My Christmas Eve and Day in Africa

Christmas Eve

I spent most of Christmas Eve with Challenge Farm staff and kids. About half of the kids went home to visit family. The other half stayed at the farm because they either do not have any family in the area or it is not in their best interest to let them visit home on overnight visits. Since this is a very hard time for half of the kids, Challenge Farm tries to take them on outings. On Christmas Eve we went to the Kitale Nature Conservancy. I had never been to this place. It is a farm that takes care of animals that were born with defects. During the walking tour I saw a goat with five legs, a cat with three eyes, many animals missing or having more than regular number of organs, one cow with two stomachs, and quite a few animals with three legs. The visit was very interesting and the kids had a great time. The farm has only been open one year, but I was happy to find that my little town of Kitale was doing such a great thing for these animals. Around 8 o’clock I went over to some friends' house where we stayed up till midnight playing 10 rounds of Uno.

Christmas Day

This same group of about 14 short term Anglo missionaries met around 10:00 Christmas morning. There were four cooks who had slaved in the kitchen and produced a spectacular and unusual combination of breakfast foods: scrambled eggs, bacon, German pancakes with Maple syrup, mocha cappuccinos, and crepes with powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, cinnamon, and ice cream. I can honestly say that I have never had ice cream for breakfast, but it surely was good! Afterwards, we opened the gifts we had received from home and then most everyone played the white elephant exchange game. This is always enjoyable as it brings so many laughs. You can imagine just how funny it can be when everyone’s gift came from the market in this small African town.

Most everyone went their separate ways during the afternoon, visiting orphanages of Kenya friends. We reconvened that evening for another excellent meal. All in all, it was quite different from my Christmas in Dallas, but it was a very great Christmas in Africa.