Sad stories for Christmas

I think I am coming to the conclusion that it is not possible to completely solve the problem of poverty.

Lola is a 23 year old girl from the mountains. She and her two siblings were raised by their grandmother, and an aunt paid for her schooling through high school. She then came to the city and got a job in the fish market. There she met another orphan, also raised by his grandparents. He was a fish slicer. They didn't get married but just moved in together, which is quite common these days among the young folk. The excuse is that they don't have the money for a wedding. There are also plenty of older people who have been previously married who have "live-ins" because divorce isn't legal.

Six years later Lola has 3 children ages 1, 3, and 5. They rent one room in a house located over the ocean. There is no bathroom. All waste goes beneath the house where the tide carries it off each day, though of course it can be pretty smelly during low tide. They buy water from a neighbor, paying per bucket. Cooking is done over charcoal, usually outside unless it is raining. The husband lost his job a few months ago for some unknown (to me) reason and only intermittantly works now. He seems to have his heart set on being a fish slicer and doesn't want to look for other work. He spends his days at the market, hanging around with his friends and eating with them, waiting for an occasional opportunity to slice fish. Meanwhile the wife is at home with the kids. She is still nursing the baby and when she doesn't get enough to eat the baby cries a lot. While her live-in worked, they had plenty of fresh fish to eat. Now it's difficult.

She stopped by to pick up some CDs from her aunt. Her aunt gave her fare to go home but after she left, her aunt started wondering why she had bothered to come just for CDs and then realized that Lola probably didn't have any food in the house and had probably been hoping the aunt would give her money. Lola's now embarassed to ask for help because she has had to ask so many times and some of her relatives have begun advising her to leave the live-in and go back to the country where she and the kids can at least plant vegetables and eat.

Thinking about the kids, the aunt collected some stuff around the house, sugar, Milo, coffee, mung beans, a few left-over Christmas goodies and went to the market and bought charcoal, oil, eggs, vegetables, 10 kilos of rice and a kilo of chicken. When she arrived at Lola's house she found the live-in sitting there watching TV, hoping that a lottery ticket he'd bought would pan out netting them about $1.25 with which they planned to buy food. Lola had apparently bought 1/4 kilo of rice with what was left from the bus fare and they had eaten rice soup for lunch. The kids were super excited to see the Christmas treats and the big package of Milo.

Lola's grandmother has begged her on several occasions to come back to the country and so have several of her aunts. But she refuses. The man, who is quite large and through it all has managed to keep his weight up by eating with friends, refuses to look for other work. Is he cognitively challenged? Is he unable to think outside his small box? Is he lazy? Or does he just have the problem of being unrealistic? This is the kind of situation that makes relatives and other observers want to pull their hair out.

But you can't run people's lives for them.


Another painful, yet also hopeful story is that of Rita.

Today was a joyous day for a 9-year-old girl I will call Rita. Four years ago Rita had suffered a broken femur. Nothing was ever done about it and eventually the bone became infected. Earlier this year social workers brought her to the city where she was taken in by an expat doctor and his wife who helped navigate the paperwork to get the girl treated. It was a long process with many obstacles. They got her some crutches and she began to be able to get around a bit. She was hospitalized for nearly a month on IV antibiotics to clear up the bone infection. Then she had some heart arrhythmias and the cardiac consultant refused to give permission for surgery. Colds and such caused more delays. She had also been quite malnourished and was tiny for her age. One of the doctors was outraged when he saw her. He said it was child abuse to allow a child to go that long untreated. Social workers eventually brought her 12-year old brother to the city also and he is staying with his sister. He too was tiny and malnourished and had never been allowed to go to school. But finally, just after Christmas in a surgery that didn't start until 11pm and went until 2am, the leg was repaired. Today Rita is leaving the hospital to the great delight of her foster parents and all of her well-wishers. Go, Rita!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve we spent at a friend’s house with several others of various nationalities. We got to discussing English as she’s spoken in various places. One lady is from England so I suppose she can be considered the speaker of real and original English! She is teaching kindergarten at an international school with mostly American kids. She commented on some of her frustration when she first came because the children didn’t seem to understand some simple commands! She would tell them to put things in the rubbish and they would stare blankly. She told them to use their rubbers to rub out mistakes and again got blank stares. She didn’t know that here rubbish is referred to as "trash" or "garbage". She didn’t know that here rubbers are called “erasers” and to rub something out is to kill it!

So we got to talking about local English usage. My all time favorite was taking a voltage regulator back to the shop and telling them it didn’t work. All I got was a blank stare. So I described in excruciating detail how every time I plugged it in and plugged something into it, it blew the fuse. Finally the light dawned and the guy said, “Oh, you mean it doesn’t function?” Ah, yes. Only people "work". Things "function".

A friend once noted that her new house helper always swept the floor but never mopped it. So she was trying to explain that the floor should also be washed with water not only swept. To her dismay the girl began throwing buckets of water on the floor. What my friend didn't know is that "wash" means to clean using lots of water, like washing clothes or dishes. What she should have said is "mop" or "clean the floor with water"!

