There’s no place like home for the holidays, but when “home” is in another country, visiting is not always realistic.
James Waweru came to the United States from Nairobi, Kenya, six years ago. He has lived in Greenwood for about six months and works as the IT hardware and help desk supervisor at Viking Range Corp.
Waweru is spending this Christmas in Memphis with his sister. He said he visits her for most holidays and is lucky to have a relative so close by.
“It’s really a blessing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have really done anything,” he said.
Though his mother and father have come to Mississippi to visit him a couple of times, Waweru has not been back to Africa since he moved to the United States.
He said the holidays here are a bit different than in Kenya.
“Back home Christmas is sunny. It’s summer over there,” Waweru said.
Waweru said families rarely exchange gifts at Christmas in Nairobi, but they still share a meal and spend time together. His family used to gather at his grandfather’s house for the day.
Though he and his sister still prepare a meal to celebrate the holiday in Memphis, the menu is not quite the same.
“Here we have turkey; back home we had goat. So there’s a few differences,” Waweru said with a laugh.
George Vasquez also will spend Christmas far from his native land — El Salvador.
Vasquez helps run Veronica’s Bakery-The Blue Parrot with the rest of his family, Steve, Regina, Martha and Veronica LaVere. He and his wife, Wendy, a native of Honduras, have lived in Greenwood for about five years, though he also lived in California for much of his life.
He said Christmas celebrations are much more reserved in the United States than in El Salvador. In Latin America, fireworks are seen and heard often between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Whole neighborhoods will go outside at midnight to shoot off fireworks off and celebrate together, he said.
“There’s supposed to be regulations, but we break them all the time,” he said.
Another difference Vasquez noted was that in El Salvador families open presents — usually practical gifts instead of toys — and enjoy food and music on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.
“The 24th is really our Christmas Day,” he said.
Like American Southerners, people in his home country stress the religious aspect of the holiday. Because the Catholic religion is so widespread in Latin America, there is a heavy focus on celebrating Christ’s birth.
Vasquez and his family will spend Christmas here in Greenwood, but they will leave Sunday to go to El Salvador for New Year’s and visit for a couple of weeks.
Though he said he is lucky to have his immediate family here with him, they still have many relatives back in El Salvador and in California. Though they won’t get to see them for Christmas, Vasquez said they would definitely phone them tonight.
“Wherever it is, you try to make the best out of it,” Vasquez said.
