Confirmation

The young man in the suit, above, is called Brown and is the grandson of our househelper lady, Jane.
 On Monday this week, Brown was confirmed at his local Anglican church by the bishop of Dodoma.
 On Tuesday, the family had a large celebration to mark the event.
In Tanzanian culture, family celebrations are hugely important and become a time for the whole community to get together and have a party. Church confirmation is one of those occasions. Jane invited us to go along to her home and be part of her family's celebration on Tuesday afternoon.
Jane was so proud of her grandson and was in her element, surrounded by family, friends and neighbours:

The event was set up outside, to accommodate lots of guests, with old cement sacks sewn together to make an awning. A white sheet hung on the outside wall to make a pretty background for the "stage", where Brown and his "best man" (a good friend dressed smartly to support him on this special occasion) sat on the outdoor step of Jane's home. Strings of plastic flowers added further decoration, along with strips of material  wound around the outdoor pillars of the house. Many chairs had been arranged for us guests to sit on (spot Andrew with Esther, Ben, Joel, on the left of the photo, given special seats as Jane's boss) and watch proceedings:

There was even a Master of Ceremonies employed to announce events and introduce the family, the guests and mark proceedings. Inbetween the MC's annoucements, loud music was played from speakers set out on the step.
One of the Important Moments was the arrival of the Confirmation Cake, carried round the back of the guests and then through the middle of us all by the younger sister and friends of Brown, whilst Brown's aunties followed behind with graceful dance moves, all accompanied by the booming music (some of the smaller children found the music a bit too loud and were covering their ears for protection, which was also what Ben had resorted to!!):

After formally receiving the cake, there followed the Cake Feeding ceremony! This is when the Important Person of the day feeds pieces of cake to honoured guests: a very significant part of formal Tanzanian celebrations- weddings, graduation ceremonies...etc.  Brown was fed first by his friend, then Brown fed pieces of cake to his Dad, Mum, sister, Grandmother Jane and then other family members. Here is his little sister receiving her cake off the end of a cocktail stick:

Andrew and I were also included in receiving cake, which was lovely for us to be given such an honour. We climbed up onto the step and were fed a slice of tasty cake:

Next there was a time for us all to stand up one by one and take gifts to Brown, as he stood on his stage to receive them. For those who did not bring gifts, the MC strongly encouraged them, by name, to come forward and place money in a plate set in front of Brown! A concept very different to our western culture, where such demands for gifts and money would seem shocking and embarrassing, but are a normal part of Tanzanian celebrations! I was relieved that we had come with a couple of gifts for Brown, although I had made a cultural "faux pas" of giving Brown one of his presents when we had first arrived, as I would do in a western setting! Thankfully, I still had one gift in my bag that I could take forward and place on the growing pile of presents for Brown at the correct time, so I did not have to go through the embarrassment of being called forward individually to present money or gifts while the guests looked on curiously to see how much the foreigner would give!
I noticed later that the money was wrapped up and given to Brown's mother, which seems fair enough, as it would help defray the costs of such a generous celebration. The family are not wealthy and this Tanzanian way of raising money to help pay the cost of traditionally welcoming a large number of guests seems sensible, in a country where many struggle to pay the bills and do not have the luxury of disposable income to cover the costs of big celebrations.

After gifts came food! We were all invited inside Jane's home. A lady poured warm water over our hands to wash them as we filed past, then we were all given platefuls of tasty Tanzanian food: pilau rice, roast goat, boiled potato, fried cabbage. Delicious.

After food came home time, as it was getting towards dusk, when mosquitoes start biting, so we wanted the children safely home and under their mosquito nets. Jane tells me that the celebrations continued until late into the night, with many more neighbours popping by after they returned home from work. She had a wonderful time and loved having lots of family to stay with her this week, including 7 children, all relatives, who joined them in Dodoma for this special family occasion. I'm glad she included us in the happy celebrations too!