The Alternative Christmas Message
on Me Talk Pretty One Day (Malawi), 24/Dec/2008 09:33, 34 days ago
There are no hordes of Christmas shoppers on Lilongwe’s high street, no decorations in the shops and offices, no carol singers in the town square, no sprouts at the market. Just like regular street lights, the festive kind are also absent from the thoroughfares of Malawi’s capital. If anyone were to publicly display a Christmas tree, it would be chopped down well before twelfth night and used for fuel; tinsel, baubles, fairy and all. It’s true, people are going to bars and getting drunk, but they’re not wearing funny antlers with bells on or Santa hats that light up while they throw back beer after beer, so it’s pretty much the same asthe rest of the year. The Post Office is on strike so there’ll be no cards or presents, and to be honest, I don’t think we’re going to get any snow either.But Christmas isn’t about all that. In Malawi, we’re entering what is known as the ‘Hungry Season’. It has been eight months since the harvest and the poor are beginning to go hungry. I know it because I have seen it.I think Christmas is about being grateful for what you have, and for sharing what you have with your loved ones. The second part I cannot do this year, but that will not stop me from enjoying Christmas and reflecting on how fortunate I am to be here and to be doing what I’m doing, to have that choice, that opportunity.I will not miss the turkey, veg, roast potatoes and chipolatas, all covered in rich, thick gravy, because I am looking forward to my Christmas dinner of cheap pasta and questionable sausage meat. Though I will not be able to watch the Queen this year, I will be happy to at least hear her voice crackle over the World Service. I will have no presents to open this Christmas morning, but I do not care—I already have everything I need and more.I am looking forward to Christmas and I am grateful for how I will be able to spend the day for I know that there will be many, many people in this country who aren’t anywhere near as fortunate.Merry Christmas!