The Christmas Party

It's the Advent season and time for the annual Christmas Party! But what kind of party does one have in a very poor country? How does one celebrate?

The first thing the staff wants for Christmas is a cash bonus. This is not optional – it is expected. We talked of giving the bonus early this year because last year we were robbed on Christmas night. The thieves obviously knew that we would have some money on hand here at the nursery. So now, being the quick learners that we are, we keep no money on the premises.

Nsima

We suggested that the bonuses be handed out at our monthly staff meeting, three weeks before Christmas. However, the other members of the management team nixed this idea. They assured us that the money would be spent long before Christmas arrived , thereby leaving staff members with nothing to fund their family Christmas Day feast. That would be disastrous. So we will give bonuses out later in the month but the date will be a surprise.

The main topic of discussion for the party itself was “What to eat”. I took a small (but to my mind statistically significant) poll asking several Malawians what special foods they eat at Christmas. Most shrugged and said “We just have a big meal”. “Big” meaning not different food but a lot of the same food. Quantity matters. Even our management team stressed the importance of “A LOT of food”. We're talking more than you can imagine any one person could eat. A gigantic, colossal, “trentrocious” amount!

Back to the topic of “What to Eat”. A goat was ruled out as too expensive. Ham? No way! We haven't seen a ham in three years. Chicken won the day. But at the Nursery, even chicken is special and not on our usual menu. Rice and nsima, served with fried rape, tomatoes and onions, will also be served. These will certainly be nothing special except they will be prepared in enormous quantities.

So the staff will stuff themselves on the same stuff. Add Coke & Fanta and store bought cookies. And there you have it!!!

Of course, more than the food we will be feasting on, is the fellowship—celebrating the Good News of God with us.

Let the party begin !

Will the Real Jerrine Please Sit Up ?

Last week's blog features the gratifying growth progress of Jerrine Gondwe. 
Or so we thought.
When we picked up baby Jerrine she was not alone.  She was one of twins who we named  Darlene and Jerrine (like me and my twinnie).  Honest, these names were picked at the suggestion of the village headman and the babies' father.   Well, their father came to visit the Nursery two weeks later and announced that he had told us the wrong birth order.  Turns out that Darlene was really Jerrine and Jerrine was really Darlene. This caused no small amount of confusion, but we changed everything and tried to adjust.  I mean we changed everything.  Everything, that is, except all the tags on my early pictures.  Darlene was Jerrine and Jerrine was Darlene on the pictures taken the first 2 weeks they were here.  But then Jerrine was Jerrine and Darlene was Darlene on pictures taken after that time.

Jerrine on left, Darlene on right

SO  when I did the blog, I put the original Darlene (now known as Jerrine) as the picture labeled number 1 and the original Jerrine (now known as Darlene) as the picture labeled number 2.  So the picture labeled number 2 is really the current Darlene. Yikes! It should have been the current Jerrine.  Got it? 

As these twins grow their weight is becoming more and more alike. This is not unusual here in the nursery. In the village, the twin with the least amount of energy usually gets fed a lot less.  This is because it takes more time to feed her and she is labeled as "lazy".  Oh, this one is "the lazy one" they will say. Often the "lazy" one does not survive.  But here at the nursery each twin gets personal care and time is taken with slow feeders.  So they gain weight and eventually catch up to their more energetic sibling. Jerrine (was Darlene ) is now catching up to Darlene (was Jerrine).

Here is a picture of Darlene and Jerrine taken yesterday.  I think Jerrine is catching up quite nicely. And she didn't even know she was behind!

P.S.  Yesterday, an unnanounced picture change took place on last weeks's blog.  Now Jerrine is Jerrine in both photos.