The Home Stretch Before the Holidays

The following is a rapid recap of some odds and ends that transpired before the holidays:

School fair

Every year, the French school has what they call a “fair” (kermesse) on one of the last Saturdays prior to the holidays. It’s not a bad event and I think we’ve attended each year since we’ve had children in the school. It consists of various ethnic food stands, games for kids and a few vendors selling things. Parents don’t have a lot of opportunities to meet during the school term so this provides a nice way to do so. Unlike American gatherings of this kind, beer and wine are served (quite French) and probably explains why these events are well attended. When I kids were younger, they usually needed parents around and ended the day covered in smeared face paint and bellies full of sweets. Nowadays, they scurry off with some pocket money and friends and we don’t see them until it’s time to go home. 

 

Ndolo

One cool side event this year was a fencing demonstration by the Kenyan (raised in Germany) Olympic fencer Alexandra Ndolo. Though I’ve been around the sport off and on (it was one of the physical education activities at the school where I taught in Switzerland), I admittedly understand very little. Ndolo’s event was aimed at educating children about the sport. She was amazing with the kids, giving kids time to spar with her as she taught them one by one. It’s great that the school hosted the event and I might have learned something myself.

My money is on the person on the right.

Movies

Friends of ours from our building wrote/produced a movie over the past year or so called Christmas Run. Like fencing, creating a movie is something I don’t know much about. Though I think it was a great experience overall for them, it sounds as though it has been arduous at times. It was shot in Tanzania and I guess some of the actors were a bit difficult to work with at times. Then there was the editing and, given that it had somewhat of a Christmas theme, it took everything they had to get it in theaters in time for the holiday season. They’ve been working for years to promote the African film industry, but they didn’t seem to get the support from the local theaters as they had hoped. It’s hard to compete with blockbuster films, even when promoting local East African talent. I felt bad for them as they faced obstacle after obstacle. In the end, they pulled it off and learned a lot. We went to see it prior to the holidays and it was pretty good (though I confess to being not much of a romcom fan).

I was also invited to the Danish embassy for a showing of film more related to my work. It's called the Girl from Mogadishu and based on a true story of a woman's (Ifrah) dramatic upbringing in Mogadishu, experiencing female genital mutilation (FGM), making her way as an adolescent to Ireland as a refugee and becoming a global advocate for girls in the fight against FGM. It's a sobering story and, being a girl dad, I found it gut wrenching at times. We have a project on reducing FGM and child marriage and we are partnering with the organization that this woman founded. So it was particularly interesting for me to learn more about her story. She was present at the showing and I had a long chat with her beforehand. She's an amazing woman and I'm hoping that we can expand our partnership going forward. 

Ifrah on the left and my colleague Shukri on the right.

Holidays

We also fit in a nice Thanksgiving party at a friend’s house. Having resided outside the US for three decades, I’ve celebrated it from time to time but not always. But it’s a good opportunity to bring people together, whether they’re from the US or not.

An example of Western influence in Africa. December in Nairobi is the beginning of the hottest time of the year. No one in their right mind would dress like that, even if you do like tacky Christmas clothing.

We also put up modest Christmas decorations around the beginning of December. Even though we would be traveling for a couple weeks, we thought it would be worthwhile to get into the holiday spirit.

One of the last things I did prior to heading to the US was attend a Christmas function at the Swedish embassy. The celebration is called Santa Lucia or Lussekattsdagen and traditionally takes place on December 13. It's celebrated in many countries but the Swedes seem to have "owned" the event more than most. I had some Swedish colleagues when I worked in Switzerland many years ago and that was my initial exposure to the holiday. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-fourth-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution (persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire). Interestingly, neither Saint Lucy nor the persecutions were affiliated with Sweden - a detail shared by the ambassador in her opening remarks to kick off the event. It was simply that early Christian missionaries who came to Scandinavia brought the faith, and the event, with them. Given that the Swedes are generally a very secular people, it's possible that an event honoring someone who dedicated her life to aiding the persecuted has less religious baggage than one honoring the birth of Christ. 

The elaborate event involves youth in white robes singing Swedish carols and lots of Swedish food, including a special baked bun called Lussekatt made with saffron. Usually there is someone who represents St. Lucy in a white robe with a crown of candles. Seems to me like a precarious outfit given the dripping hot wax and the potential fire hazard. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful event and I hope to get invited back next year.

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I'll bet you didn't see this on your way to work this morning...