It has been about a month since my last posting. I didn’t realize it had been so long, I apologize. In the past month, I have been back and forth from Mitahato village to Banana town. After school closed I stayed in Banana for a few weeks—getting ready for Mary’s brother’s wedding. After the wedding we stayed a little longer to relax after all of the festivities. We came back home to Mitahato for a little over a week to spend time with Cucu and other family and friends. Now I am back in Banana for about another week or so until a few days before Christmas. I will spend Christmas in Mitahato and then most likely spend the following week back in Banana. Like I said…back and forth, back and forth!
Similar to Mitahato, many of the residence in Banana know of me now—especially along the common routes that Mary and I walk. Because this is the town that Mary grew is from, almost every day that I am here we are visiting at someone’s house. At Mary’s home there are many young cousins that I love to interact with. Along with them, many of Mary’s fiancé, Sammy’s, family have young kids around. I am very fortunate that I get to do what I love, play with children, even during my break. Michel and Jimmy, Mary’s niece and nephew, are in preschool and we are constantly playing and learning from each other. They are both very interested in English; while I teach them English words they repay the favor and teach me Kikuyu words. We have a lot of fun and we even made a little cardboard house and family that they play with often. Sammy’s sister has a new baby girl Lucy that I am around all the time as well. She is adorable and I hold her every chance that I get. Another sister of Sammy has a toddler that is also very fun to be around. I have never seen a little kid dance and sing as much as him. He is very musically talented and I can tell that he will be able to learn with and through music for the rest of his life. One of the reasons I love being in Banana is for the children that I get to be around. Mary jokes and always says “We have to go back to Banana…Wambui (me) has many mwanas (babies) waiting for her.”
I have mentioned often about the wedding in the last few months and I still have not written about it yet! It was great! I was completely nervous to be a maid but in the end it was very fun. I was nervous to “march” down the aisle and for any other traditional elements that I might mess up because I am not accustomed to them. A few days before the wedding, all of the maids and groomsmen were to go to the church to practice marching. I thought that this meant we were simply finding the order and partners to walk down the aisle. I was wrong. To practice marching meant that we needed to pick out songs that we were to dance or “sway” down the aisle to. To say the least, I was slightly panicked. I wasn’t the only one who was nervous about it—Mary’s younger brother was anxious as well (but at least he knew what to expect from the beginning!) Morris and some of the other maids and groomsmen were having a good time with me and teasing me about the whole situation. It turns out that it was very simple and the day the wedding came I was not nervous to march at all. 
The festivities for a traditional Kikuyu wedding can last for a few days. There is a lot to prepare for when 700-800 guests are expected! Days before the wedding, the women from both families came to the house to help prepare the food—i.e. cutting the vegetables, sifting through the beans and rice, etc. The day before the wedding, all of the women came together to cook the food that they had previously prepared. That same day many of the men in the family were either slaughtering chickens or preparing the compound for the visitors. They had to actually make a whole other kitchen to have enough space. There were four extra large fireplaces made in order to cook all of the food. The evening before the wedding, all the maids went to the bride’s house and all of the groomsmen went to the groom’s house. The maids spent the night getting their toenails and fingernails painted, ironing the dresses, getting facials, and spending time together (which in Kenya always means lots of food). I know that the majority of the girls (nine maids, the bride, friends and siblings) got little to no sleep that night. The house was loaded with guests and in each room there were close to ten people. The room that I was in had two beds and a mat on the floor—there were nine of us in that room. I heard later that on the men’s side, they just spent the evening drinking coffee, playing card games and joking around with each other. 
