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| Me and Nancy |
On Saturday, I got the chance to experience a real traditional Kenyan wedding which was amazing! We were invited by Nancy, AfCiC’s administrator and bookkeeper, I work really closely with her in the office. It was Nancy’s brother that was getting married. The wedding format is similar to the UK, you have the church ceremony, the reception and the evening party but with a lot more singing and dancing!
In true Kenyan style we arrive late and unfortunately missed the church ceremony, so we waited at the church for the busses to take us to the reception. Now, imagine London Underground on a busy rush hour morning and you are trying to board the tube, but in this situation instead off a tube it’s a minibus, half the length of one carriage and about two thirds of the height, with a small door….this was my reality. Take a look at the picture below….these guest took no prisoners, it was definitely survival of the fittest!
It was only until I got to the reception that I fully understood why there was such a mad rush to try and get on the busses. The queue for the food was extremely long, luckily we saw couple of other AfCIC workers in the line and we pushed in….if looks could kill!
After the food the bride and groom arrived, it is tradition that when they arrive the guests run to greet them, singing and dancing…every able bodied person gets involved and they all dance around the venue in a line, with the bride and groom leading the procession. Even I got down with some moves, albeit with a 5 second delay to the other guests; this was only because the MC was talking in Swahili might I add, not for my lack of rhythm! So when he was saying “move to the left” by the time I clocked on, they were already moving to the right! I soon got the hang, but it was a close call, could have blown my cover as a Brit posing as a Kenyan!
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| Flower girls and other guests dancing |
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| Learning the moves! |
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