Christmas in the Tropics

January 2022

Christmas in the Tropics

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great JOY that will be for all the people."  Luke 2:11

The Christmas story is full of people who experienced profound JOY, in the midst of hardship. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, Simeon and Anna, they were all living through some pretty tough stuff.  It was the complete opposite of our version, where we are dreaming of a White Christmas and enjoying the pleasures of the holiday season.  The nativity is the story of an impoverished couple, a dangerous journey,  and a difficult delivery in unsanitary conditions.  Then they fled to preserve the life of this newborn.  Despite this, the coming of the Christ child brought great JOY and promise. God had not forgotten them.    

Living in Eastern Congo, we have seen people go through hard times.  We are surrounded by a population which has been displaced by conflict.  We see people whose lives have been devastated by poverty and disease.  Our own lives have been touched.  We are living as displaced persons in an unfamiliar situation.  Despite all of this, our hearts are again touched by the JOY and expectation that this season brings.  In a situation of political insecurity and unrest, we rejoice that the "government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

We hope all of you had a lovely Christmas holiday!

Celebrations require a little creativity

Well a little creativity is required to celebrate Christmas in the tropics.  Everything takes a bit more intention and planning weeks beforehand, such as buying a chicken and cheese, butter to make cookies, obtaining Christmas lights, etc.  I bought my Christmas gifts two months ahead of time and left them to post in Europe.  Other items I carried back from Europe to Africa to enjoy together.  

  

I had done some meal planning, but vegetables need to be purchased directly before the meal.  This brings me to the topic of markets,  Markets are a fascinating phenomenon in a village.  Grocery stores do not exist here and every town/village handles markets differently. I may have figured out the market here in Aru after some weeks.  Markets here begin with ladies walking by from the homes/fields around 7am.  Our home is on a rural road so I can see what they carry on their heads.  I simply watch where they go and flag them down to buy things on their way to market.  Christmas Eve went a bit like this- I followed a lady to the hospital who was carrying plantains and bought them.  After rounds I found cabbage a lady was selling by the hospital gate.  Then I spotted a man with a bushel of carrots on the back of his bike.  He stopped to offer them for purchase.  This completed the other vegetables/fruit I already had like onions, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes.  A friend gave me pea pods which I promptly shelled.  We roasted some cashews and local peanuts in sugar for snacking.  I knocked a lime or two out of the tree in the front yard to dress my chicken.

We stoked the charcoal stove several hours in advance and got it up to a perfect temperature for roasting meat…after some difficulty keeping a consistent temperature I finished in an electric stove.  The door did not fall off like it did at Thanksgiving.  In the end our Christmas meal consisted of garlic roasted chicken, baked potatoes, accompanied by fried plantains, buttered peas and carrots, and cabbage salad.  For dessert sugar cookies and chocolate, peanuts for snacking.  It is a blessing to have such a nice meal and we don’t take that for granted.  Next time you go grocery shopping for a holiday meal, be thankful for the ease of purchase and modern amenities and think of me!

Holidays are simpler overseas.  I have grown to like the simplicity and focus on meaning of the the “holy days.”  We went through a daily Advent calendar with readings as we waited together for Christmas.  One might have new clothes made, eat a nice meal by candlelight…resources are limited.  Excess does not really have a place in Africa.  We even have to calculate the watts consumed by Christmas lights to decide what power will allow.  We collected our own cedar boughs to decorate our doorways and made our own Advent wreath.  

Aru

We are learning to be thankful wherever we are.  Maybe it is lesson we learn over and over in life.  We are thankful to be able to travel to Nyankunde and help with the myriad of needs there.  It takes a deliberate effort sometimes when we focus on the challenges before us.  Living in Aru is strategic location to be able to travel to Uganda, serve locally in Aru, and travel north.  It feels like we are living at a crossroads of sorts.  Emmanuel has made some good friends here and he is prospering in his studies.  Warren has had some teaching cases at Ania Hospital and is trying to influence one doctor at a time to be lifetime learners.  The pancreas is the mysterious organ of the week.  

