Today I was invited by a colleague to spend the day with him and his family. He collected me on a motorbike in the morning and took me to his home 3.5km away. He lives in a typical Rwandan house with his wife, their three children, three of his brother’s children and a few other children! I was welcomed with a mug of warm milk and traditional pastries. They are like very dense doughnuts but not as sweet. We then went to his local church with 6 of the children. The singing and dancing was much more enthusiastic than the in the cathedral and the sermon much shorter. After church we returned home and had a meal of rice, vegetable sauce and meat followed by pineapple. We then went to my colleagues mother’s house for the afternoon. The family set to work setting up seating outside, then a group of around 20 guests arrived. One of the families was presenting their children to the grandmother. A steady stream of more guests continued to arrive and the children were sent to find more chairs from various locations and neighbours. The afternoon proceeded with various speeches, drinking fanta, food- There were about 50 guests who were all fed with a hot meal served by the children, more speeches and more drinks. A lot of the guests were drinking the local delicacy- fermented banana juice. It is a brownish liquid drunk from a communal straw out of a jerrycan or old cooking oil bottle. After the guests left we walked back the children carrying all of the furniture which had been taken on their heads. I was then taken out for a brochette (kebab) and more fanta, before returning to their house to have some of the left over food from the afternoon before getting a moto home. I had a great day but am about to explode from all the food!