A fun site to vist is www.engrish.com . Also check out http://signslabels.blogspot.com/

And, I hope you had a merry Christmas!

Christmas noise

Our apartment building is surrounded by electronic noise generators. On one side we have 1) a kindergarten – which seems to double as a bingo parlor by night, complete with a truck air horn blown for each draw. On another side is 2) a private elementary school. On another side is 3) a Bible college and just beyond it 4) an open field which various public groups can use. The schools seem to need to have amplifiers that broadcast their programs across town. All of the children screaming in unison at the top of their lungs could not hope to compete with the person at the mike.

Last night an appliance chain store down the hill from us on the other side had it’s “Christmas” raffle. They had some awful band from somewhere using gigantic amplifiers – it could only be described as a band from hell. It was truly an ordeal for anybody living within a kilometer in any direction. For those of us uphill it was like being in an amphitheater as the noise rebounded and reverberated against our back wall so that we got it from both directions. But God was merciful and it started raining after only 40 minutes. They didn’t want their speakers to get wet so they stopped and packed up.

Tonight it seems that the Bible college is having a Christmas party. Their band is much milder in comparison but still rather shocking for a Bible college. One wonders why they bothered with the word “Christmas” though, as none of it had anything whatsoever to do with Christmas. (Actually, we found out the next day it wasn't the Bible college after all that had the band. They did sing at their party but it was drowned out by the appliance chain store having yet another raffle. At least it wasn't as loud or as hellish as it was the previous night!)

The elementary school hasn’t had their party yet but I am sure it will be soon and I know it will be LOUD.

So feel free to come and visit - but you might want to bring some earplugs!

Christmas Part 2

December 25, 2006

Celebration is not unique to Christmas. Others celebrate at the end of the month of fasting. Others at their New Year with the dragon dance, and so on. It seems that ALL major celebrations involve to varying degrees, food, noise, lights, family reunion, gift-giving and decorations. So what is so special about Christmas?

Most people around here when pressed will tell you that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth. And why is that so special? He came to save us from our sins.

But that’s where a lot of people now days get kind of confused. It’s not popular to talk about sin anymore. We all make mistakes, we have “issues” or “hang-ups” or problems. Most people see themselves as pretty good and not really sinners – that’s for the criminal types that commit murder, hurt children, rob, or oppress their people. We try to be good, most of the time, and after all nobody’s perfect. We compare ourselves with others and can always find somebody else who’s messing up worse than we are and so we assure ourselves that we’re not so bad. So really, what do we need a savior for?

What we forget though, is that God has revealed a coming day of judgment and He isn’t grading on a curve. God is not a post-modernist. From His perspective, man is NOT the measure of all things – He is.

The prophet Jeremiah said that the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand it? The prophet Isaiah said that all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. The apostle Paul said that nothing good lived in him, that is, in his sinful nature. For though he had the desire to do what is good, he could not carry it out. What he did was not the good he wanted to do but rather the evil he did not want to do—and he kept on doing it. He found this law at work: when he wanted to do good, evil was right there with him. In his inner being he delighted in God's law; but he saw another law at work in the members of his body waging war against the law of his mind and making him a prisoner of the law of sin What a wretched man he was! Who would rescue him from this body of death?

This sums up man’s dilemma. He doesn’t measure up. Especially since the measure is God, not man. And no matter how he tries, he can’t measure up, the evil is always there even in the midst of the good he tries to do. And what’s worse, his heart is so deceitful that he’s often not even aware of the evil he is doing. That’s pretty bad news.

But that bad news is precisely what makes the birth of a savior such GOOD news. Think about it.

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Christmas Part 1

If an alien came to my three worlds, what would he observe about Christmas?

World #3: In this country Christmas involves lots of lights, noise, parties, shopping. Some of the light displays are awesome – especially if you have lived many years with minimal or no electricity. Sound in this city is mainly music nowdays ever since the mayor banned firecrackers. In fact the residents have been rather in a depression for the last 3 years! They try other noise-making alternatives such as honking horns, blowing cardboard trumpets, turning up stereos, banging on tin roofing but none of it is as satisfying as blowing up a whole string of big firecrackers.The shops have extended hours and are full most of the time now with people buying clothes, food, gifts. Much of the gift-giving is downward: employers give to employees, businesses give to regular customers. Even the city government distributes buckets of rice, canned meat, oil, noodles, and soap to some of the poorest of the poor via churches.

If you ask people what they like about Christmas they will say they like the parties, the gifts, the lights, being with family, giving and sharing. Many churches have special events, cantatas, decorations, and sermons about Jesus’ birth.

