Quite an Introduction

Due to a broken internet modem, seeing a missionary family off on furlough, and a very busy schedule it has been quite a while since I last blogged and for that I apologize. I’ve replaced the modem and things around here have slowed down a bit so I’ll be making a few post the next few days as an update that is long overdue.

I’ll start by telling the story of a unique cultural experience that I had about a month ago. I was invited to an “Introduction” and having no clue what I was getting myself into I accepted the invitation and went on, thinking nothing about it. To fill you in, The Introduction is a traditional ceremony in East African culture in which the two families of a wedding party are introduced in a very formal way. For different areas and tribes the ceremony varies in importance, length, and meaning, but for the tribe of this girl, Buganda, the ceremony is actually more important than the wedding, and little did I know it is an all day affair. This was a very peculiar situation, because the man that the girl was marrying was a white man, and interracial marriage is extremely odd here. The man has visited the orphanage several times and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. So the day of the Introduction rolled around and I was informed on how to dress and how the day might unfold. I found the way of dress to be a bit weird, as I had some of the Ugandan staff here fix me up in the introduction garb. I wore black pants and a white button up shirt with a blazer, but between the shirt and the blazer was a long white gown called a conzu.(I’ll try to get my hands on some pictures and get them posted.) I looked smart, as they would say here, and we caravaned our way to where the ceremony was being held. When we arrived we were escorted into the courtyard behind the house each by a bridesmaid (not sure what they call them here), where there were two huge tents facing each other decked out in linens, flowers, and nice seating. The family and friends of the bride, about 150 people, were there waiting on us seated in one tent while the other was arranged for us. Much to my surprise I had been chosen as the proxy groom, so to speak, and I was arranged to sit in the seat of honor, where the groom would later sit. The groom was to be hidden in the crowd until later in the ceremony. So here I was seated on a couch with about 175 people, dressed in their finest clothing, with their eyes glued to me as if i were some sort of alien, in the midst of something in which I knew nothing about, when they handed me the microphone. The woman beside me whispered in my ear, “You are to say the opening prayer.” A million things were running through my head, and they all were related to how badly I was going to screw this up. Am I supposed to act as the groom? Do these people know that I am not the one marrying this girl? What have I gotten myself into? My heart was racing, so I said the simplest prayer imaginable and got the mic out of my hand as quick as possible. The events that proceeded in the next four hours were very confusing and I’m still not very sure what all went down, but meanwhile I was being brought all sorts of drinks and food so I was entertained to say the least. Sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, nephews, nieces, and cousins were all introduced and came out dancing to music played by a DJ individually and gave the permission for the man to take the woman. Each side had a hired speaker who did all the communicating for the family, and the ceremony appeared to be a running conversation between the two families through these two men. I say appeared because everything was in a different language of which I am struggling to pick up. A couple hours into the ceremony, much to my dismay, I was removed from my throne and the real groom was brought in. I had kind of gotten used to being the center of attention, but my time in the limelight was not over. After all the introductions had been made it was time to present the materials of the dowry, also known as the bride price. In this culture the family of the girl always presents a price to be paid for the girl. Its usually simple like a couple of cows and maybe a few chickens, but in this case we presented a smorgasbord of things to the brides family. I think he was charged what we like to call here the “mzungu price.” We presented margarine, cooking oil, milk, bathing soap, detergent, toilet paper, pineapples, bananas, sodas, gift baskets, meat, eggs, etc..I’m telling you these people pretty much got a lifetime gift card to Wal Mart. After all that was over it was time for the main event. They called me and the other two white men back behind the tent and handed us two live chickens each. So I walked in and presented two live chickens to the father of the bride. I’ve had some interesting experiences with chickens here, yesterday I ran over one on accident, oops, there is probably someone out looking for me. But after the chicken I walked in a live goat, followed by a live cow. It was one crazy, long, but intriguing day. I learned so much about the culture of Uganda. The whole day I was treated with so much respect and gratitude. It was if I were a king to these people. I was honored, but at the same time felt really weird and undeserving. I just didn’t understand why they were so grateful to me. The night concluded with an amazing dinner, through which I was filmed eating my entire meal. Can’t say that’s ever happened before, and I’m not sure why it did, but this is Africa, and sometimes you just have to accept that fact.

Thanks for all the prayers for my dad by the way. It was tough to be away from the family during a scary moment such as this. I just had to remember that everything is in God’s hands and His will will be done. Dad seems to be recovering well and they think the damage to his heart was minimal. Praise God!

There should be further updates to come in the next few days.
GOD IS GOOD!