One Year Away

Penny

While volunteering at the El-Shadai home, we have had the opportunity to attend a Ugandan wedding. 

On Saturday, we made  our way to Kampala for one of Stephen’s (the director of the home) friend’s wedding.  As usual, we arrived on African time which means that we were over 2 hours late.  Thankfully, the couple was also on African time and the ceremony started over 1 hour later than  planned.  We were able to attend the last 20 minutes of the wedding which was held in a nice church.  The ceremony was done in the local language, Lusoga.  The ceremony was lovely and filled with songs from the two choirs.  Once the ceremony was over and the paper work complete, the couple held up their wedding certificate for all to see.  The crowd broke out into loud cheers and the couple made their way down the aisle and out the church in a small dance-like step while waving white hankies.

The reception was held at the Hidden Treasure Conference Center.  It was truly hidden as it took us a while to find it.  The center was an outdoor venue with a head table setup and lots of garden chairs set up around it.  After the couple was introduced, the cake was cut and toasts were made with orange Fanta.   I will admit that there was one noticeable difference between the Ugandan wedding and weddings back home is the lack of alcohol in Ugandan weddings.  Sprite and Fanta replace cheap champagne and wine!

Next, we had the speeches.  There are lots in Ugandan weddings.  Interestingly, the first two speeches were given by the couples employers.  Gladys’ (the bride) boss made sure to mention how “we have had no complaints” about her work.  This is one phrase where using a positive would have been preferable!

The food was served buffet style and was typical Ugandan.  There was a Matoke (banana) mash with  beans, potatoes, a little meat and chapati.  The meal was eaten with your hands and once you were done people would come take your plate and give you some water to wash up.

Finally, the time had come to give the couple its gifts.  People made a line and danced up to the couple offering them gifts.  The gifts were often of plastic buckets or tea cups.  We gave the couple a Thermos for hot water – it comes in handy here!  From what we could gather, a gift for a wedding usually costs about $10-15!

The gift giving was at the end of the night.  At about 9PM, we said goodbye to the couple and were headed back home.  The drive was even more eventful than the wedding.  With the car breaking down multiple times and having the boys (including Joe) push to start it up again.  At almost midnight, we were finally home and grateful to Stephen to have given us the opportunity to attend a Ugandan wedding.

My overall impression is that weddings in Uganda are very similar to our own; church, cake cutting speeches, presents and “goodbye, thank you for coming”!