Culture Night (Allie and Jessi)

Culture night is always remembered as the favorite and most fun night of the trip. This year we tried something new. Instead of the Mamas from the women’s group joining us, we invited some students from Uru Secondary School that have been helping us with our manual labor project. We were all so excited to have people our own age join us for this experience. When they arrived we cheered them on as they walked through a tunnel made by our arms. After that Juma made sure that the groups were integrated before we ate. The integration brought some really good conversation to life. While we were waiting for dinner to begin, we showed our new friends new card games and pictures from our phones. They also taught us a few card games. For dinner we ate traditional African (Chagga) food, that some enjoyed more than others. We had Ugali (finely milled corn with water cooked to a paste like consistency), cooked bananas, yams, cooked greens, beans and carrots. After dinner we reversed roles and had the Uru students try some of our snacks. Nutella and the sour gummy worms were a big hit. The expressions on everyone’s faces were priceless, especially when we tried something gross and they tried something sweet.

The dancers and drummers arrived shortly after and the true festivities began. The drummers performed in the middle of the room and we all dance in a circle around them. The traditional Chagga dancers tried to teach the ladies how to shake their booties African style and none of us were successful. The Uru students were spectacular. They also taught us a different dance similar to square dancing. The best part of the night was the fact that everyone danced together, no judgment was made and no one was left out. As the night came to an end the students left around 9:15pm, but the night was still young for the Cathedral Students as we continued to dance and sing. Some of us attempted to create our own beat on the drums, and it wasn’t the best. The night got a little crazy once the traditional dancers started trying to pick up money from the ground using their mouth while doing the splits. Some Cathedral members tried it too and Kaylee and Whitney came out on top. ­­­Everyone become closer over the course of the fun and eventful night we had together.