Florence's Wedding
The wedding was beautiful. There was a traditional wedding before the church wedding which is very symbolic. A calabash bowl is packed with a needle & thread to show the wife will take care of the husband's clothes, stitch them & keep the home, a bitter & a sweet cola nut symbolizing marriage has sweet & bitter times. A matt which shows that even in hard times, no money "to buy a bed" you don't leave your husband. These items are wrapped up in the calabash bowl with a white cloth which also symbolizes peace. The cloth is saved as a burial cloth I believe for the mother to symbolize her daughter was married when she dies. This bowl is brought when the husbands family comes to the brides house & knocks at their door & they say they have come to bring peace & they noticed a rose in the garden & wanted to pick it. Then they come in & they are given cold water. Then "false brides" greet the husband's family & they are asked is this the rose you saw & they will say no until the real bride appears. The calabash bowl is something that grows on a tree that is dried out & used for this ceremony. It is carried by a young virgin child on the father's side & given to the bride. I got this info from my day workers & another married woman here & I probably didnt get everything corrert but this is close I think. I love the symbolism & I think it is a wonderful tradition.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Arrived!
We are here in Appelsbosch, South Africa, about 1.5 hours from Durban where the ship is having her generators replaced and undergoing a massive electrical and piping upgrade. Tomorrow she will have her first new generator started up for testing. There is already a team in Sierra Leone finding those in need of medical help, as well as ophthalmic and dental clinics that have been working in S. Africa. Mary will go to the ship tomorrow and help clean. Ken is working on updating infectious disease protocols, signing off on Yellow Fever vaccinations and getting oriented to the mechanics of the ship's Crew Clinic. Wonderful people here & a beautiful countryside.
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Not to be snarky, but what services will you be providing? I've often thought about doing this kind of work, but I can't do surgery or dentistry.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt like without a modern ER around me I can't do much...