Merry Christmas...if only!

Celebration, rejoicing, entertainment, good food and drink, parties, presents, family get-togethers... Where have they all gone?

I want today to wish all readers of this blog a merry Christmas, and if you're in Europe, or South Africa, or elsewhere, perhaps that's just what you are about to experience. A truly merry Christmas. But if you live with us, here in Zimbabwe, you will know that Christmas is a long-forgotten ceremony. Yes, December 25 will come and go, and this remains a largely Christian country. But the Christmas we knew in the old days no longer exists.

I can remember a Zimbabwean Christmas from my teenage years. I can remember the Christmas lights stretching through the Harare business centre. I can remember supermarkets and department stores bulging with goodies. I can remember new t-shirts for the guys, new dresses for the girls. I can remember preparing to travel to the country to be with family on the day, taking candy and biscuits.

All that has gone. And what are we left with? No-one can afford presents and there are none to buy. Children expect nothing. There are no cheerful Christmas commercials on television. There is...nothing.

I asked a few friends how they would be celebrating this 2007 Christmas..

Johannes told me: "I know how I'm going to spend Christmas day. I am going to sit down with certain people who are skilled in getting other people across borders. And I'm going to find out how they can get me into South Africa without a passport."

Lucia is a teacher. She told me that all Christmas means to her is, the rent is overdue and on her pointless salary she has no idea how she can pay it.

David is a carpenter. And he'll go to work on the 25th. "I have to. I can't afford not to work. If I don't my family will starve in the new year."

And Ben is a man who celebrates with a couple of beers. I asked him if that was his aim this Christmas. "How?" he asked me. "How can I have a decent Christmas drink when beer costs a million dollars?"

Ben will have a sober Christmas. So shall we all. So, when you in the west are opening your presents, feasting, and celebrating on the 25th...spare us a thought. Thanks. And a Merry Christmas.

Comments

[Son of a Rhodesian Mother, in USA]

My Christmas gift to Zimbabwe... I'm an
Algebra/Calculus secondary teacher in
Philadelphia. I've gotten the ok from the
wife, and as soon as uncle bob is disposed
of, I'm coming to Zim to teach maths for a
year or two. It's the least I can do. For now,
I wish you the best. Merry Christmas!
and know you'll be remembered in the States.

[Mandy King]

On Christmas I count my blessings, I left Zimbabwe in July 1999 with the clothes on my back and two suit cases. I came to San Francisco, not knowing the real immigration laws. I am blessed as after 8 years, I am now getting my green card. I send food parcels home every week , inlcuding school fees of over $1,000 per term.

I never knew Zimbabwe would get this bad.
There are so many kind sweet people that just want to work and buy a few groceries to live.

Zimbabwe is in my prayers and may good always win over evil, ( I know it does, it just takes time).

[Mabhunumuchapera Karikoga Chinembiri]

Now that im in Dispora, its not a Xmas anymore. I used to celebrate with my family and friends in a dusty village at a local rural township in Mashonaland Central.Playing to music like Mabhauwa and One way to Africa just to mention a few.In UK its cold and unfriendly to celebrate while your siblings are starving. I only enjoy and celebrate when i go to my rural village where the meaning of Xmas is embraced with peace and harmony but not now.

[peter]

Just wondering if in your happy times if the country was Zimbabwe or Rhodesia?..that would explain a lot......