Living here in West Africa you don’t experience the Christmas Season the same way you would in America; in fact it's a lot different. There is a small population of Catholics here in Kolda and also in Senegal, and you could also say there is an even smaller population of “Westerners” so Christmas is something they are aware of. Actually from what I hear most about the Muslim people here, they have a celebration as well. They have it one the 24th and from what I’ve found out from the few people that I’ve asked they just use it as an excuse to party and have no idea that it’s a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
I wanted to share one of my favorite Africa nChristmas stories so far. It was Saturday morning and I was doing probably what a lot of Americans were doing at that time - I was Christmas shopping!!! If you haven’t seen an African market, it’s just filled with people, and many people walk around just selling the things that they have in their hand, kinda like the vendors when you go to a football game. Anyways, I was talking to someone in the market and I look over my shoulder and I see a dude walking with two inflatable Santa Clause. It just seemed so out of place, it was the first Christmas thing that I saw since I’ve come to Senegal. I take a second look at the Santa and then I laugh to myself, but then it hits me….I WANT ONE OF THOSE!!!! So I start walking in his direction trying to catch up with the dude. So after about a block and a half I got his attention and bought one. He even gave me one that wasn’t blown up so I could stick it in my bag and wait till I got home.
I paid a little more than 2 dollars for it and I wouldn’t even see myself wanting to have one if I was in America, but here in Africa it gave me a great smile and gave me a little Christmas sprit.
***I don’t have one at this time but I will try to get a picture of the Santa up here in the next couple of days.***
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