Wanting to get married? In Uganda you have to be properly 'introduced' first!

Edward and Annet have featured several times in this blog. They take very good care of Ian and Renate at their apartment in Ntinda, Kampala.
Edward and Annet decided a few months back that they wanted to get married. But in Uganda tradition a man must be properly 'introduced' to the Family and home village of the woman that he intends to marry. So, for the last two to three months Edward and Annet have been working hard to save every penny and planning for the 'Introduction Ceremony' which took place on Sunday 26 June at Annet's family home - 75 kilometres south west of Kampala right on the Equator.
An introduction ceremony is a bit like a pageant. The 'bride-to-be' and her Family and friends from the village await the arrival of the 'groom-to-be' along with his family and supporters. Both 'sides' appoint a spokesman - the duty of the spokesman for the 'bride-to-be' is to interrogate the spokesman for the 'groom-to-be'. The objective of this 'inquisition' is to discover whether the man is worthy or not!
Once, everyone is satisfied that the 'groom-to-be' is OK, it's time for gifts to be presented and finally for food to be enjoyed. It's an enjoyable, but serious occasion. Edward checking that he's still welcome - we've just arrived from Kampala. We had intended getting to Annet's village by 1.00 pm - it's just gone 3.00 pm. But they are not ready for us just yet!
The traditional ceremony dress for Ugandan women is called a "Gomez" - after a Portuguese who invented the style over 100 years ago. Here the cloth is being re-wrapped while we wait to be summoned to the Introduction. The wrapped cloth is secured by a large satin belt.
We receive the summons and those of us accompanying Edward makes our way up to Annet's family home through the banana plantation.
The chief challenger on behalf of Annet’s Family and friends in the village - it's his job to make sure Edward and his Spokesman sweat - to really get them to vouch for his good intentions and character.
Edward's spokesman together with the leader of the choir at his Church - there for moral support. Edward's spokesman had to rebut challenges from the village's spokesman that maybe he wasn't good enough for Annet.
Young women in Annet's village trying to 'catch the attention' of Edward and he has an opportunity to choose one.  He rejects them and they weep - or pretend to weep!
At last . . after nearly two hours of pageant, the star attraction arrives to unanimous approval!

Phew! Nearly finished!
Linking hands towards the end of the 'Introduction'

Uganda 2, Guinea-Bissau 0 - African Cup of Nations Qualifying match

On Saturday 4 June we joined a group of fellow VSO volunteers on a trip to the Mandela International Stadium in Kampala to cheer on the Uganda national football team - known as the "Cranes" - in a qualifying match for the African Cup of Nations that will be held in Gabon later this year. The opponents - Guinea-Bissau, a tiny West African country. The pictures below provide a flavour of our experience.A view of the stadium minutes before the match started - no spare seats and still many outside wanting to get in
A 'vuvuzela' player warming up just in front of us - the noise from thousands of vuvuzelas is something else!
People around us celebrate the opening goal for Uganda, just before half-time
Some of the VSO crew enjoing a breather at half-time
In this picture is Niamh, our new neighbour. Niamh's from Ireland and is a VSO volunteer working with Tradelinks - an organisation supporting the gowth of entrepreneurship in Uganda. The top of the head in the foreground belongs to Tom Brennan another Irish VSO volunteer working to support primary school improvement in a district just to the west of Kampala
On the left is Stuart Richie - a volunteer from Edinburgh supporting the development of Uganda's school inspectorate. On the right our good neighbour Bob Vos who lives in the flat below us - sadly he's returning to the Netherlands next week after a year's business development work with Mango Tree - an educational materials publishing house close to us in Ntinda
Great excitement as the "Cranes" go 2-0 up soon after half-time - time for everyone to relax and really enjoy the rest of the game
The sprinklers came on immediately after the end of the match and someone said that it's to stop people running on the pitch
A happy crowd head home into the setting sun at the end of the game - for some the journey will take two to three hours, just to travel 5 km. Bob and Ian walked home - between 3 and 4 km in just about an hour. A couple of cold beers were very welcome at the end of the walk. But a good day out in great company.

Very happy to be back in the same flat in Ntinda!

VSO kindly arranged for us to live back in the same lovely flat with the view of the valley and birdlife. Good to catch up with the neighbours and also some new ones too. Renate took this picture of, we think, a Woodland Kingfisher drying itself on a lighting pole at the edge of our compound.