Christmas in Nigeria

In 2005 I spent Christmas in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2006 I was in a small town in northern Zambia, in 2007 I was in Colombo, Sri Lanka and in 2008 I was in snowy Vancouver. Given that 2009 would be my fourth overseas Christmas in the past five years, going to the Muslim north of Nigeria is a perfect fit with my holiday tradition.

Matthias, Oscar and I drove from the Sokoto to join our colleagues in Goronyo for Christmas Eve. There were twelve of us for dinner, representing ten different countries. Having Christmas dinner with people I had just met seemed perfectly normal. We sat outside in the warm night’s air under makeshift Christmas lights strung on the tree above our table. Sabine decorated the dinner table with items sent from Europe, which included sprinklings of pine needles. We had a tasty fish dinner and a mixed fruit dessert.

There were a few other signs that it was Christmas. The Kenyans, Marisa and Sellah, dressed-up in traditional African outfits and Sabine at one point was heard nearby singing slightly off-key “Oh Tannenbaum” on her cell phone with her family in Germany. Otherwise, the evening was spent relaxing at the table while watching the Africans dance. I hadn’t felt well that day and snuck-off to bed at around 10:00 pm. Apparently the party kept going and the Africans kept dancing until 3:00 am. Such as one would expect for a Christmas spent in Nigeria.