A Big Fat African Wedding

I have just been to THE social event of the year in Nyangao – the wedding of one of the lab staff to his fiancé.  I did not know what to expect but it turned out to be the biggest wedding I have ever been to, and has dispelled a few of the myths or assumptions that we hold about Tanzanians!

  It has dispelled the myth that Tanzanians cannot forward plan since I have seen the months of planning, the timetables and the meetings of the wedding committee.  The contribution cards were distributed months ago (In Tanzania you pay a contribution of 15-30000 shillings to attend the wedding which I think is a good idea given the massive expense of a wedding), and the invitation pens were sent out to the attendees (a pen with a pull-out invitation strip.. how cool!)

The party started the night before the wedding, with a house a few doors down which I think must have been hosting the “hen do”, lots of music, lots of shouting and lots of ululating all night until 7am!

The big day arrived and Claire and I duly turned up at the church on time… but in typical Tanzanian fashion, except for the choir (including Sandra who has joined the choir) who were still rehearsing and a few children who had come for the spectacle there was nobody else there!

 Half an hour later the guests start arriving and after another half an hour the wedding procession arrives complete with brass band on the back of a lorry!  

The Groom's party.... great suits!

 

The church service was similar to a service in the UK, except it was 3 hours long and in Swahili, although it was made more interesting by the crazy woman who kept running down the isle and ululating (I think she probably had one too many coconut wines at the party the night before).

 The evening reception was held in a massive hall in the middle of the bush about 5km from the hospital.  We arrived late thinking that so will everyone else, but no – we had to join the queue of around 30 people waiting to get in and get their vouchers for food and drinks! (Myth 2 :  Tanzanians are always late.  Myth 3:  Tanzanians can’t queue…. Obviously not when there is a party and food involved!)

Quite a cake!

The hall was decorated beautifully, with colour co-ordinated drapes, fairy lights, flowers, a cake which looked like it should have planning permission and a huge soundsystem that would not be out of place in a field in Somerset.  

We wazungu duly joined another queue to exchange our vouchers for warm beers and then sat, feeling slightly mis-dressed as we had all opted to wear African print fabrics, whilst the Africans were mostly in “western” style clothes!
 

 

The bride and groom eventually arrived in the hall and danced down the aisle with the page boys and bridesmaids whilst being showered with glitter and fake snow spray accompanied by much music, dancing and lots more ululating.

The Happy Couple

The organising continued throughout the evening with a timetable of events given to each guest, but in true Tanzanian fashion it was running late (Myth confirmed:   everything runs late.  The timetable included choreographed dance from the bridesmaids and page boys…
 

 Followed by introductions of the Groom’s family (they each stand up and wave), introduction of the bride’s family (they each stand up and wave)…

......cutting of the cake and feeding of cake to bride and groom…. 

 ......Opening of the champagne…All the guests dancing conga style past the bride and groom to clink glasses and bottles…. and then the present giving.   
 

The present giving was also organised, with each group of people dancing past the bride and groom to hand over their presents of cookware, house items, clothing, even a double bed and mattress was danced down the hall and handed to the happy couple.  Lucky me got to dance past them twice, once with the wazungu and once with the lab staff!

Dancing with the Lab staff

The Mattress Dance

 Finally at about 10pm and 2 hours late it was time for food, and another queue.  And after 4 warm beers on an empty stomach, a big plate of rice and chicken was much needed!   

Come midnight we made an exit, but in true Tanzania style the partying continued until the early hours.  

 

So I learned that organisation and queuing are possible although lateness seems inherent, that weddings are an expensive affair all over the world, but above all, I learned that Tanzanians know how to party!

Sharing Cake, Changing Lives

The VSO motto is “sharing skills, changing lives”.. and I think I’ve certainly lived up to that recently…….

 

As you have probably seen I like making cakes, and I often take them into the lab for the staff to eat at tea-time. This is always a source of amusement and astonishment that being a man, I know how to cook and can make cake!  I always say (half-joking) that I would teach them if want, and this week one of the lab staff, Mtalika took me up on the offer!  I also invited Mama Pepe who runs the  little “restaurant” where I buy my rice and beans every lunchtime who was also impressed by my baking abilities!

