast with Connie and a few other friends, enjoying her delectable kringlers—all five kinds, we joined her and others at KBC for the Christmas service. Not only were the familiar carols sang with meaning, they vibrated with joy—who can match the African joyful celebration? The pastor spoke from Luke 2, a very thought provoking and heart-warming message centered on God’s love and care for each individual as seen in the Christmas story.

Five of the six sisters with their mother--the delightful
"lions"

Eventually we made our way to the den where the lions lived…but what a warm and loving den it was! You see, this family belongs to the “Lion Clan” of the ancient kingdom of Buganda. There are many other clans but theirs is one of most respected and honored. We had delightful visits with our friends and met new family members and friends. I was intrigued to learn that the head of this family clan, a 78-year-old widow, had studied in both the UK and Israel and remembers how it felt to be away from home for Christmas.  No wonder she and her six daughters (one lives in the UK was unable to come home) have a special heart for hospitality to those of other nations.  This delightful widow/sister in Christ was also once a teacher and had many stories which she enjoyed sharing. Around 4 pm, the meal was ready and what a buffet awaited us on an outdoor table. For the first time (as far as we can remember) potatoes and cooked vegetables were not part of the meal. The first (and perhaps most important) dish was matooke (green mashed banana, their staple food). The special Christmas meat was freshly barbecued chicken and pork ribs, all cooked over charcoal. A pasta dish and a type of salad were also part of the main course. A couple of hours later, that same table was laden with desserts, especially a cake baked by one of the sisters. Three kinds of ice cream (which judging by the comments is a rare treat) were part of the spread too.

Almost all of these “lions” also belong to a more important clan - Lion of the Tribe of Judah! They represent Him well. We were blessed to be among them. Never did we dream that our first Christmas in Uganda would include the privilege of eating “lions.”  

Christmas Is Cross-Cultural

During our 28 years, minus a few Christmases when we were “home for Christmas” (Home Service), we enjoyed the Filipino way of celebrating the birth of our Savior. Now we enter into a new-to-us Christmas culture, that of Uganda. With more than 80% of the population calling themselves “Christian,” Christmas (and Boxing Day) is part of the national holiday calendar. In Uganda, where the evidence of material poverty is impossible to overlook, there is much less Santa (in fact we have met people who don’t know who he is, which is fine with us!) and everyone wishes you “Merry Christmas.” (Last night we took a plate of Christmas baking to a neighbor whom we’ve not met before and realized by his dress that he belongs to a non-Christian religion…but he wished us a “Happy Christmas.”) We’ve only seen two large buildings with lights strung from corner to corner, roof to ground (as opposed to the Philippines where the common and beautiful “parole/star” is found on many roofs with streams of colored lights coming from it to the ground); most buildings have no outside decorations. Inside, stores have some but fairly few visual reminders of Christmas and we’ve heard Christmas music only within the last two weeks (quite a contrast from the September 1 start of Christmas musical reminders in the Philippines). Gifts, as we understand it, are primarily between parents and children; we haven’t been part of an exchange gift at all which is also in contrast to our past experience. We've only wrapped one gift this year so far and probably that's it! Christmas trees are fairly new to the culture, so we are told, and are found only in larger stores, hotels, churches, etc. We smiled when we saw fairly simple artificial trees (which somewhat resemble Charlie Brown trees) being sold by a few vendors at major intersections in Kampala. 

Christmas is definitely “sung in” by cantatas and concerts here in the capital from both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.  We have already see the big Watoto Church production and have taken in a Cantata and a Children’s Concert; there were several others offered which unfortunately we weren’t able to take in. Many go “upcountry” to the “village” (home town) to be with family; our day guard/gardener who rarely takes a day off is following his children in just a few hours to his village in the west. Co-missionaries tell us that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is the best time to learn our way around Kampala due to almost no traffic

On Christmas Day (tomorrow), culture call for all Christians to join their church for a Christmas service. After that, all go to their family’s gathering place for a large meal, featuring chicken as the much treasured treat. We’re grateful that a family from church has very kindly invited us to join them for the Christmas meal so we’re looking forward to that.

I am so glad Christmas is “good news for all people.” We rejoice in the reminder of Mary’s song, “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation….He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty….” Luke 1:50, 53. Praising God that the good news of the Saviour includes Africa!

VOICE Philippines Curriculum Goes to a Ugandan Camp

Fairly soon after our arrival, a Scripture Union of Uganda (SUU) worker asked us if we had lessons that would feature certain topics. We gave her what we had and she adapted and blended it with other curriculum to use at a SUU youth camp. Her evaluation was encouraging but we didn’t expect it would be used again until we had the Africanized lessons.

