This was our first Christmas away from family and without blustery weather typical of the East Coast & Midwest of the United States. We spent it at Mikadi Beach Camp, in Kigamboni, which is just South of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They had a lovely Christmas tree made of a metal frame with little lights, springs of tropical evergreens alongside bird of paradise flowers, and ornaments crafted with coral and seashells. There was even a star on top, but unfortunately it got cut off of the photo below.
The proprietress' mother decorating the tropical Christmas tree.
Banda huts on the beach, where we slept.
Breakfast after a morning swim in the ocean.
Christmas morning we attended worship at the local Catholic Church in Kigamboni. We discovered that all the nearby churches hold worship in Swahili. So seeing as we wouldn't be able to understand much in the service, we opted for the one which could be counted on to be under 2 hours! Seeing as the Catholic liturgy is essentially the same in any language, we were also able to more or less follow along, reciting the Lord's prayer and Apostle's creed as we came to them. They had a really wonderful choir which we quite enjoyed, and one of our favorite parts was the last hymn, "Gloria in Exclesis Deo," which was also sung in Swahili, but the chorus was Latin! and we sang along in English.
Also, we accidentally were given holy communion! We agonized over whether we should go up in the line. Not wanting to disrespect the Catholic practice of communion, but not wanting to feel utterly left out on Christmas. We decided to go up with our hands crossed over our chests, the universal signal asking for a blessing, rather than the host. This is something we've done previously in other Catholic Masses. Well, apparently this sign was not as universal as we'd thought, or perhaps the priest was just on auto-pilot, for when we approached, hands crossed, he quickly shoved the little wafers into our mouths, without giving us a second glance (if he indeed gave a first glance). I could barely keep from laughing as I returned to my seat. Ryan put it well, "Jesus came to us." Almost an embodied metaphor of this irresistible grace which comes to you whether you intended it or not. I wonder what Calvin would say about that.
The front of the sanctuary was painted with an incredible scene of communion. It looked much like a scene of the Last Supper, except it was hosted by the risen Christ. The mural had 11 disciples, and the 12th at the table (far right) was a black bishop holding a copper box, which actually was a cupboard embedded in the wall--the tabernacle which is where the Eucharist is stored between masses.
Posing by a nativity scene on Christmas morning. After church, we returned to Mikadi for a wonderful Christmas dinner provided by their restaurant. The owners of the camp are Zimbabwe and Chile, and the Zimbabwean side of the family were present for the holiday. These white Zimbabweans have their roots in the UK, and so we enjoyed many traditional English treats this Christmas--including roasted chestnuts and Christmas pudding, imported from England.
Our Christmas Pudding!We were introduced to popular Zimbabwean Christmas music by musical group, Boney M, by the Allanby family--the relatives of the owners. We had a some very engaging theological conversation with the Allanbys, and also enjoyed their two energetic sons, Terl (10) and Christian (8) immensely. Christian left us with some notable quotes:
"The two happy couples--we meet again," which he said to Ryan & I whenever he saw us!
"The girl who owns this place is my auntie, so I can get you drinks."
"Zanzibar--sounds like a candy bar with chocolate and peanut butter."
"Wanna know something cool? I am a Christian and my name is Christian!" Yes, we definitely think that is cool.
Frank & Loveness.Frank LOVES Christmas pudding. He's seen here with his 4th helping!
Hanging out on Christmas DayThe five days we spent at Mikadi Beach Camp were a welcome chance to read and relax and enjoy the sea and lots of fresh fruit. The beach itself was a treasure to explore--the tide went way out every day and then you could walk out on the shallow sea floor and find all sorts of crabs, small fishes, and sea cucumbers among other things.
A view of Mikadi Beach
Our breakfast every morning: fresh watermelon, banana, mango, passionfruit, and orange.
Ryan reading his Kindle. What is he reading: James McClendon's Systematic Theology or Bram Stoker's Dracula?
Molly exploring at low tide.
Molly reading the morning paper.
2 comments:
You describe the various forms forms of life in the low tide. What is the approximate size of the critters?
The crabs we saw ranged from pretty tiny fitting into a shell the size of a dime, to larger crabs walking around with no shell that were almost the size of my hand. The sea cucumber was about six inches long and an inch or so in diameter. The fish were all smaller than sardines--only an inch or two.
My favorite part was seeing the crabs in the shells--moving the shells around! The sea floor was always moving and changing.
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