Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Juldagen i Goteborg, Sverige...


Christmas day in Gothenburg, Sweden...A year ago I would never have imagined that I would be in Sweden for Christmas. In 2006, I did not enjoy much Christmas because of some tensions with my best friend Michaella. It was a crazy day and it rained so much as we fought through sms.
Ahead of juldagen 2007, I was thinking that I would have a miserable day again being faraway from home and spending Christmas without the family and friends for the first time ever!
Waking up I prayed and sang, "Adeste Fidelis"....or " O Come O ye Faithful..". I had a modest breakfast of cornflakes and chocolate. Then it was a flurry of sms with Michaella, my friends and relatives. It was a rainy cold and dark day. But in the afternoon I walked to town to have fresh air, as I have been indoors since Sunday. The streets and shops were empty, save for a few folks.
By four pm local time I had eaten dinner. My Ugandan friends Judith Igeme and Joan Namulondo cooked a huge dinner of potatoes, rice and pork....yes, ganda limene atate!! It was meat brought from Norway by their countryman Eria Serwaja. It was fantastic, real African pork...saona ndege, nkhumba, namwali veke....aaa,kapado... sumptious!!
I was at home and in the end, I enjoyed being here. I realise God wanted to teach me something through this experience of being away from family at this precious time of Christmas. How about the poor, lonely folks that do not have any family? All the time? Thank you Jesus, you are the reason for the season.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Julklapp...

Julklapp...Christmas present in Swedish! I was told that I was getting a Christmas present earlier in the afternoon today. I lost my new Nokia phone I bought just last month and last night I had just recharged it with 75 kronor of airtime. I lost it at Olivedalsgatan, a tram stop where I usually get Goteborg City a free newspaper that incidentally stops coming out from today on.

As I leaned down to take the paper at about 8.05 am, my mobile must have fallen out and since it was dark (it's longest night today, 21 December) I never noticed the gadget until 30 minutes later when I realised it was missing. I was down and all seemed lost as I could not get through the missing phone. Still I prayed. An hour later I made a connection. Praise God for this Swedish woman who faithfully kept the cellphone and returned it to me.
"This is your Christmas present" She joked! I saw Jesus, the main actor at Christmas, in that lady's attitude. May God reach her and heal her of all her infirmities.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Dreaming of a White Christmas...


It is very cold today in Göteborg with the temperatures hovering around zero degrees celsius, but no snow yet. We have had only a small snow-storm that quickly disappeared as soon as it came. I hope it snows on Christmas day, so that I experience a White Christmas!!
The first semester for my MA programme ends in this week. It has been tough going with various distractions affecting the studies, but God has been faithful. There have been people like Kjell Malmgren, our dear teacher Elisabeth Abiri, my countryman Sidney Kalimanjira and Smyrna International Church...they made a difference during the rough times! God bless you all.
On another note last Saturday was tragic for Sidney. He lost his father back home in Malawi. Ironically Sidney invited almost all his close friends to his house including Major Dan Kuwali, who I last saw 10 years ago at Chancellor College in Malawi. It was a happy and loud party, only to be shattered by the sad news. Sidney told me of his heart-break and the night of crying on Saturday. I understood him having lost my father in 1999. The pain can be too much even for a man.