It was one of the best days EVER.
Where else to begin but at the beginning?
Despite a distinctly dodgy night's sleep I still hauled myself out of bed at 6am and into an ice-cold shower, surviving the shivering and hypothermia only with the promise of strong, hot coffee and a peanut butter sandwich to come.
Said coffee and said sandwich were indeed guzzled as I threw things I might need into a duffle bag: make-up, shoes, a variety of mushanana-suitable tops and a roll of toilet paper (which you should never leave the house without).
Hooked a moto and arrived at St. Paul's for 8am. I was the first one there but when I arrived it was teaming with VSOs! All the Education lot had been staying there for a conference and were just leaving. It was cool to see them.
When the others arrived we set to work in the gardens out back, erecting marquees and blowing up balloons. As it was a rasta wedding the decorations were all in red, green and yellow. Took a good couple of hours to lay out the chairs and everything, then the mushananas arrived. Sadly, they weren't in rasta colours as first suggested, but they were pretty cool anyway: brown zebra print with white vest tops, well mine and Cathryn's were - matching :)
So, we put them in our bags and headed back to Kirsti's house in Gishusha (near Kisimenti, my old house) where Cathryn's currently living. We went via Ndoli's to pick up bread and juice for breakfast. Irene, another friend, was also there, so we made fresh coffee and tucked into marmite and strawberry jam rolls.
Then I helped show Cathryn how to put on a mushanana and we did our hair and make-up before getting a taxi back to St. Paul's for twelve. Guests had already started to arrive and by twenty-to-one it was packed. There was a marquee on the left for Kassim's friends and family, one on the right for Lies' friends and family, the wedding tent and chairs on the lawn for everyone else. Cathryn and I had little rasta ribbon badges with 'Protocol' on and we were part of a team of about fifteen people serving drinks and showing guests to their seats. It was excellent fun.
My programme director, Amanda, was there with Isadora, which was great, and the girls from Lies' hen night. I wouldn't have made it through the day without Cathryn, though. We had such a good laugh.
Eventually the wedding party arrived and were escorted to the wedding tent by the Deaf Intore troop from Butare school: a column of Intore warriors with headdresses and spears on the left (groom's side) and a column of mushananad cow dancers on Lies' side. It was stunningly beautiful. Lies was dressed in an absolutely gorgeous dress made of green silk with orange trousers and trimming, and a matching headdress so that her dreads (which looked stunning even if I do say so myself) flowed out behind. Kassim had a lovely light-grey suite with matching orange shirt (and dreads) and they just looked so good.
Once the wedding party were seated the Intore began. The students from Butare really are phenomenal dancers. Lies works for Handicap International and was in the Disability team as a VSO a few years back, hence she knows the Deaf community (and some of my colleagues were there too). She had also invited children with learning disabilities from one of the centres she works at. They were so sweet and had a wonderful time when the music started - which I'll get to in a minute.
The day was a mixture of heavy showers and hot, hot sunshine - typical Rwandan weather - but it didn't stop the proceedings. Eventually food was served and Cathryn and I formed part of the 'production line'. She had two types of rice, and I had peas and chips to deal with. Another friend, Wendy, was on meat sauce and meat. There must have been a good couple of hundred guests easy, and we were kept busy scooping and serving.
After food came cake. But, oh my... One of the guys who works at the Belgian Consulate, his partner is a chocolatier who imports chocolate from Belgium and makes what can only be described as the most sublime cakes you'll ever see. He is one seriously talented man, and an extremely nice guy, and it was all we could do not to walk up and stick our faces in the cakes and rub them about a bit. There was even a little chocolate Kassim on top of the main cake, with a little marzipan Lies :op
After the food was served, Cathryn and I considered ourselves to be mostly off-duty and finally went to grab a beer and a well-earned sit down to watch Lies drumming. She's part of a drumming group and four of them had the big traditional Rwandan drums out and performed the most amazing piece.
Then the music turned to Rastafari and you can bet your life the one thing that won't be lacking at a Rastafarian wedding will be the music. Kassim kicked off with a Bob Marley classic, then Patrick (Isadora's other half), Ngabo and Keyaga - the crowd went wild. It was like being in the middle of a music festival. Cathryn and I did not stop dancing the entire afternoon: dancing with each other, with Amanda, with Isadora, with Brittany, with Steve, with the kids from the disability centre. We absolutely danced until we dropped. Praise be the gods of reggae. It was supposed to finish at 4:30pm but it was about six by the time we finally left, and would have gone on the entire night had they kept singing. The Rasta community in Rwanda are one seriously, seriously talented bunch.
I walked up the hill with Amanda, Isadora and Cathryn, who were going to take a taxi as they were all going in the same direction. At the top of the hill was a moto. FRW 3,000 for a taxi or FRW 700 for a moto - the moto won, but it was the most hilarious scene you've ever seen in your life! No one could ever remember seeing a woman in a mushanana on the back of a moto before. I looked at the driver, he looked at me, and we just burst out laughing. He must have thought I was joking. He agreed to FRW 700 immediately just for the experience (It's always 800 from town!) and off we went. He was a totally lovely chap and, because it was such a wonderful day and because he was such a nice guy and because he had to drive through another shower of rain, I gave him FRW 1,500.
I then had an hour to throw myself under yet another freezing cold shower, drink yet more strong coffee, change into the beautiful red glittery skirt I had made in Sierra Leone, do my face, and get over to New Cactus in Kiyovu for the evening meal.
The wedding had been for all friends – loads of people – but the evening meal was restricted to 60 close friends and family, so it was a real privilege to be invited and to witness the post-ceremony, relaxed wedding atmosphere.
It really was a fantastic venue. They hired out the whole of New Cactus, which has a stunning panoramic view of Kigali. The three course meal was outstanding and afterwards the Rastas took over the sound system and we ended up dancing the entire night away. It was awesome, and the look on Kassim's face when he took Lies for the first dance... everyone present let out a silent, collective, aaaahhh. They really are a very special couple, it's rare to see two people who are so unquestionably made for each other.
Cathryn and I were there at the not-at-all bitter end, even Lies' family had gone! We hugged goodbye and started walking down the hill to find taxis. Only, we just kept walking. It had just gone 2am by the time we left and there was no sign of public transport. We walked all the way through Kiyovu in a huge loop, passing a friendly police checkpoint and coming out by the main roundabout near town. I don't think there are many countries in the world where two women could do that at that time of night. We didn't see a single other person except for the police officers, although they were a bit surprised to see us and warned us to take care. They were very nice and Kigali is such an extremely safe place to live.
I passed them again about ten minutes later as we managed to hook motos at the roundabout.
It was, without a doubt, one of the best weddings ever. Right up there with Cassie & Sean's. A day we'll always remember and one made all the more special by having been so involved with everything. It's the third wedding I've been to in Rwanda now and it just amazes me how very different each one has been. It's also the first Rasta wedding I've ever been to and I can say, without a doubt, those guys know how to party (yip yip yip yip yip) :op
So, huge congratulations Lies & Kassim. May you have many, many happy years ahead of you and thanks so much for inviting me x
No comments:
Post a Comment