Christmas in a multi religious city
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Quite an unusual culture and customs in Mombasa regarding the celebration of Christmas. Considering that there are a huge number of Muslims here, Christmas is still celebrated in full swing. Of course, people don’t really put the original meaning of the holiday into what’s happening. Just having the ocean nearby and having the weekend make it the biggest vacation of the year. Given the easing of quarantine,
how tired people are of staying at home, and schools are still closed, people are migrating throughout December.
Ticket prices in any intercity direction are rising at least twice, and prices for travel in the city too. And all people turn on holiday mode: stay at home, eat (if you have money), drink and chew grass, and go to the beach.
Moreover, local residents may not come to the beach all year round, but on Christmas it is a must. Is there anything in these traditions about the Birth of Christ? Unfortunately, for most people this is simply the biggest excuse to drink and relax.
We are glad that we had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas, talk about its true meaning, and convey the Gospel three times: with our youth, children and children in a children’s colony.
We invited children from our youth projects (home groups, computer class, football club) to our center, and about 100 young people came. What is it like to celebrate the Birth of Christ with Muslims? They come, they listen, some of them accept.
And we just continue to sow the Word in
seven possible methods and we believe that one day it will bear fruit and many will recognize the born Messiah as their God and savior. We also had the opportunity to share the Christmas story with the children.
This was our first full-fledged children’s ministry after the start of quarantine, and how glad we were to see our children with us again! The guys were also happy, played, watched the story of Christmas,
and of course, we received, for many, the first
once in a lifetime, Christmas gift.
And the next day we went to wish Merry Christmas to the guys in the teenage colony. We serve these guys on a regular basis. But due to quarantine, we couldn’t see the guys for a long time. But for the sake of Christmas, the colony management allowed us to come, as they said, through the emergency door, despite the restrictions.
We glorified God and talked about His love. Of course, we played a lot and… ate! All the guys were grateful that they received a piece of Christmas chicken, since during quarantine they only ate ugali and rice.
We were also able to give the kids a very practical set: a T-shirt, soap, toothpaste, toilet paper. Maybe for us these are rather unromantic gifts, but for the guys it was a holiday. One boy at the end thanked me and said that his T-shirt was full of holes and there was no room to sew it up.
Now he is dressed beautifully for Christmas. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us bring joy to many children and share the Gospel.