 

So with  Two Tanzanians (one male, one female, one muslim one catholic) and two Wazungu (myself and Claire) we embarked on my first Nyangao cookery lesson… in Kiswahili (with plenty of demonstration when I realised I don’t know the words for “to cream”, “whisk” and “cake mix-like consisetency”.  

 

 

 

The result:  One coffee cake, one Mango cake and one Bannana cake; 2 happy Tanzanians; 1 exhausted james!   Word has now got out to the rest of the hospital staff that I am “Mwalimu Mpishi” – “Teacher chef”… and the cookery school is booked full for the next few lessons!

 

I just hope they will cook some cake at home for ME to eat on tea break!

 Sharing cake… changing lives

Nungwi - red people and turtles

Fishermen's Dhow boats at Nungwi

So after all those late nights and dancing at Sauti za Busara festival, Louise and I retreated to Nungwi in the north east of Zanzibar for a relaxing few days on the beach.  Nungwi is a small traditional village but has been surrounded by massive tourist hotels (there is a Hilton!) and is a very mzungu-ey, with German and Italians tourists strolling the main beach in their speedos  - not very culturally sensitive for a Muslim island!  Although Mzungu means “white person”, this must confuse the locals, as actually everyone was mainly red with sunburn (maybe a business opportunity for a melanoma clinic, or at least a sunscreen shop)!

Nungwi Beach

Thankfully we chose a hotel called Sazani beach hotel away from the main tourist strip, and we were glad we did!  It was a small hotel with only ten private bandas with very friendly owners and staff, good food and a direct access to a private beach (well away from the tourist beach) with crystal clear water!  

view from our bedroom!

 

 

 The hotel is aiming to be as eco-friendly as possible, with solar power, solar water heating, composting food waste and no air conditioning (the Nungwi sea breeze is constant and very refreshing).  The hotel had a very personal feel, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting some quiet time (especially as they gave us discount as we are TZ residents!)  We spent our time relaxing, reading, shade bathing (far too hot to be in the direct sunlight) and swimming.  

Private beach and shade-bathing

 

Whilst we were there we found out that the nearby turtle sanctuary was doing their annual release of turtles and so we joined the trip to release them!

The turtle sanctuary was set up in 1993 as a conservation project to help the endangered hawksbill and greenback turtles.  Local villagers used to hunt these turtles to sell the shells to tourists and to eat the meat (turtle soup is considered an aphrodisiac!).

 

How many Tanzanians does it take to carry a turtle? - errr, well 4!

 The conservation project has provided education to the village fisherman about the need to save the turtles, and so they no longer hunt for turtles.  If a turtle is accidently caught in the fishing nets then the villagers can give it to the sanctuary who will give them a small monetary gift (but not large enough so that they actively catch them!).  Also the sanctuary has promoted tourism in the area, and so many of the villagers have been provided with jobs and extra income from the tourists. 

 

 The turtles are often injured by the fisherman’s nets or boat propellers and so the sanctuary keeps them in a tidal pool where they are fed and looked after until they are healthy enough to be released. 

  During the breeding season the sanctuary looks for the nests of eggs, and puts up protective fencing, preventing birds and lizards from stealing the eggs.  When the hatchlings are born they are taken into special pools in the sanctuary where they are kept until they are big enough to be released. 

Village children were off school for the big day!

Once a year the sanctuary releases the turtles and this is a big occasion, with all the village children, the media and even a politician attending the event! 

We paid our money and hopped onto one of four dhow boats, loaded up the turtles onto the deck by our feet and sailed to the coral reef twenty minutes from the shoreline to release the turtles into the wild.  

all aboard

This big one was 20 years old

release the turtle

 It was great to see them up close, although I did feel a little sorry for them sat on a baking hot deck for up to half an hour and being patted and stroked by a bunch of red-people!  It was a relief to both me and to the turtles when they were put in the water and swam away!  A total of twenty turtles were released to the wild, with about 5 remining in the sanctury pool. 

swim for it !

 One red-bodied german tourist asked why didn't they release all of the turtles, to which the Tanzanian guide gave them a condescending look and replied "Well then you wouldn't pay money to come and see them" ! Classic!

louise giving a helping hand!