Let the festivities begin

My new friend, Lucy, who helped me shop for fabric and had my dress made by a seamstress she knows.

On a boda boda, ready for the ride home from Lucy's. Fortunately, the driver hung up before we left.

On Saturday Paul and I went to "pick" (no one picks up anything here) my gomesi. A gomesi, pronounced "gomez" as far as I can tell, is the Ugandan traditional dress. It's funky. The puffed sleeves and wide belt just aren't a flattering style. At least the fabric's nice.

I got it because we're going to a Ugandan wedding this coming Friday and Saturday. Semei, the office manager at EMI, is getting married. Paul already has his kanzu and sportcoat, the traditional outfit for men. A kanzu is a long white tunic. We'll post his picture soon.

We can wear Western clothes for the wedding on Saturday, but we were told we ought to have traditional dress for the introduction on Friday. We're not entirely sure how an introduction works. What we know of it so far is that it's the formal meeting of the bride's and groom's families. It's also the time when the groom's family parades all they've brought for the bride price before the bride's family. Cows, goats, clothing, and money are often a part of the bride price. We talked to friends who had gone to an introduction awhile back and, even though the families were well-to-do, the bride price still involved large sacks of sugar and laundry detergent. One of the Ugandan women who works for EMI said her bride price was 12 cows, 10 goats, and some money. The practice of paying a bride price shows no signs of abating. It recompenses a bride's family for the expense they've had in raising her and demonstrates that her groom considers her valuable.

Introduction ceremonies can be long. The same friends who saw the sugar and laundry soap brought in left their introduction ceremony unfashionably early after four hours. We suspect there will be speeches. We'll be attending with others from EMI, so at least we'll know a few people to talk to. It's an honor to be included, and I'm looking forward to it.