Surprise! Another SUU worker who oversees all ministry to children in what is called the Central Area of Uganda (which includes the capital, Kampala), requested the use of all of the lessons on Honesty…Teacher’s Manual, visuals, song, Class activity sheets, and Take Home activity sheets. We hesitated because it is so “Filipino” but she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. The training of her staff and small group teachers happened about two weeks ago and despite our warning of the difficulties they would encounter, they were eager learners and seemed ready for the challenge. They also were excited to use the recently Africanized and published CrossTalk with their campers.

Indoor games...with lots of enthusiasm and noise!

This past week was the camp, held on the SUU camp property about 1 ½ hours south of us which boarders Lake Victoria. We were warmly invited to come and observe and so plans were made to do that this past Friday. We were in a rainy stretch here and the last 30 minutes of the drive is on dirt road, but with a bit of slipping, Connie, our WorldVenture co-missionary who also loves the Scripture Union ministry (and their camp property) skillfully drove us to our destination. Enthusiastic camp leaders, counselors, and their 140 campers met us and it was obvious that the rain had not dampened any spirits! Following a rowdy but fun indoor game session, Laura and I split up to join two of the small groups for their Values class.

Showing the Visual for the story of the honest Filipino
taxi driver

The initial review quickly showed us that they have been enjoying and learning. Following the memorizing of the Values Voice, “I will be honest even if it is difficult,” the teacher told the story of a Filipino taxi driver in New York City who chose to be honest even though, humanly speaking, he had “the right” to be dishonest. The teacher skillfully tried to help the children grasp the essence of the story that obviously held some foreign and confusing elements in it for their minds. She then opened up a discussion of what they would have done if they had been in the same situation…obviously stealing and claiming lost property is not considered such a bad thing when it involves rich people, in fact it could be considered a blessing from God to have found lost items…hmmm. Amid these comments, some campers felt strongly that taking such items would be wrong. Again, the teacher did very well guiding them back to what God’s Word says and helping them understand the Biblical viewpoint that stealing is always wrong.

Yes, Biblical values are the same in any culture; they don’t change. But the way we teach them does have to be thought through carefully…thus the need to Africanize the values curriculum. I’m convinced that some of the children in that small group left with a lot to think about and decisions to be made about their behavior. How much more powerful once those truths are put in an African setting…please pray!

Enthusiastic Volunteers

Last Sunday Laura and I had three meetings back to back immediately following the Sunday worship service. At the end of the third meeting, I found myself alone for a few minutes and almost in tears…not because of sorrow/discouragement but rather because of joy/amazement.

You see, during our 2010 and 2012 visits to Uganda, church leaders and heads of organizations which we visited all agreed that a Biblical values curriculum was badly needed and would be accepted if not welcomed in many of the schools…but a number of these leaders warned us that volunteers are not plentiful in Uganda and thus the program may be hindered. Although I’m sure there is much truth in their warning, we now know that these concerned people didn’t know the whole story.

There were seven of us seated around the same table that we had used for the previous two meetings. Four of the ladies were writers, all contacts/friends of Beth who was with us and has been such a help/encouragement. All four had written a very acceptable sample lesson for us and shown interest in participating in the development of the curriculum. We had previously met only one of the writers, the other three we had communicated with only through email or text/phone. I was a bit nervous since there were four of them and we only needed three writers—one for the younger elementary children (kindergarten – grade 3), one for the older elementary (grade 4 – grade 7), and one for the high school students…how could we eliminate one of them without losing face? AND none of them had chosen to write a sample lesson for the younger elementary children.

As the meeting proceeded and the guidelines were explained, we had to “drop the bomb” that these six lessons (including one lesson that has to be totally rewritten since the original features a Filipino hero) needed to be done by the first week in January…only four weeks away with Christmas and New Year’s mixed in. Much to my amazement, that seemed to only increase their desire to be part of it! The meeting was nearing the decision as to who would do what. One lady spoke up and said that she likes to work in teams and asked a lady who lives quite close to her if they could work together on both the younger and older elementary levels to which she agreed. (OK, Lord, that would take care of the younger children.) The one who wrote a sample lesson for the high school age quickly agreed to take that age group. That still left one lady out and I again began to feel uncomfortable, but then reasoned within myself, perhaps she will be relieved that she’s not needed especially since the deadline is so close. But wait…quite suddenly, she spoke up and suggested that she take the upper elementary age which would then free up the other two to work on the lower elementary (which is an age group we didn’t cover in the Philippines and thus will require more work). It was almost as if none of them wanted to miss this opportunity to help! The team of two quickly agreed with her suggestion. And not one of them asked, nor seemingly expected any remuneration for their work. That just “blew me away” and caused praise to well up in my heart to our God who still has children who delight to use their abilities to serve Him for no financial gain.

Praise God with us for answering our prayers for writers…but also please pray with us for all four of them as they endeavor to meet the deadline. Pray that God will give them quality time, wisdom, keen cultural and spiritual insights for application, and joy.