Introduction
My name is John. I grew up in a community
called Chikaji in Sabon Gari Zaria. Zaria is part of Kaduna State in Northern
Nigeria of West Africa. We came to Zaria in 1973 then I was in class three in
the primary School. We were a family of six but one of my sisters, comfort
died. We however with time grew to become a family of eight. It was made of
three boys and five girls.
The chikaji community was a mixture of Hausa Muslims
and Christians, although there were more Muslims that Christians. However we
all lived in peace. These books are real life stories of my childhood
experiences that are told in a fictituos form.
The stories that are told in these series are
meant to give someone a glimpse of how we lived in peace in those days.
They are particularly aimed at young minds in
order to encourage them to change the future. They are a cry for us to return
to the old peaceful days that existed in Northern Nigeria and Africa in
general. They are lessons for religious tolerance and co-existence particularly
between Muslims and Christians.
The introduction and chapter one of all the
books in the series are almost the same. There are only a few changes in order
to emphasize the story in each particular book.
This book in the series is a description of
how we celebrate Christmas. It however emphasizes how we co-exist as a community
that is mixed; One that was made of Christians and Muslims. It begins with our
early days in the Chikaji Community, then the preparation for Christmas, the
Christmas Eve, the Christmas day, the Boxing Day and the final chapter is a
look at Christmas in my teenage. This last chapter is important because it
describes some development that took place in the community. It shows how this
resulted in a negative impact on the peaceful co-existence of the Community.
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