The Mukanoheri Family Christmas

Transcription

1 The Mukanoheri Family Christmas The Mukanoheri family are a family that Send a Cow are working with in Rwanda. Send a Cow work with families and communities across Africa, giving them the hope, means and future to bring themselves out of poverty for good. Patrice is 37 years old and lives with her husband Boniface. They have four children, two sons Eugene and Patrick and two daughters Olive and Bonifride. They have always lived in the area, and grow coffee for a living. However, the soil on their farm is poor and they constantly struggle to make ends meet. The family have no manure or fertilisers to put on the land and replenish the soil. Money is very hard to come by, and they are barely growing enough food to eat. While the children are at school it is very hard to pay school fees. Sometimes the family eat two daily meals, but most of the time they eat only once a day. What s a normal day like for Patrice and Boniface? 6am Time to wake up and start working on the farm Midday Time to come back from fields to prepare lunch (if there is enough food) and a little rest. 2pm Time to go back to the fields. One parent stays to work at home. Jobs in field include mulching banana and coffee plantations. Jobs at home include looking after the children and preparing the evening meal. 6pm Everyone is home for dinner. The children will help out and do their homework. 8pm Time for bed. What is Christmas Like for the Mukanoheri Family?

2 Activity 1: Before you learn about the Mukanoheri s Christmas, answer and consider the following questions, write your answers underneath the questions: 1. If your family celebrates Christmas, how do you do it? 2. Even if you don t celebrate Christmas, what do you look forward to most during the festive period? 3. Do your community or neighbours celebrate Christmas? If so, how do they do it? 4. What is the most important thing about Christmas for you? 5. Why is Christmas important to some families?

3 Activity 2: Now read how the Mukanoheri Family spends Christmas. 1. How does your family celebrate Christmas? When it is possible we like to buy meat on Christmas day usually beef or goat. We go to church and pray and sing. Theogenes favourite Christmas song is The Birth of Jesus. 2. What do you look forward to most at Christmas? For me (Patrice) it is three things; celebrating the birth of Jesus and celebrating the end of the year because Christmas is close to New Year s (New Years is a big occasion here, probably a bit bigger than Christmas actually), I was also born on Christmas day so that is another good reason to get excited. Even if we can t afford to do anything special, it is still my birthday and that is exciting. For Olive the best thing is the prospect of a good meal and Theogene likes the special day at church. 3. Does your community and or/neighbours celebrate Christmas? Most of the community is Christian and so they gather in the local church. Often groups of people from the church will cook and eat together, although we don t know if we will do that this year though we will see what she will be able to contribute nearer the time. There are no special events/preparations in school for the run up to Christmas. 4. How important is Christmas to you and your family? It is very important as a big Christian event but also important because it is Patrice s birthday. 5. Do you give presents at Christmas? To date there has been no money for presents, what money we do have always goes on food. Meat is a luxury and this is prioritised but this is not always affordable either. If we had more money they think it would be nice to have presents. Olive said if she could get a gift she would really like new clothes and Theogene would like a cow!

4 6. What are you most thankful for this Christmas? We are thankful for God s protection. 7. What is the best gift you have ever received? Olive received some clothes from her aunt once that she loves and wears on special occasions and in the past Patrice has received some beautiful Kitenge (local printed fabrics) from her sister. Activity 3: Write down any similarities and differences you found in the story. Similarities Differences

5 Activity 4: Now you have learnt about the Mukanoheris Christmas: 1) Explain what you think is the most important thing to the Mukanheris family at Christmas 2) Go back to your answers from Activity 1 and see if they have changed as a result of reading about how the Mukanoheris family will be spending their Christmas. Write down what has changed and why.