We are finding that Congolese physicians need a lot of encouragement to become lifetime learners.  One becomes a medical doctor here in DRCongo after very short period of practical training-only 6months!  Then it is up to every doctor to continue learning and improving his/her knowledge.  We all get comfortable with what we know and we need circumstances and people to keep encouraging us to improve.  We want one a part of a culture of life long medical learning wherever we go.  We both have been inspired to work on our CME as the year came to a close.

Today I (Lindsey) went to help with anesthesia for two pediatric cases in the operating theatre- one baby with spina bifida and another 1.5 year old child with suspected congenital intestinal partial obstruction.  The second patient weighed only 6kg and clearly can not continue to live like this. I am homeschooling Emmanuel so we started our studies at home and then organized a desk outside the operating theater.  I then proceeded to get him started on his writing and writing the Pledge of Allegiance and went to help with anesthesia.  I came in and out of the theater to help Emmanuel.  Our dog followed us to the hospital and joined in the fun.  So is life in Africa…and trying to do a few things at once.  

After a recent visit to Nyankunde in December we returned to Aru with our dog, crazy parrot, and chameleon.  It is nice to have them with us again, helps us to feel more at home.  

  

Death & The Passage of Time

Our hearts feel divided between two realities.  We are living and serving in one place and missing another-Nyankunde.  We are learning to live with this tension and be content with the time we have there.  One of our best nurses from Nyankunde, Mama Amisi, died this last week.  It is yet another reminder of how fragile life is and that time is something to treasure.  Mama Amisi was a Congolese nurse and a true missionary, one sent to bring the Good News.  She accepted care of some challenging patients at times and felt it was her calling to do so.  She accepted certain workplace hazards like Ebola and tuberculosis and always had a smile on her face.  She loved our son Emmanuel and called him “James.”  She made me a better doctor and helped me to see patients with real spiritual needs.  I am going to feel her loss for a while.

  

Death reminds me that time is passing, that life is always changing.  It is like natural light that casts varying colors on the landscape throughout the day.  Nothing appears or stays the same.  When important events happen I want to freeze or rewind the clock, but most days I hardly realize that time is passing.   I can remember many things like they were yesterday,  especially during the holidays.  These memories were from half a lifetime ago.  Now I watch my child doing the same things I did as a child as relive them through him-sleeping under the Christmas tree, unwrapping a favorite gift, building a snow fort, drinking hot chocolate on a cold day.  I can almost transport myself back to my childhood.  Maybe this is why so many people love Christmas.

Time is such a mystery to me.  It is said that God sees things outside of time, that time is irrelevant to Him.  I believe that man was created for experiences to not come to an end.  Even as I write this, I feel as if I am staring into a timeless abyss, trying to explain a reality I can not begin to comprehend.    There is so much more behind this temporal life we are living.  

The ancient Greeks had two words for time:  chronos and kairos. Chronos refers to chronological or sequential time- a quantitative measure.  Kairos refers to a qualitative or permanent nature of time, a proper or opportune time.  Many significant events happen to us in kairos time, seemingly outside of chronos time.  I could watch a magnificent display of the northern lights, over in 15 minutes, but I will think of it for the next two weeks.  The display exists for a brief period, but then it lives on in my consciousness.  So how long did this experience  last?  That is more difficult to ascertain. The brief experience might inspire me to write a short story or pursue painting.  The experience lives on.   Although our loved ones leave us in chronos time we can still access these memories in kairos time.  These memories make life valuable and remind us of a greater reality of our lives, and embrace the mystery of the passage of time.

Curiously these different concepts of time exist in the New Testament also.  Kairos means “the appointed time in the purpose of God,”a moment, a season, a harvest time.  “The time has come, “ he said.  The Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news”  Mark 1:15.  Chronos refers to a specific time of day.  In Scripture there are more references to kairos time.  Even in the Orthodox tradition the liturgy begins with a call that “It is time for the Lord to act.”  

It is our hope that you will have many lovely, peaceful kairos moments in 2022!  

Blessings,

Lindsey for us