Many people are celebrating the new year today and so some
of the schools are still closed, Naata among them. Nemasu opened but very few children
arrived. We had a late breakfast and
then took Faith and Mike to Senegambia to show them
where most of the shops and restaurants were.
We did a little shopping, and then had a late lunch before leaving to
attend the wedding of Bert and Wisdom.
The celebrations were being held in the compound of a friend of theirs in
Kololi. We arrived around six as
requested and were there in time to see the finishing touches to the trimmings
in the garden. Several round tables had
been set up and we were invited to join with the family who live opposite us,
another Ousman, his wife Lisa and their two small boys. Ousman’s brother and his family completed the
table. Not much happened for the first
hour and then we had African drummers and dancers of all kinds and all costumes
to keep the guests occupied whilst we waited for the bride to appear. The official ceremony had taken place in Banjul
this morning, so we were attending the celebration. After the dancers we had music, and then a
comedy act, two Gambians with painted white faces telling jokes and doing
slapstick routines. The bride finally appeared
and was escorted to the top table by her groom.
Bert’s family from Holland
were also in attendance and some of them had ‘official places on the high
table. The MC made all the introductions
to the crowd and then the comedy act took off again. Speeches followed, the groom, the bride, the
bride’s father and brother and Bert’s brother Edwin. The brides father raised a
laugh when he said he currently had 8 children, he was 82. (well you never know) The food finally
appeared about 9pm, (we were glad we
had eaten earlier) and then the dancing started. The two small boys were asleep by this time, 10pm, and we decided to leave and give them a
lift home with their mum, the rest of the family stayed behind. A lovely occasion with good company.
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