What happens when Christmas finds you far from home, wrapped in winter and silence instead of sunshine and song? Many Kenyans abroad who do not have family near them feel the weight of distance most during this season.
Loneliness often visits first, but they gently give it light. They keep the season glowing through memory, food, friendship and the small rituals that make distance softer.
For some, like Teresia Muiruri in London, the season becomes a blend of cold evenings and warm memories. Her story shows how one person turns the shock of winter into a canvas of light and culture.
The 27-year-old, is a data governance manager living in London, the holiday season brings both joy and deep memories of Kenya.
She moved to the United Kingdom in 2022. She had started her career in Kenya in 2019 and spent a lot of time on professional platforms.
“I was very active on LinkedIn. I saw people from many different backgrounds moving to different countries. I believed if it was possible for them, then it was possible for me too.”
With support from her employer, the visa process was smooth. But nothing prepared her for the biggest surprise of life in London, the weather.
She laughs as she remembered her first days: “At first I said the weather is nice. Then the cold hit me. I had never felt such cold in my life.” She also found the change in seasons shocking. “In summer, the sun sets at around 10pm. In winter, it sets at around 3pm or 4pm. That was a surprise for me.”
Still, London felt welcoming. “It is a multi-cultural city,” she says. “Every country is represented. I did not feel like an outsider.” Over the years, Teresia has explored many cities in and out of the UK. She loves trying different foods. She also enjoys how easy it is to travel around Europe with a single visa.
“I have travelled a lot,” she says proudly.
But Christmas in London is different from Christmas in Kenya. The holiday season is the peak of winter. Sometimes it snows. Many people travel back to their home countries, leaving the city quiet.
Teresia Muiruri, 27, is a data governance manager living in London, United Kingdom, has been abroad for two years since moving in 2022.
Photo credit: Pool
“Christmas can feel lonely,” she says. “Back home we visit family, we travel, we cook together. Here it is cold and many shops close. Even public transport stops on Christmas day.”
Still, she finds beauty in the season. “Buildings are decorated with many lights. Because it gets dark early, the lights look very beautiful.” She also enjoys Winter Wonderland, a large festive park that opens every year.
To feel close to Kenya, Teresia cooks familiar meals.
“I make nyama choma in the oven. I make kachumbari. I even make ugali because the maize flour is there,” she says. She also keeps Kenyan spices and prepares pilau. She even enjoys simple pleasures like avocados that remind her of home.
Staying connected to family is important to her. “I do video calls all the time. I call my nieces and nephews when I visit a place. I send many photos. I never feel fully away from them.”
Community has also been a big part of her life abroad. She attends many Kenyan events in the United Kingdom.
“Community grounds me,” she says. “When you talk to people who understand your challenges, it helps you balance life.”
This year, she plans to do something new. “I think I will host a few friends for the first time,” she says. “Not only Kenyans. Anyone who will be around.”
She has also adopted one local tradition, drinking mulled wine: “It is hot wine with spices. It is sold in Christmas markets. I always look forward to it.”
But some memories remain firmly Kenyan.
“When I was growing up, we watched Home Alone during Christmas,” she says with a smile. “That memory stays with me.”
If she ever returned home for Christmas, she knows exactly what she would do. “I would go to a nyama choma joint and take a road trip,” she says. “Maybe to the mountains, the savannah, the desert or the Mara. Just somewhere open and beautiful.”
Another Kenyan, thousands of kilometres away prepares his own Christmas path. Felix Ayiera in Edmonton carries a different kind of winter, one that demands community to survive. His experience shows how new places can honour old traditions.
When Christmas comes this year, Felix will not be in Kenya. He will be in Edmonton, a cold Canadian city where winter drops to negative 20 and even negative 30. It will be his first Christmas in Canada, yet he is already planning how to keep the warm spirit of home alive.
Felix is 31 years old. He moved to Canada in May for his Doctor of Philosophy studies in food science and technology. His main focus is food microbiology. “I came all the way to Canada from Budapest for studies,” he says. “ I have been here for seven months.”
Even though he is new in Canada, Christmas will not find him alone. Felix has discovered that Kenyans abroad hold tightly to community. Two Kenyan groups are preparing celebrations. One is the Kenyan Ramogi Community in Canada.
“They are planning a Christmas for all the Luo people,” he says. “I saw it in the WhatsApp group. The organisers want to make sure the event is successful.”
Felix Odhiambo Ayiera, 31, is PhD student in food science and technology specialising in food microbiology at the University of Alberta. His journey began with financial struggles in Nairobi and grew into a life of scholarships, discovery, and global impact.
Photo credit: Pool
The second gathering will be organised by the United Kenyan Association of Alberta. This group brings together Kenyans from Calgary and Edmonton.
“People will come here in Edmonton. We will have Christmas together,” Felix explains. He smiles as he lists the foods that always appear on the table.
“There will be pilau. There will be roasted meat. There will be chapati, ugali, fish and many other things.”
Christmas in Canada looks very different from Christmas in Kenya. The cold pushes most people indoors. Many celebrations happen in schools, student associations or community halls. Felix himself serves as a graduate student representative in the International Student Association. “We organise Christmas for all international students,” he says.
