Well, if I upload this quickly it will still be the Christmas
season as today is the feast of the Epiphany.
Hope you all enjoyed the festivities and didn’t put on too
many extra pounds over the holidays.
I was lucky enough to be with my family over Christmas and
New Year which was an unexpected surprise for us all. The two weeks at home
flew by and now I’m back in Malawi and in the throes of year end. Oh joy!
Christmas is celebrated in Malawi and usually people just have
Christmas Day off work. This year, just a few days before Christmas an extra
bank holiday on 26th December was announced. Our office had a
planned closure from 21st December to 2nd January and we
are all required to hold back holiday to cover this.
All the usual Christmas goodies of cards, trees and presents
are in the shops from early October although overall it felt as if Christmas
was more low key. That’s hardly surprising as Christmas in the UK feels like
overkill. There are very few Christmas decorations or lights in the shops,
streets and we had no decorations up in the office.
I’m not sure how colleagues
in the office will have celebrated at home. Many will
enjoyed a special meal with family and friends. Those whose family live outside
of Lilongwe will probably have travelled across the country to spend time together.
As these journeys can be time consuming and expensive, it is not easy for
people to meet up regularly and so Christmas is the ideal time to be together. Most
people will have been to church to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
These photos were taken at a local hotel where there is a
lovely café that I often visit on a Sunday. Interestingly, the tree is made
from old water bottles. I’ve not seen much recycling of plastic, paper or anything
else for that matter whilst I’ve been in Malawi so this seemed an unusual
choice.
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