We involved ourselves in the local celebrations as much as our strength allowed, making sure there was time for some Kawaja (white man) celebrating too. Here's a picture of our team celebrating a more familiar Christmas eve meal.
On Christmas morning we braced ourselves for a long day and headed to church once things sounded like they had gotten off the ground (you could hear 20 miles away thanks to the PA system on hire for the event!) We finally emerged in the open air again 5 hours later - and the children sat through the whole thing!
Justin had agreed to be the preacher, but definitely didn’t know what he was letting himself in for! The church was crammed full and in true Sudanese tradition, every person arriving led to shuffling of chairs as they made sure the most important people got the most important seats. This led to some concern as the row of chairs for dignitaries on the stage started to grow across his visual aid! 5 minutes into the sermon, the commissioner arrived along with an entourage of about 20 men! Of course everything had to stop for a major chair shuffling exercise and Justin’s visual aid almost disappeared from sight.
After the service the expected community meal didn’t materialise, so it was back to the compound for a picnic lunch (thankfully Rafik, who was staying with us on the compound had brought with him some lovely feta cheese, olives, bread and tinned meat). Bethanie and Deborah had packet noodles – how about that for Christmas lunch!
There wasn’t much time to rest after that as we were hosting Bethanie’s party at 5.30pm. We did find a few minutes to open some more presents, but the majority had to wait to be opened over the course of the next few days.
We had a lovely time at Bethanie's party, hosted on our brightly decorated veranda. Deborah did a truly fantastic job of the food: mini pizzas, cup-cakes, jelly, and a Christmas cake which was as good as any I have tasted.
Bethanie is very chuffed to be 3 and had a lovely time at her party. She was thrilled with the presents from the team – including a glitzy purse and sunglasses (how well they know her!)
The following day it was our team Christmas, which began with the capture of the Christmas dinner and a long discussion about who would kill and pluck it! Here's a picture of the chase in full swing, Caleb and Bethanie playing an active part (they watched all that followed - Bethanie is quoted as saying "Its like taking his coat off" when the chicken was plucked!)
The team did a really wonderful job of decorating the dining hall and preparing the meal, making it a truely special occasion.
Before we could eat we had to take the chance for a team photo...
It was time to get the party clothes out again on Monday when Doro was hosting all the other churches. Even Christmas day hadn't prepared us for this! There must have been about 800 people on the church compound, and this time the unfortunate preacher was interrupted by the arrival of TWO commissoners, and a 30 minute interlude while they introduced their entourage and made speaches and then the people honoured them with gifts and traditional dances. Caleb and Justin were on the front row and became completely caught up in the action!
Here's a picture of the two commissioners speaking - note some of Justin's visuals from Christmas day which have been used to decorate the pulpit!
Well, here's the Agnes family wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
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