Zambian Wedding in Kitwe

On Friday, I didn't go to work as I left in the morning to Kitwe with 2 nurses from UTH. Their friend, a nurse from UTH, was getting married in there, so Rabecca, nurse from renal unit, asked me if I would like to with here to the wedding. 

Kitwe is situated north of Lusaka around 4-5 hours drive. Bus drive there was comfortable, bus (Mazahandu Family) had aircon and the seats were same as in Finland but on the way back we used Euro Africa bus and it was very old there were small and crammed as there were 3 seats in one side and 2 on the other but the bus wasn't any wider that normal one.  It is in Copperbelt area where is lots of mines. The next few pictures are taken on the bus ride from Lusaka to Kitwe. On the pictures you can see the diversity of landscapes that are in Zambia. In Kitwe we stayed at Rabecca's sister's house and it was really nice and modern house. 

The rain season is starting, and on the way to Kitwe we drove middle of thunder storm. It was really cool, rain was so heavy you could barely see, thunder was really loud and lightening looked like fireworks. On Saturday, there were 3 more thunder storms, that were same as the first one. 

Zambian wedding are similar to european weddings. Ceremony in the church included lots of dancing and singing, and crowd making different noises. The wedding ceremony was really long at least 1,5 hours and I lost interest half way through as they spoke Bemba which I don't understand. 

Bride and Groom, Sabrina and Henry 

The next 2 pictures are taken before the wedding reception, but I don't have any pictures from there as my camera decided to break down. So I don't have camera anymore. I am going to have a look if I can find cheap one from here. The wedding reception was similar what I have been used to but it was really short only 4 hours long!! Everything happened at the same time while we ate our food, bride and groom was cutting the cake and speeches were made, and first dance, too. Note: If you attend a Zambian wedding, you are supposed to have 2 dresses, one for the church and another for the reception. Even the grooms men and bridesmaids changed their clothes.

 Me

Rabecca