End of July

On Saturday night the whole Twiga family was invited to a wedding-African style. In Tanzania, this is a really big deal and taken very seriously. It took a committee of 30 to organize. By the way apparently this year is a pink year so decorations, dresses and supposedly the guests attire is also supposed to be pink and black. The first thing to arrive is the "invite to contribute" which is an invitation to contribute to the wedding expenses. Once this is returned, the invitation arrives shortly afterwards. Then the next few weeks are engaged in planning the wedding attire, hairstyle (very important), gift etc. Well as you can all guess, this part just passed me by.

So the night arrived with all dressed to the nines and off we went. We arrived and walked into the hall. Actually it was a lot like walking into a beauty pageant. The stage at the front of the building was decorated with pink and white paper, streamers, balloons and flashing Christmas type lights. White banners also strung with flashing lights were suspended from the ceiling and roses everywhere. I should mention that we didn't actually go to the wedding itself which is apparently 4 hours at church followed by a jaunt around town preceded by a brass band in a pickup truck which brings the bride and groom to the reception quite exhausted.

The 300 or so guests started to trickle in and the the wedding party started to arrive in groups starting with the little kids followed about 10 minutes later by the bridesmaid's and groomsmen and after about another 10 minutes or so the bride and groom to great fanfare and again preceded by the brass band. All of the family members were introduced personally from mother and father etc through aunts, uncles and cousins and then they all got up and danced together to the sounds of a brass band. I don't remember the exact sequence of events but a lot of music and clapping; the bride and groom alternating from being up on the stage to back down on the dance floor. At some point the cake was cut and the bride fed the groom and the groom fed the bride. However it didn't stop there. The bridesmaids fed the groomsmen and vice versa. Then a layer of the cake was presented to each of the families followed by the bride feeding the grooms family and the groom feeding the brides.

We are now about 3 hours into the ceremony and lo and behold out comes the roasted goat intact with head and tail. Then follows the same sequence as for the cake. During this whole time the committee members are acting as bar tenders. Unbelievable service. As soon as your drink was finished, it was replenished by another. Water, beer, wine, bottles of gin and whiskey; all were freely available. At some point we ate a traditional buffet style Tanzanian meal and then the brass band came out onto the dance floor. The leader managed to shimmy around with a champagne bottle on his head whilst playing the trumpet. Quite the feat. This heralded the dancing for the night.

There is one thing that you need to know about going out onto a dance floor at a Tanzanian wedding after several hours of heavy alcohol consumption and that is to BEWARE. Frank, a 50 year old English guy was a hit of the night with the guys. I don't think think that he has ever had so many hands, male or female on him at any one time before. Emily also English but 20 years old had one glued to the front and one to the rear. Luckily for me, I was constantly saved by a series of women of varying ages that would steer me to the edges of the fray. Africans relish in the female form and particularly the rear end. Dresses accentuate it and boy can they move it.

A highlight of the night was when Emily on a visit to the toilet was attacked by a rat and came out screaming only to be told by the other women "it is only a rat." I feel so privileged and fortunate to have been invited to share in this fabulous evening. Everyone was welcoming in typical Tanzanian style to the only westerners. We were called to dance our present up to the bride and groom and at the end of the evening a song was dedicated to us. And the best part is that we will have the opportunity to do it all again in a couple of weeks when the brother of the owner of Twiga home will be married. Its a blessed life.