World # 2: In the second of my worlds, Christmas is much less commercialized. There are exra lights – even if you have to make them yourself out of plastic soap containers, kerosene and coke bottle caps. Christmas trees often still use real candles (and so obviously don’t stay lit very long). Noise is not quite as noticable – but the boys in the village make bamboo cannons using kerosene and matches or little “bombs” made of shaved match heads which they pound or do something to until it explodes. (Due to the ongoing conflict in my region in recent years, these home-made explosives were banned a couple of years ago much to the dismay of the youth.) They too have more parties but they are more oriented around a religious service with a special snack or meal served afterwards. There is special music and some people try to buy new clothes. Long hours are spent making cookies (see last post). Nowdays there are more commercially available decorations (see post on ting-ting-ting) and there is some gift- giving, mainly at children’s parties. Otherwise gift giving tends to be upward, employees giving to employer, students to the teacher, and a gift typically consists of food – like a jar of beautiful cookies. There is a lot of personal visiting in people’s houses on Christmas and New Year’s Day and for a week afterwards and that is perhaps why gift giving goes upward. The boss will have a lot more visitors at Christmas than the average employee and so he will be very grateful for your cookies – he can serve them to his visitors.

If you ask people what they like about Christmas, the kids will answer “Cookies!” Otherwise people say they are celebrating Jesus’ birth. They like the special events at church and they like the family time together because relatives who live far away usually make an effort to visit at this time of year.

World #1: In the first of my worlds it is cold so making a lot of noise has never been much of an option – who could hear it anyway when everybody is closed up in their houses? So maybe that’s why lights and decorations and gift-giving have become more prominent. There are special foods and a lot of people complain about putting on weight at Christmas time. Churches do have special services but since Christmas has become more of a cultural institution, most of the partying is not done in connection with church. In fact most parties are not at all religious. Gift giving is common at all levels – within the family, among friends, colleagues, even strangers and is both upward and downward. For many it has become a financial burden – yet maybe because there is a certain joy in being able to give, people still keep doing it. It has traditionally been the time of year for family who live far away to come “home” for Christmas and for many people this is the heart of Christmas. Being alone on Christmas day is thought to be one of the worst things that could happen and so inviting people who would otherwise be alone to celebrate the day together with your family is also a tradition.

Fresh thinking and fruits

I am lucky because I do not have many Christmas events that I must participate in. Some people are literally run ragged by all the parties, programs, and gift-giving they are involved in. My load is pretty small – getting Christmas cards sent out, making cookies, getting gifts for employees and other regulars in one’s life (like the sewing lady, the banana man, the egg lady, etc ), and only two known obligatory “events”. (Sometimes I am invited at the last minute on the holidays themselves so I also need to be prepared to have some small gifts and food ready to throw together at a moment’s notice.)

Sending cards out can be a bit of a challenge because you have to get them in the mail soon enough to have a chance for them to actually arrive before February. Otherwise you may as well wait and send out New Year’s greetings. Looking for cards is often a challenge too. There are some really whacky cards out there now. I don’t mean humerous, I mean weird. Like this one:

“Merry Christmas! Fancy 4 u place where is always all fresh thinking and fruits!”

Or this one: “Merry Christmas! The love is all around world and your dreams come true.”

Here’s another one I found a few years ago, I still giggle every time I see it. I mean, what is it?!





Today we are making cookies. In the second of my worlds you must make hundreds of beautiful, identical cookies so that you can artistically arrange them in big glass jars. Drop cookies are not acceptable because they are not beautiful. Cookies don’t have to taste good – and frankly often they don’t- they just have to look nice. The oven is typically a small tin box placed on top of a kerosene burner. It takes days to make enough cookies and you have to shut all the doors and windows lest a stray breeze make your fire uneven. So here, in the third of my worlds, we really have it good – we have a real oven and big cookie sheets, plus we can have a fan on! People here appreciate cookies because they don’t know how to make them. Even “ugly” drop cookies are appreciated because they taste good. (These people know what good cookies are!)

So, if you can't make cookies, may your season at least be filled with, er, fresh thinking and fruit!

ting-ting-ting

Remember those musical greeting cards? You open them up and a small disc embedded in the card starts ting-ting-tinging Happy Birthday or Jingle Bells or something. Some Asian entrepenuer began inserting those ting-ting-tings into Christmas decorations. A few years ago I was in the village in church. The pastor had gotten some ornament with lights that he attached to the pulpit. He'd turn it on during the church service and just let it ting-ting-ting through the whole service. I guess he thought it was just super cool. It drove me crazy. I am sure that I was the only one in the congregation that knew that every tune it played was about Rudolph, or white Christmases, jingle bells, etc. Not exactly fitting for the local climate not to mention the sermons being preached. I avoided services as much as possible that trip. Upon returning to the third of my worlds I discovered that "musical" decorations were on sale here too.

Now my neighbor has put up a whole string of Christmas lights - "musical" ones - ting-ting-tinging outside my window. Did they think to put the ting-ting-ting INSIDE their apartment so they could enjoy it? Oh no. They put it OUTSIDE so I could hear the ting-ting-ting reverberating between the buildings. Not only that, they typically turn it on and then go out for the evening! What's worst of all is that it is a cheapie. It plays only one or two lines each of Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Here Comes Santa Claus, We Wish you a Merry Christmas and then starts over again. Over and over and over and over.........

Am I going crazy?!!! I am considering going over there one of these evenings soon and unscrewing a lightbulb....and if that doesn't work I have scissors.... >:-)

(No, don't worry. you won't see headlines saying I was electrocuted cutting wires. There are other more culturally appropriate ways of trying to deal with it. You know, the third party approach...)