#UgandanChristmas

[fibertuganda]

[fibertuganda]

Ugandan Christmas

We enjoyed a Ugandan Christmas with our Kisiizi family.  For a long time we weren’t feeling particularly Christmassy due to the sunshine & lack of commercialism that we are used to accompanying Christmas.  But we came to realise that Christmas is very much present here, it’s just a different version of Christmas than the one we’re used to.  The celebrations kicked off with the annual Kisiizi Hospital ward Christmas decoration competition, which took place on the last working day before Christmas.  It was taken very seriously, & little work was carried out on this day, with the priority very much being Christmas decorating.  In chapel that morning the Reverend warned that we not, “defile nature”, based on scenes he had witnessed in previous years, but they did not heed the Reverend’s warning, & nature was very much defiled.  I have never seen anything like it.  All the staff trekked up to the nearby woods, & returned with whole trees.  Each ward recreated the nativity scene, with patients, students & staff dressing up.  The maternity & paediatrics wards had an advantage here when it came to taking their pick of cute babies & children to dress up.  Some wards even went as far as having real animal dung & live fires –imagine the health & safety issues that would cause at home.  They also all had a Christmas tree; in Uganda Christmas trees are generally decorated with lots of multi-coloured balloons.  The competition was judged by an impartial panel, who toured the wards at the end of the day of decorating.  At each ward they were greeted by singing & dancing, & the reading of a bible verse.  The patients on Ahumuza thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, although I’m not so sure the same could be said of the sick patients on other wards, as they were neglected by staff who instead clambered around their sick beds in order to decorate the ward, & created a dim when welcoming the judging panel.

The ward Christmas decoration competition got very competitive, & there was much speculation as everyone waited with bated breath until the winner was announced at the staff Christmas party that night.  There was much excitement when the maternity ward was announced as the winner, with the runners up being the outpatient department, where Rob works.  The party started with an enormous feed of traditional Ugandan food, which we ate with our hands, which involved spilling a lot down the front of our party outfits.  We had been told in advance that there would be an opportunity for performances for the party, & so all of us volunteers had customized the song, “The twelve days of Kisiizi”, & even added some actions.  We felt slightly embarrassed when the only other act was a serious choir.  The audience were not familiar with the song, as we have found is the case with all non-hymnal Christmas songs.  The subtleties of our parody seemed to be lost on the audience, but they enjoyed the slap-stick nature of our actions, which seems to be Ugandan’s favourite form of humour.  Most of the rest of the party was taken up by speeches by, & about, those staff retiring in the coming year.  The only drinks at the party were strictly non-alcoholic, & the party finished very promptly at 10pm –in stark contrast to many of the office Christmas parties at home.  

On Christmas eve night we created an magical outdoor cinema to watch the Christmas classic, Home Alone.  We hung a white sheet on the wall, onto which the film was projected, & hung fairy lights all around.  We had mince pies & mulled wine as an accompaniment.  

On Christmas day we got together with some of the other volunteers for a cooked breakfast, washed down with bucks fizz.  We then headed to the two & a half hour chapel service, where we sang a mixture of English & Rukiga Christmas hymns, & we were preached at about needing saved.  There are two rival Christmas dinners that take place in Kisiizi that volunteers are invited to; we had been warned about the politics surrounding these rival dinners from when we arrived in Kisiizi in September.  One option was the, “white Christmas”, where the ex-pats get together, & having a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.  And the other was the pot-luck dinner at the Medical Superintendent’s home, to which all of the Kisiizi Hospital staff on-call on Christmas day are invited.  We opted for dinner with our hard working on-call colleagues.  Rob & I’s allocated dish was plain rice, which we managed to spectacularly ruin, by creating something that resembled rice pudding, & had a strong burnt taste.  On Christmas evening we got together with the other volunteers, & exchanged our secret Santa gifts.  With the limited present options available in Kisiizi, lots of different items of custom made clothes in African fabrics were exchanged.