Still, even with all the food and company, the feeling of home is hard to replace. Felix remembers Christmas in Kenya with deep affection. “Home is the best,” he says softly. He remembers his large family gathering in the countryside. “My uncles and aunties would come. We would all meet together. Those are the things I miss.”
If he could teleport to Kenya for just one day, he knows exactly what he would do first.
“I will go straight to get roasted maize,” he says with excitement. “I miss roasted maize. I miss smocha. I miss sausage and mutura. Those things, I will never get them here.”
He would then travel to Migori to see his grandmother and cousins. After that he would look for more Kenyan meals.
Music also brings him memories of home. Felix listens to Luo music, benga, rhumba and songs from Kenyan groups. He remembers watching news on television with his family. He remembers how, as a child, he waited to wear new clothes for Christmas Day.
“When we were kids, Christmas was Christmas,” he says. “My aunt from the United States brought clothes for us. We only wore them on the 25th.”
Even far from Kenya, Felix tries to keep the culture alive. He enjoys teaching friends about Kenyan food.
“When friends visit, we tell them the names of the food and how they are made,” he says.
He and other Kenyans also introduce their partners to Kenyan cooking. They roll chapati, fry mandazi and make pilau as they would, back home.
Back in Hungary, where Felix lived before, he was known for bringing people together. He organised annual Christmas gatherings for Kenyans. He also helped new students from Kenya settle in.
“I was receiving Kenyans at the airport,” he says. Every October, he helped plan a large meeting for Kenyans from all over Hungary. They ate, danced, carried their flags and played Kenyan music late into the night.
Distance, however, comes with challenges. It changes friendships and communication.
“When it is daytime in Kenya, it is night here,” he explains. “So communication is limited.” He learned that he must create new friendships in every new country. “When I came here, I had no one. I had to make new friends.”
Some people find Christmas abroad lonely, especially with the cold and long indoor days. But Felix has been lucky.
“Christmas abroad has never been lonely for me,” he says. “I have always been hosting.” Still, he admits that Christmas at home with family would feel much better.
Food remains one of his strongest links to Kenya. Chapati is his favourite. “I can eat chapati with stew or tea. I can eat it every day,” he says.
He also enjoys traditional porridge made from flour that his friend brought from Kenya. African stores in Canada help him feel closer to home because they sell ingredients from East Africa.
This year, he hoped to travel to Kenya for Christmas, but his leave request was not approved. So he will stay in Edmonton.
He will rely on phone calls and video chats to connect with family and friends, even if the 10-hour time difference is not easy.
As the holiday season approaches, Felix prepares for yet another celebration abroad. It will be full of Kenyan food, Kenyan music and Kenyan laughter. It will be far from home, yet filled with a sense of belonging.
“I try my best to keep the Kenyan Christmas spirit alive,” he says.
While Felix fights the deep Canadian freeze with food and fellowship, Joseph Ochieng welcomes Christmas in Budapest with a quieter rhythm.
His journey reveals how culture, language and friendship weave a home where snow falls but warmth remains.
He feels both the warmth of celebration and the quiet pull of home. Joseph is a 34 year old Kenyan student living in Hungary. He is in his final year of a PhD in linguistics at Eötvös Loránd University.
Joseph Ochieng, 34, a Kenyan PhD student in linguistics at Eötvös Loránd University, has lived in Budapest, Hungary.
Photo credit: Pool
Joseph first travelled to Hungary in September 2021, during the height of the Covid pandemic. “It was not easy to travel because there were many restrictions in Europe,” he says. But he came anyway, ready to begin a long academic journey far from Kenya.
Since then, he has never travelled home for Christmas. His study programme gives only a short holiday in December and travel is expensive.
“We break around 2oth and resume school on January 2 . The tickets are too expensive in December. So I usually travel home in the summer when we have three months break,” he explains.
Christmas in Budapest looks different from what he knew growing up in Kenya. The city lights up very early. Streets glow with decorations. Malls shine with Christmas trees.
“Here Christmas is more bright, more colour and more funfair,” Joseph says. But the weather is cold, many places are closed and the streets become quiet. This is unlike Kenya where beaches, malls and parks stay open and warm air fills the celebrations.
To feel closer to home, he joins a community of Kenyans and other Africans in Budapest. They cook together. They celebrate together. They try to recreate the familiar joy of a Kenyan Christmas.
“We make chapatis, pilau, nyamachoma and chicken,” he says. Some friends bring special spices from home. The group gathers at the home of one of them, cooks together and shares the meal and the stories of the year.
They talk about challenges they face abroad. They share opportunities. They laugh and they dance. It is a warm space in a cold season. Even while celebrating abroad, Joseph keeps his ties with family and friends in Kenya strong. “We talk every day,” he says. During Christmas, they video call, show each other the meals they have made and exchange messages and gifts.
Still, Christmas abroad sometimes feels lonely. “It does feel different,” Joseph says. That is why the Kenyan community gathers every year.
Asked what he would do if he could teleport to Kenya for just one day on Christmas, Joseph does not hesitate.
“I would go for mass in the morning, then go home to eat and later go to a social spot. I would do exactly what I have always done,” he says with a smile.
