All I want this Christmas is to erase the Covid-19 ones

If Covid-19 did not disrupt your 2020, 2021 and to a certain extent 2022 Christmas plans, perhaps you should not read this.

But if it ruined your celebrations like it did mine, you must have asked Santa for a “normal” Christmas this year and I really hope you get to celebrate the holidays the way we Ugandans love to and have done for years. Family, friends, food, booze and church, of course, all of which were put on hold during the pandemic and long after.

If anyone had told me at the start of 2020 that I would not be able to spend time with my family during the festive season, I would have thought they were out of their mind. Yet, there I was, broke, lonely and panicked at the prospect of contracting the deadly coronavirus or worse, losing a loved one to Covid-19, which eventually happened when I lost an uncle, a cousin and three friends whose funerals I could not even attend.

My sister’s partner almost lost the battle to Covid-19 and is yet to recover fully all these years later. I suffered two serious bouts of flu close to Christmas that I was convinced were Covid-19 attacks. Before that, my nephews and nieces had been down too and I think that was the most stressful time of our lives – and we have had some trying moments over the years.

I don’t recall a time I was not with all my family, which would be parents, siblings, nieces and nephews over Christmas; and I know it was the same for many families. Our celebrations have never been grand by any measure, but we have always been content in each other’s company.

Over the years when we happened to have a little extra cash, we took the children to the beach, zoo, museum and such. Great memories for them but for my family, Christmas really is about food and church; so, when in 2020 we could not afford to have the delicacies we usually had, not even a kilo of meat, we were distressed.

Two siblings of mine and I had moved back in with the parents months into the pandemic after we lost our jobs. For the better part
of that year and the next, we had survived on the kindness of our community.

My mother has a small garden but it had dried up, given the more than usual number of people at home. Five of my nieces and nephews were stuck with us and I will never forget the disappointed looks on their faces when they heard the terrible news that not only were we likely to scrape for lunch on Christmas day, but that their mothers would not be joining us for the big day.

Most of my family are Catholic but as many of you recall, mass, Christmas carols, productions and related festive events were out of the question. That is when it really hit us that our lives would never be the same again and they really are not, because even in 2021 when curfew and travel restrictions were eased, my other siblings still could not join us for Christmas.

Their children had not seen them in more than 18 months but we decided that rather than ‘waste’ the money on transport fare, they were better off wiring it via mobile money. The children, who had been hoping to finally see their parents were not too happy about that but we at least had something to eat this time.

We opted to skip church, mainly because none of us had any decent outfits. The two-year growth sprout meant the children had outgrown their clothes and shoes, and that was something many parents and caretakers had to grapple with.

We settled for the streamed service as we had during lockdown and a neighbour surprised us with a Christmas hamper that had everything from spices to rice, and even chicken!

That truly was our Christmas miracle that year. It felt like the festive season again. Come 2022 and it was not so bad, to be honest. Even though we were still unemployed, part-time work here and there got us through. We had started a small poultry project during the second lockdown and were reaping the benefits.

In fact, we won’t be buying chicken this Christmas; so, things are indeed looking up. If anything keeps us locked in this time, it won’t be some pandemic. Perhaps the weather, seeing as rivers are bursting their banks and roads are being cut off with all this rain.

I feel for those who can’t travel to be with friends or family. Other than that, life is pretty much back to normal. We plan to enjoy the carols, attend service on Christmas day and have one big feast.

May your Christmas be better than the last three too!

ngabisar@gmail.com