First African Wedding

Guess who has a new African dress and attended her first African wedding!

Me!

The Porto!

I had been seeing an invitation for a wedding for one of my coworkers at Holy Spirit Hospital being passed around and I was thinking to myself, “How cool would it be to attend?”, and the Deputy Matron Lamrana comes up to me and says, “You will come to the wedding.”

And I shouted “Really?!”

And she says, “Yeah, do you want to?”

And I was like, “Absolutely!”

So, then she says, “All right, I will take you to go buy a dress.” I have been wanting to buy a dress since I attended my first mass here and saw all the colorful dresses, so I was bouncing up and down in excitement!

We drove over to a dress shop where they had ready-made dresses. Usually, you have to order dresses beforehand and have them made to fit you. Most of the dresses they had at the “Ready to Wear” shop didn’t fit me (I was either too wide or too tall), but finally we found one that fit and it was actually a really good look on me. The red and green patterns on a white background looked good against my skin coloring. It also had laces in the back which was so pretty. The only thing they had to adjust was the length. The woman took it over to her pedal powered sewing machine and she hemmed it perfectly in under 3 minutes. Lamrana told me she had a purse that would go perfectly with the dress, and I could use it for the wedding! She helped me so much getting ready for the wedding. I was so grateful to her.

The next morning, Sandy drove me to the hospital where a group of the Holy Spirit Hospital staff were all going together in one car. I was the only one who dressed up before we left. Everyone else was wearing casual clothes and carrying their wedding clothes in bags. Most of the group piled into the back of the car while me and Lamrana got in the front with the driver, Atanzo. The wedding was in a town called Lunsar. It was about a 2 hour drive there. When we arrived in Lunsar, we got out at a house that I assumed belonged to the bride’s relatives. We all sat under a tree to get out of the sun and a gentleman brought out a large container of rice and fish. He started passing out water bottles and spoons and all of us dug in. Some chose not to use spoons at all; they just used their hands and mushed up the rice and fish in their palms and ate that. I went with the spoon. He also brought out bananas and sodas for dessert. It was such a pleasant lunch!

The ladies went inside the house to rest while I decided to stay outside. Big mistake. The wind started picking up and clouds of dust blew over me and Atanzo. We rushed into the car and sat in there to wait it out. Before we knew it, the sky, which had been clear and sunny before, was now completely overcast. The women decided it was time to get ready, so they prepared themselves. When they came out, all decked out in their beautiful gowns, we drove over to the church.

The ceremony was just like the weddings we have in the States: the bride wore a white gown, there were bridesmaids and groomsmen, and flower girls and ring bearers (they call them “page boys”). There were a few key differences. The flower girls threw gold confetti instead of flower petals and there was also a “Little Bride” and a “Little Groom”. Why? I dunno, but it was very cute. Also, at the end of the ceremony, everyone went to the front of the church and started dancing around the new couple. It was fun!

After everyone exited the church, there was another container of fish and rice in the back of the car and more water bottles. We ate our fill, then piled back into the car and drove to the reception. We got lost at first; we almost ended up in the middle of the bush! But we got directions from everyone we passed on the trail and managed to get back on track. The reception was at a resort with a lounge and a pool. Right as we got there, it started to rain. Luckily, I had brought an umbrella (for the sun, not for rain). But there was a covered area, so we were good. There was a DJ playing a bunch of African music that I had never heard before. We stayed to dance and eat a little bit, but we had to leave early because we had such a long drive ahead of us. Luckily, we got to stay long enough for the traditional “throwing money at the couple as they dance” dance. It reminded me of the “pin money on the couple’s clothes” dance we have in the States.

When we got back to Makeni, I was so tired and dirty but so happy. I had so much fun with my coworkers, and I was so glad to experience something else that is uniquely a Sierra Leone experience.