This article was written on Christmas Day. If it is a little mushy then we can blame it on the Christmas spirit. I hope that you enjoyed your Christmas; that you had a ball. Like the rest of us you either made merry, shared with friends or even went the extra mile to share with the needy. I applaud gospel singer Aline Gahongayire and her colleagues (I believe they called their group Ndagukunda) who took their children along to spend time and share meals with less fortunate children. I enjoyed a quiet and more reflective Christmas this time around. This is partly because the year and particularly December has been very hectic. I started with a comfortable half marathon run that removed guilt and justified the feasting that was to follow. Thereafter, the men in the house (read my son and I) championed the cooking and meal preparation. My son generally gave moral support and disappeared every now and then. I thus bore almost all the burden of the task and made a few mistakes along the way. A few burnt fingers later (having forgotten and held a hot sufuria with bare hands) we proudly displayed the fruits of our labour. Everyone enjoyed the meal (that is what they all said). We now have a renewed respect for the ladies who champion that department successfully everyday; hats off to the mothers and nannies. My quiet approach to Christmas made it possible to observe the goings on around me and reflect on same. Whichever way you look at it, people are so nice during Christmas. We were and have always been so much nicer, more friendly, generous, polite and welcoming. We have more time for family and friends. In fact even rivals, political and otherwise establish ceasefire of sorts. Husbands, sons and fathers (my son and I are a good example) are more helpful around the house and all. The world is a better place. Which begs the question; why can’t we do so every day? Isn’t this what we pursue in life? After Christmas comes New Year’s Day-another big day. For me it is the first day of January and new challenges. In Africa, January is only great if you are a tourist from the colder parts of the globe. January represents hardship to a normal citizen in our parts. It seems like the longest month of the year. A friend claims that it has 45 days because of the fact that December paycheck comes early and then has to withstand hard knocks of Christmas and school fees before the next one. That leaves January a rather depressing month. Perhaps what is hilarious every January is the fact that many people go about making new year resolutions that they know that they mostly never going to keep. The Christmas spirit is the best way to go about the New Year. As Pope Francis put it in his Christmas address- urbi et orbi (to the city and to the world). Go back to the basics, faith, hope love and humility as opposed to materialism and hedonism that is our lot today. Simply put, just be nice, if not nicer than you were during Christmas. Avoid engaging in a rat race in the name of ‘hustling’. Develop your plans around these principles and you should be fine. Incidentally the spirit of Christmas has a Rwandan and African flavor; we call it ‘ubuntu’- humanity; sharing and coming together for family and community. As a great African, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere put it; development should have a human face. Have a prosperous 2016. Sam Kebongo is a management consultant and trainer in with a bias entrepreneurship and project management. Email: sam.kebongo@gmail.com.
