For my birthday we went to the nearest safari lodge, which has a fire pit with chairs around it, and a beautiful view. We sat and had drinks around the fire for a few hours, which was wonderful, until we went to pay the bill and the bartender insisted we had 3x the amount to drink which we actually had. We argued for TWO HOURS about the bill, which mostly consisted of me sitting and playing games on my phone while I was cold and hungry. Wah wah. The good news is when we got home there was a birthday cake waiting as a surprise!
The rest of December was an absolute blur. It was a whirlwind of wrapping presents, planning and putting on parties, saying goodbyes to favorite volunteers, welcoming new volunteers, hosting BEN who volunteered for 3 weeks with us teaching math, all leading up to Christmas.
This was the best Christmas Eve I’ve ever had. Some of the volunteers and staff piled into the back of our Landys wearing Santa hats and holding on to dear life LITERALLY as a storm rolled in, with the wind and rain and Landy forging through the muddy roads. Laden with boxes of toys, hats, and T-shirts, we went off to the different neighboring villages to hand out our gifts to the impoverished Villagers. I wanted to cry when I saw all the kids and adults lined up waiting for their one gift, which was either a beanie or T-shirt or small toy. It made me think back to my days packing Operation Christmas Child boxes. I wish the villages up here could get boxes full of lovingly-packed gifts. It was also strange to give out these meager presents, then the next day watch our kids act like spoiled brats in comparison after opening stockings and 3 nice gifts.
After that, we all pitched in and helped with the assembly line of Christmas dinner preparation. All the mamas and most of the kids over age 5 were spread out in and around the Rec Hall washing, chopping, peeling, shelling, and grating vegetables to prepare for Christmas. It was beautiful to see the whole Village working together in harmony, and as I learned to peel potatoes with a big scary knife, the mamas laughed as I VERY slowly counted off “moja, mbili, tatu” each time I finished one.
After dinner we all met up on Peter and Grace’s veranda to have snacks and drinks. We stayed to talk and laugh for five hours, just enjoying each other and giving ourselves a much-needed rest.
After our Christmas Eve cocktail party Ben and I played Santa in his house of 12 boys. We stuffed stockings, placed presents carefully under the tree, and ate the cookies and poured out the powdered milk made by the kids. Christmas morning we were up at 6am to watch the boys open their stockings and gifts. It was all over in about 12 minutes, and the kids were whining and trading presents before we knew it.
Later in the morning “Santa” came and gave all the kids candy, then each house performed a Christmas song and dance in the Rec Hall, which ended in the entire Village dancing and singing to “We Are Family” up on the stage. Absolutely heart-warming. Lunch was an incredible GIANT feast of different kinds of Pilau (traditional rice and bean dish), meat, veggies, fresh fruit, and a soda for everyone. It was fun to watch the kids get a soda and learn how to cheers them.
After a very brief nap, India hosted us for cocktails and Christmas dinner at her lovely home. We were all in a daze after the craziness of the last 24 hours, so after eating and drinking we went straight home to call our families and relax.
On New Year’s we were free to relax most of the day and play with kids. In the evening the whole staff plus volunteers went up to the same Tented Lodge we went to for my birthday, and had a lovely evening together having drinks and eating a buffet dinner. Once we returned home, we all sat with India and her daughter Riziki who had just turned 18, and toasted the New Year with wine.
What a holiday season! No one does it quite like RVCV. :)
The rest of December was an absolute blur. It was a whirlwind of wrapping presents, planning and putting on parties, saying goodbyes to favorite volunteers, welcoming new volunteers, hosting BEN who volunteered for 3 weeks with us teaching math, all leading up to Christmas.
This was the best Christmas Eve I’ve ever had. Some of the volunteers and staff piled into the back of our Landys wearing Santa hats and holding on to dear life LITERALLY as a storm rolled in, with the wind and rain and Landy forging through the muddy roads. Laden with boxes of toys, hats, and T-shirts, we went off to the different neighboring villages to hand out our gifts to the impoverished Villagers. I wanted to cry when I saw all the kids and adults lined up waiting for their one gift, which was either a beanie or T-shirt or small toy. It made me think back to my days packing Operation Christmas Child boxes. I wish the villages up here could get boxes full of lovingly-packed gifts. It was also strange to give out these meager presents, then the next day watch our kids act like spoiled brats in comparison after opening stockings and 3 nice gifts.
After that, we all pitched in and helped with the assembly line of Christmas dinner preparation. All the mamas and most of the kids over age 5 were spread out in and around the Rec Hall washing, chopping, peeling, shelling, and grating vegetables to prepare for Christmas. It was beautiful to see the whole Village working together in harmony, and as I learned to peel potatoes with a big scary knife, the mamas laughed as I VERY slowly counted off “moja, mbili, tatu” each time I finished one.
After dinner we all met up on Peter and Grace’s veranda to have snacks and drinks. We stayed to talk and laugh for five hours, just enjoying each other and giving ourselves a much-needed rest.
After our Christmas Eve cocktail party Ben and I played Santa in his house of 12 boys. We stuffed stockings, placed presents carefully under the tree, and ate the cookies and poured out the powdered milk made by the kids. Christmas morning we were up at 6am to watch the boys open their stockings and gifts. It was all over in about 12 minutes, and the kids were whining and trading presents before we knew it.
Later in the morning “Santa” came and gave all the kids candy, then each house performed a Christmas song and dance in the Rec Hall, which ended in the entire Village dancing and singing to “We Are Family” up on the stage. Absolutely heart-warming. Lunch was an incredible GIANT feast of different kinds of Pilau (traditional rice and bean dish), meat, veggies, fresh fruit, and a soda for everyone. It was fun to watch the kids get a soda and learn how to cheers them.
After a very brief nap, India hosted us for cocktails and Christmas dinner at her lovely home. We were all in a daze after the craziness of the last 24 hours, so after eating and drinking we went straight home to call our families and relax.
On New Year’s we were free to relax most of the day and play with kids. In the evening the whole staff plus volunteers went up to the same Tented Lodge we went to for my birthday, and had a lovely evening together having drinks and eating a buffet dinner. Once we returned home, we all sat with India and her daughter Riziki who had just turned 18, and toasted the New Year with wine.
What a holiday season! No one does it quite like RVCV. :)
