Christmas Greetings

It is nearly Christmas. Schools and universities have finished the school year and have been closed since the end of November. Families are preparing to leave town for summer holidays and visits to relatives. Even the poor manage to find a way to travel back to family compounds. It is becoming hotter and hotter in most places in South Africa. Therefore, the destination of choice of those with means is the beach, preferably Capetown or Durban. I see small artificial Christmas tree decorations in some stores, some advertising on TV, but not the commercialism of home….yet. There will Christmas lights twinkling from 3 or 4 residences in town if you look for it. The little town in which I live is becoming a ghost town. Businesses close for a period of one week to six weeks during this time. My NGO will be closed from December 14th to January 14, 2008. The drop-in centre is closed until school reopens.
I am beginning to feel the pangs of homesickness once more. Over the past year and one-half, intense longings for people, places, food and familiarity of America seem to haunt me. It comes in cycles when I least expect it. I become lonely and melancholy. What amazes me is that the homesickness is not a result of unhappiness with my life here. I am very happy here. I live with a South African family that have taken me into their hearts and home and go out of their way to make me feel comfortable and loved. I have settled into a fulltime work project, the drop-in centre that is rewarding and important. And, lastly, I have moved to a different office location for work, eliminating the hostile environment that I worked under before. So, I live with the contradiction of enjoying my life here but wanting to be at home at the same time. It is a constant tension I live with.
I do have some great things to look forward to this holiday season. First, a friend and I will visit Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Then I will return home for a traditional Afrikaans Christmas with my South African family. The day after Christmas, I will meet my sister and brother and their spouses at the airport to begin a two week tour of South Africa. My son, Alan, will join us midway into the trip…… I have so much to be thankful for.
As I may have mentioned before, I have learned a lot about myself in the Peace Corps experience. That I thought I was an eternal vagabond adventurer, able to take off indefinitely to the far corners of the earth….is not true. I am much more of a homebody than I thought before I left the United States. Therein is the sacrifice I have made. It is being away from loved ones and places that are familiar, comfortable and predictable….where communication is not a hurdle every day and I get the jokes and I can letdown. That word home….is very special when you are far away from it and especially at Christmastime.