Once upon a time, there was a an Employee of MASAKI Bank named Nero. Every December, Nero drove six hundred kilometres out of the City on 20th December to visit his parents in Kabale. While there he visited all relatives dishing out money and gifts. For two weeks he would metamorph into a “Mayor of the Village”. Come January of the next year Nero would get by on the bare minimum; cutting expenses while waiting for the January Salary to top up fees and pay rent.

But in 2022, something unthinkable happened. He went to the village just like any other year and dished out money. Just before New Year’s day he got an email notifying him that his contract for 2023 would not be renewed. Feeling like he had been kicked in the stomach started experiencing anxiety. All over sudden there was no January salary to make top ups on rent and school fees. “What does one do in such a situation”, he thought to himself. “If I borrow money to make top ups how do I even clear the debt?”, he continued to think to himself in search for a solution. No one hires employees between Christmas and New year so Nero was guaranteed to start 2023 jobless. After a lot of soul searching he was getting nowhere.

Until finally he realised it wasn’t losing the job that was the problem but his bad Janu-worry mentality had been exposed by circumstances beyond his control. Poverty is a state of mind which starts with having low expectations of oneself. Rich people make lots of money during this Christmas period while poor people spend money they don’t have to keep up appearances. Christmas is a holi-day not a holi-month.

While it looks like the same old Christmas, it is important for you to exercise wisdom in the way to spend this time. Use it to rejuvenate your self but don’t kill yourself while at it.. It’s the same old Christmas!