Christmas in Africa
The holiday season here in Botswana doesn't feel much like Christmas at all. It's hot and muggy with the summer rains having finally arrived, there is no holiday music on any radio station, and what few decorated trees there are in the malls are cheap tinsel trees which look beat up and so very out of place. This is a Christian nation, but seasonal holiday festivities such as we have at home are quite uncommon. The closing down of most business operations for a couple of weeks, the emptying out of the capitol city of Gaborone as folks return to their ancestral villages, and the cooking of traditional food as families unite is the extent of holiday traditions here. One huge highlight, however, was the reenactment of the Nativity as portrayed by our junior missionaries. They love putting on this pageant which was well attended by the community. ...