Home for the holidays" is more than just an expression to Foster Magombo.
It's a dream.
For the second successive year, the 37-year-old Lakeland College student from Malawi spent Christmas about 10,000 miles from his wife and two children, ages 10 and 7.
"They are missing me," said Magombo, an education major. "They want to be with me."
About one-third of the college's 600 students living on campus have spent at least part of the break at school. Classes dismissed on Dec. 14 and will not resume until Jan. 14.
The long days have been especially difficult to fill with activity for Magombo and other members of a significant Malawian population at Lakeland. They say the Christmas season is just as big in their homeland as it is in the United States, and that pulls at the heartstrings when they talk on the phone to family and friends.
"The biggest meal of the year is Christmas," said Zephaniah Grevuloh, 33, also majoring in education. "It's the biggest time of the year."
The men aren't complaining, however. The competition to study in the States was fierce, and they were among the winners. In time, they will go back to careers as teachers that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
"We were excited to come here," Grevuloh said. "The opportunity is rare. We simply brush the negatives out."
Most of the students from Malawi were able to spend holiday time with a host family, usually for Christmas dinner and church. Magombo had dinner with Ray and Carol Edwards of Waldo, and he has been working a part-time job in the Lakeland athletic department to keep from going bored.
Nancy Njumira, 35, an education major, has been working in housekeeping. She admits to feelings of loneliness in the middle of winter in the middle of a school year in the middle of a foreign land.
"It's not easy leaving your family," she said. "Christmas makes you think of home. It's a time when houses gather together in Malawi."
Magombo said he talks by phone with his family about three times a week. The time difference is eight hours, so he usually calls when it's noon or midnight here.
Lunch has been available on campus most days for the winter-break students. And the Muskie Mart, a small grocery that includes a grill, is open most evenings. A meal plan is available at a cost of $3.25 per meal.
Athletes for wrestling and men's and women's basketball also have been on campus over the break. Computer labs and the fitness center have remained open, and a shuttle service has been available for students needing to make a run into town.
Next Christmas, Magombo will trade Santa Claus for Father Christmas (as Santa is known in Malawi).
He'll be home for the holidays at last.
No comments:
Post a Comment