My first umushanana
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Woke up early but after sleeping nearly all day yesterday, it wasn’t so bad. Mama Ben and I made our way down to the bus stop, but unfortunately there was no 6:30 A.M. mutatu today like we had hoped. The ONATRACOM came close to 8 A.M. and by that time there were a lot of people waiting to go to Gisenyi, quite a few of us going on to Musanze for the wedding. Of course I didn’t get a seat, but the money-taker did refuse to allow me to climb in the back “baggage” section like others were doing. I probably stood for over an hour and was worried I’d be sick (especially since I wasn’t sure if I was fully recovered from yesterday), but it wasn’t so bad and I did eventually get a little piece of seat to perch on.
We made it to Musanze but I don’t think anyone knew where the church was, and a van/taxi came to transport our group of about 10 wedding-goers from Kayove. The young driver knew everyone in my group so I assume he grew up in Bugabo. We drove around in circles for a bit before finally finding the church. By that time it was after 12:30 and I thought we were late since Mama Ben told me it was to begin at noon. Turns out we were early – some of the first to arrive.
So we waited a bit until other choir members showed up with the umushananas. We then went behind the church to change and Mama Belise “helped” me with mine – she didn’t do a very good job. As tight as she tied the skirt piece, I would have had a nice bruise before the bride and groom had even arrived. She loosened it but just barely. And then one of the Gisenyi girls (maybe Mama Belise’s younger sister) criticized the poor tying/hanging of the upper piece. So she fixed that and I got Mama Ben to loosen the skirt. Unfortunately, I don’t think Mungeri is getting that photo he wanted. I’m sure the whole town would have loved to see me in the traditional Rwandan dress.
The wedding went just like the other two ADEPR Rwandan weddings I had attended, but the reception was slightly different as it was in another building, the youth center about a 10-15 minute walk away. Other than that, nothing I observed was new. But I did do something new: I helped serve the food to all of the guests. My fellow choir members were the servers and I joined it with the rest of them. They told me I could simply sit and be served like the other guests, but I refused to be the only choir member not helping. There was one other member not serving food, but she was attending to her baby. It was dark by the time we finished, and I waited for my turn to take the taxi into town and crash at Amy’s for the night.
