December 14, 2004

Christmas greetings to each and all of you, from me, Justin, and Imani in Nairobi!

As the year draws to a close, special greetings, with best wishes for a wonderful celebration of Christmas, and a good beginning to the New Year 2005!

In brief summary, the kids (Justin, now 7, and Imani, now 5 ½) and I had a very good visit on the West Coast of the United States this past July and August, and it was so good to see quite a number of you. Unfortunately, the kids had low tolerance for seeing too many new people, and in the end we had to cut way back on the numbers of folks I would have loved to see, including the Los Angeles leg of the trip. But I am so grateful for the time with so many in and around Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Gig Harbor, Sedro Wooley, Bremerton, Vancouver BC, Portland, Cannon Beach, Spokane, and San Francisco! We spoke in many churches and to many groups, and we visited family and friends while seeking to raise ongoing support for ministry here.

By September we were back in Nairobi, just in time for the kids to be back in school. I am currently enjoying a sabbatical year from Daystar University (through July 2005), and though I am still advising several MA theses, and am overseeing a handful of Christian ministry practicums, I am not teaching or involved in administration, and that is a huge gift. This allows me to take some time to be renewed, be home when the kids get home from school, be a bit more involved in my local church, and work on completing an MA in African studies at a nearby university. I had the opportunity in November to present two papers at the International Leadership Association’s annual conference in Washington D.C. Being able to interact with other educators and practitioners from around the world was stimulating.

The other amazing gift of this sabbatical time is the sudden development of deepened relationships with our neighbors in the houses around us, with some significant conversations recently about life and faith, suffering, injustices, hope in the midst…. We also share gardening tips (I’m the recipient on these!) and cooking instructions (I’m mostly the recipient, but am able to contribute a few American treats). Though most of our neighbors are Kenyan, we just had three new neighbors from Beijing China move in next door. The other night over the back gate, they came asking me in limited English how to cook a lobster, which they had just bought in the city market. I’m afraid I’m not very experienced in that cuisine, but we tried!

As for Christmas, we will just be around here in Nairobi for the holidays, and over New Year’s we will go for four days up into the highlands (about 45 minutes outside of the city) for a retreat with a number of other mission families from the region. We have our other “son,” Steven, with us for the month. He is 17 and is sponsored at a local boarding school by some friends in our home church in Seattle. For the last four years, he has spent all his school holidays with us, and Justin and Imani love having an older brother around.

As I reflect on being here in Nairobi during Christmas this year, I have written a few observations, to help those of you in other parts of the world catch a glimpse of life here.

Ten ways that Christmas is different in Nairobi, Kenya, than in North American cities:

1. December is the month that pastors take their vacation days.
2. Churches which are normally full to overflowing during the rest of the year join together to offer a few Christmas services, since church attendance in Nairobi drops around Christmas time. (December is the time Kenyans return to ancestral homes for the holiday).
3. The question is not “Have you done your shopping yet?” but “Where are you going to eat Christmas?”
4. The preferred meat for a Christmas feast is roast goat, cooked over charcoal.
5. Though there are stenciled images of Santa Claus with reindeer flying over snow-covered roofs on retail store windows, the weather in Nairobi is approaching the hottest month of the year.
6. While signs outside shop windows greet customers with “Merry Christmas!” and advertise Christmas discounts, inside, the incense is burning before images of Hindu gods and goddesses of the Indian/Pakistani shop owners.
7. There is an influx of European tourists wearing safari outfits, all heading for the coast and game parks.
8. There is one Christmas movie playing in town, and perhaps one Christmas concert at the main cathedral advertised to the public.
9. At the same time, many primary schools, both public and private, put on Christmas concerts, complete with a nativity play, with Christian, Muslim, and Hindu children and parents all actively participating.
10. While most Kenyans have gone “up-country” to spend the month at “home” (whether or not they have ever actually lived there) to join their large extended families, those of us not from Kenya are just here in what has become a very quiet, somewhat deserted city, thinking of all of you our loved ones in other parts of the world, far away from here.

But no matter where or how we celebrate the holidays, we all celebrate the same Lord, the same “God with us, Emmanuel,” grateful for the coming of Christ, God incarnate, who has entered our world and our lives, bringing hope, joy, and love that transcends the all boundaries.

With that, joy to you for Christmas, from our house to yours!

Marta, Justin, and Imani Bennett

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 335