A Bugandan weekend

It was a very busy weekend for me here in Kampala! On Saturday I went to a traditional Buganda introduction ceremony with my host parents Ivan and Maureen and on Sunday we went to the Buganda expo and then I went to the Fourth of July party at the American Recreation Association (basically a country club for Americans/Europeans in Uganda). Sorry in advance for the terrible flow and grammar and in general bad writing to follow, im really tired but want to write this down before I forget!

So a little bit about the introduction ceremony before I tell you about my experience there: its basically the “cultural” wedding that takes place before the church ceremony- and it is extravagant! Sometimes the families spend so much money on it they have to wait another year or two before they can afford the church wedding. The ceremony is the official “introduction” of the groom and his family to the bride’s parents and her family. Generally, there are at least 150 people, but it can get up to 500 at the really big ones- so obviously more than just the families attend. The groom and his family offer a sort of dowry type thing as part of the ceremony, but its not monetary just a ton of actual gifts that they bring.
And now with a little background, my day:

We started early on Saturday in order to be all dressed and ready and over at the neighbors (whose son is the groom) by noon, and I learned a few more things about the average Ugandan before breakfast: nudity and weight sensitivity aren’t issues, and neither is white hair care. My host mom walked into my room out of the shower carrying our traditional outfits, and then said “I hope this one will fit you since your fatter than me.” Haha, interesting start to the day.

After that we got dressed, a tricky 20 minute process that is basically impossible to get 100% right- you have to do this complicated tying thing with a sash that’s really difficult. After we were dressed Maureen wanted to know how I was going to do my hair; since I don’t have a flat iron, curler or blow dryer here I said I figured I’d just wear it down. Maureen agreed that that was fine, but still thought we should have Phoena do a final touch-up to make sure our hair was perfect. After watching Phoena apply what looked like a large quantity of beeswax to Maureen’s hair with a pick, it was my turn. An awkward 5 minutes later I had sort of explained that muzungu hair “just doesn’t do that” and was on my way to the neighbors.

The groom’s friends and family were assembling next door, and we joined the fray of ladies in a room primping themselves. An “old lady” (Maureen said it, not me) who was better with the traditional dress than Maureen redid my sash for me so I felt like part of the gang. It was in this crowded, hot and obviously un airconditioned room (everything is un AC ed here) that I almost passed out for the first time that day. I have no idea why an equatorial African country would make their traditional dress so hot- but let me tell you I must have sweated off 5 lbs Saturday. And the men don’t have it much better, they wear a long white dress-like thing (think priest’s robe) with suit pants under and a suit jacket over!

After about an hour at the groom’s all the guests were assembled and the gifts were loaded into trucks, and off we went to the venue. Once we got there all the groom’s guests lined up outside according to gender and we processed in, sat down (outside) and listened to a three hour ceremony in Luganda. Presiding were two MC type guys, one representing each family, who went back and forth with a sort of stylized dialogue. Intermittently groups of important people from the families processed up to the front of the audience in a conga-line and danced a little (the old ladies were really funny) and then knelt and were introduced by the MCs. Since there were about 70 such people to introduce, this took a while. At about 4pm the introductions were finally over and the groom’s side stood up and processed out. BUT it wasn’t over yet, we were simply walking back to the trucks to carry in all the gifts.

The first things to go in were the traditional baskets (really pretty) filled with perishables (sugar etc.). These were carried in by the women…on our heads. Yes, I made several trips up and down a hill, wearing a traditional Ugandan dress, with a woven basket on my head. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that we had to dance back into the venue in a line and then kneel in front of all the guests until the MC took the baskets off our heads and added them to the gift pile. I was relatively sure that I was going to trip in front of 300 people and pass out from embarrassment and heat stroke, but I made it through alive, with a one-handed death grip on my basket the whole time.

Of course, there were more gifts than just the baskets, but luckily the men did most of the heavy lifting. A few of the notable gifts: around 200 kgs of rice and sugar, at least 10 crates of beer and soda, a live goat on a rope, five live chickens in a basket, the hindquarters of a cow (hoof still attached), a car battery, and some luggage. Um, generous? I guess that must have fulfilled the bride’s registry though, because her family kept doing that undulating yell thing everytime we added a gift to the pile.

Phew, after all that gift delivering we got to sit back down and listen to another hour of Luganda. Yay! This part was pretty cute though, the bride and groom were supposed to “meet each other,” but in order to do that the mother of the bride has to find the groom (who is hiding in the crowd). After some funny hide-and-seek antics, the bride and groom had a nice little “aww” moment and then more Luganda. But then we got to eat!! Hallelujah!

It was a delicious meal, I wish I could have taken a picture, but I thought it might have been a bit odd to be snap a close-up of my chicken and bananas at a wedding banquet. Oh, and did I mention that they cut the wedding cake before the meal?

The bride and groom cut the first piece, and then the bride’s sister’s were in charge of doling it out. Instead of full pieces for everyone, they cut the cake up into inch sections and put them on big plates to be carried around and offered to the crowd. It’s funny how even the most familiar traditions are completely changes in other cultures.

After everyone was finished eating there was one more hour to stay awake through and then we got to process out, thank the receiving line and leave! Pysch! Actually our car and several others had to wait another half hour because the truck we were parked behind stalled. But we finally made it home at about 8:30 and were very very tired.

The next day Ivan and Maureen got up to go to 8am mass, which I got out of because I’m Catholic and they’re Anglican. Actually, I think they thought it would be rude to ask if I wanted to go (as in they didn’t want me to feel like they were trying to convert me) but I’ll probably ask to go along one weekend just for the experience!

When they got back we headed to the Buganda Cultural Exhibition on Buganda kingdom land up on a pretty hill in Kampala. It was really a million dollar view, I’ll post some pictures soon! This was basically like a big craft fair/BBQ/festival with lots of booths and lots of people. The only thing I didn’t like were the dozens of herbal remedy booths that were doing pretty steady business. The proprietors promised cures for ailments ranging from malaria to dry skin, and everything in between. Now there’s nothing wrong with a nice herbal tea when you have a cold- but selling crushed up seeds to cure diabetes, and what looks like sugar water for cavities? That part of the Exhibition made me want to scream; all these people living on very little income were essentially throwing their money in the trash, and in addition would now probably put off seeking real treatment for their ailments. This was one of those experiences that will make me answer the question “So how was it?!” with “Well… it was Africa.”

Really though, in a country where insulin is almost impossible to get, brushing your teeth with the water makes you sick, and the main diet is starch, I guess I’d try herbal remedies too. Moral of the story: it’s easy to get frustrated with the “ignorance” here, but you have to stop and think about the reality of life in a third world country before you go on a Westerner freak out.

So that’s my sermon for today, hope it wasn’t too boring and/or grammatically appalling!

Much love,
a very dehydrated Kaitlyn

PS here's the link to a few pictures of Uganda so far.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048612&id=1322040101&l=fe61832567
I promise there will be more at some point, but my internet isn't very good so it's hit or miss whether I can upload them or not any given day!

PPS I think my next post will be on the wonders of Ugandan entertainment media- get excited!