Chris gets married-Kenyan style.

After planning for months to be well rested the night before Chris and Caroline's wedding, I ended up being dragged to Il Covo by the Irish hooligans across the road and not getting home til 4am. Dim memories of Winnie the Pooh hats and drunken charades on the beach keep resurfacing... Not the best start to an 8am wake up call for an all day wedding, but once I got up the excitement was enough to keep me going. We strutted our way to the gates (most of us wearing Muriel's dresses courtesy of Kongowea market) and were greeted by an endless line of boda bodas. We must have looked so bizarre whizzing through the village, Sex and the City meets Hells Angels.

 

The church service was incredible. Chris and his groomsmen (incuding a be-kilted and very nervous Craig) had to dance up the aisle to the whole congregation clapping and singing to African music. While we waited for the bride, the church choir performed songs and dances, including one kid in a football jersey and tie who mimed and danced like a professional. When Caroline arrived the groomsmen (all 7 of them) had to dance down the aisle one by one and dance back up with a bridesmaid on their arm. This took some time. 

When Caroline finally began to walk up the aisle, all the groomsmen started cheering and Chris was beaming. I got a bit teary as she smiled at him and walked over to her seat. After a lot more singing and the world's most hilarious Reverend (" We are here today to join these 2 in the state of holy..... (excrutiating pause, fumbling of notes)...marraige.") Caroline's parents took her hands and walked her over to Chris' seat to entrust her into his care. The vows were said and the rings exchanged under the reverend's careful instruction

. "Hold up her hand-no dont put the ring on yet! Hold up her hand and slide the ring on carefully-you know which finger? Good, good. You may now place the ring."

 

After the (4 hour!) service we trooped outside for the cake cutting ceremony,apparently a much more serious and official affair than in Western culture. While the band gently sang "Cut the cake, cut the cake" in Swahili, a church elder with a microphone invited Chris and Caroline to "Proceed systematically to the cake area." As they arrived, he helpfully announced "They have arrived at the cake area", and in case anyone was missing the enormity of the occasion, "They are now cutting the cake" as they began to-well-cut the cake.

At this point in the proceedings, a group of semi-clad, hugely muscled acrobats appeared, apparently accidentally inivited to do so by Chris' daughters the night before. As they were performing and the cake was being distributed (systematically of course) the cave kids showed up with a bag of fancy new uniforms and hopeful grins asking to perform THEIR acrobatics. Chris being the sweetheart he is, he gave them permission, and I beamed with pride as they calmly and confidently strutted out onto the stage in front of hundreds of people, along with Joseph Reuben who performed some spectacular flips and spent the rest of the afternoon ensuring his team were well fed and well behaved.

 

After the cake came the food, which I was more than ready for. The Olives kids performed a song and funky dance routine led by my class monitor Faith Joseph as harried caterers ran around trying to feed everyone. I managed to sneak a few plates for the Olives kids and cave kids, one kid sorrowfully explaining "Ramadan Madam" and stuffing chicken in his pocket for later. The speeches started around 4.30 as I finally sat down and began to doze off in exhaustion. Joseph Reuben kindly offered to walk myself and the other volunteers home, so we said our goodbyes to a still beaming Chris and Caroline and hugged the kids goodbye. I got home at 5, went to bed, and woke up at 8am this morning.

It was a beautiful day, 2 genuinely happy people sharing their day with an entire village of people full of love and hope for their future together. And all accomplished in a most systematic fashion. :)