The morning of the wedding we all bathed, got ready, and waited for the festivities to come. During this time a lot of pictures were taken and a lot of hair spray was sprayed. As a long kikuyu tradition, the women and close family to the bride and groom wait outside of the bride’s house for her to come out. They “sing her out” and once she appears—with the children and maids behind her—they carry her from the house to the car so that she doesn’t get any dirt on her. After this, everyone else gets into the vehicles and drives to the church. Once we arrived at the church, we all waited in the cars for the ceremony to start (this was in order to hide the bride until the last minute). When we arrived at the church there were many people scattered around and the groomsmen were all around waiting for the women to begin the ceremony. The ceremony was a colorful event although I have to say the majority of it I could not understand because of the language barrier. During the beginning, when all maids and groomsmen were standing, my friend Mercy was interpreting everything for me. When we all went to sit down every one got mixed up and I was not by Morris or Mercy for them to translate for me. This means that all of the presentations, homily, and speeches were not understood to me. After the ceremony, the bridal party traveled to a separate destination to take pictures. We then quickly returned to the reception where the bride, groom, and bridal party danced into the celebration. There was a huge circle around the reception area where almost the entirety of the guests were dancing along to African music. It was a lot of fun to be a part of and watch—I got a lot of pictures to say the least.
There were a few main differences during the reception here than I was accustomed to at home. Typically at home, a reception contains the first dances done by the bride and groom and bride and father, toasts done by the bridal party, cutting the cake and then the rest is consumed by dancing and chatting with the people around you. Here the reception contains dancing primarily in the beginning, a few speeches, presentation of gifts, cutting of the cake, and mingling with guests around you. The presentation of the gifts took the majority of the time along with speeches which seemed to intertwine together. Presentation of gifts includes guests individually giving their gift to the bride and groom—this can be anything from wrapped kitchenware to beds and refrigerators. Pictures and speeches take place during this time. After this and the cake cutting, the rest of the reception was spent talking and mingling with all of the guests. During this time we took many pictures until the rain started. We waited under the tents for a while, hoping for the rain to subside.Another tradition within Kenyan weddings is for the bridal party to go to a separate, secret, destination after the reception for a dinner party. This is possible because the wedding starts in the morning (10:30), the reception follows in the early afternoon (2:00) and then everyone leaves in the evening around 6:00 or 7:00. The dinner party was at one of Winnie and Peterson’s friend’s house. We ate more food, danced, and a few speeches were given. The entire day was very eventful and by the end of the dinner party we were all very tired and ready to go home. Taxis took the majority of the guests home, or close to home and we walked the rest of the way. I can say for me, it was seconds after I hit my bed that I was fully asleep.
Since my time in Banana, primarily after the wedding, I have begun to change my ways around the house. I have been in Kenya for four months now and I have not cooked a single meal and I have not done the proper amount of helping out that I feel I should be doing. I vowed that I am done being a visitor in my own home(s). Morris has helped me a lot in this change and has told many around me to let me try things out—especially cooking. I have to admit, a huge reason that I have been timid to help is because of the joking and laughing that takes place. It is not that I cannot do the things that everyone does around the house it is just that they do not expect a mzungu (white person or westerner) to be able to; so, when I do help they think it’s comical. I was intimidated by this but by the help from Morris I got over my fear and help out when I can. His advice was that they will laugh maybe the first day and maybe the second but then the third day people will be looking at them wondering why they are laughing. I can say that this has been the case since I have started helping.
This all changed when I started by helping clean the house and room—sweeping and mopping. Then I was allowed and taught to prepare meals—cutting vegetables and sifting through rice and beans. There was one day that some of the boys were building the cow’s trough and I asked to help and they laughed and said I couldn’t hammer a nail. Then I was the one laughing! How could I grow up my whole life not hammering a nail—my dad definitely taught me differently than that! They were pleased to see me do it although they still insisted that they would finish the job.
When we returned back to Mitahato I told Mary that I would be cleaning the upstairs from now on and I wanted to be cooking as well. Since that day I have always been the one to sweep and mop the upstairs and downstairs if Mary is busy. I have also been preparing and cooking lunches and dinners. I am learning how to cook traditional meals every day. I hope to be able to cook meals that I have learned here once I return back to Oregon.
Beyond all of this, the break has been treating me very well. Christmas is approaching fast and I am not sure what to think. I have been a lot more homesick lately due to missing my family and the holiday season. Although I am homesick, I am eager to be a part of the Christmas celebration here. I am lucky that I have a supportive and loving family here in Kenya as well. My next posting will be about the holiday celebrations and what the rest of my break contains. I hope that you are all enjoying your Christmas vacation and truly enjoying your time off with family and friends. God Bless and have a wonderful Christmas and New years!
