On Saturday we and the whole Zithulele crew headed off to Rhini location, to the wedding of Ebye, a German Doctor, to Alicia a local Xhosa-speaking woman from the area. Ebye (pronounced “I-ba”) came out here to the Transkei 4 years ago initially as a volunteer at Zithulele. He then transferred to Madwaleni hospital where he spent 2 ½ to 3 years working until he decided to branch out and work at two of the peripheral clinics. We don’t know him particularly well but like all traditional African weddings everyone from the area is invited! It really was an amazing experience!

The wedding was set to start at 9am however not even German efficiency could overcome African inertia! There had been pamphlets advertising the wedding on many doors in and around the hospital and ARV clinics however the only instructions were a very vague location and no time just the date…! Anyway so we set out around 10am getting to the area-ish by 10:45. Luckily in the distance up on a hill we could see a fairly large white marquee with a gathering crowd. Hoping it was the right wedding and not another wedding or possibly even a funeral we parked our car and headed up in the direction of the marquee. After being warmly welcomed in by Alicia’s brother (whom we had never met before); meeting the father of the bride; helping him do his tie; witnessing the local nursing sisters from the Ngcwumguba clinic ululating and dancing up the hill as they arrived; playing follow the leader with all the little children also waiting around - we were no closer to the start of the wedding! At around 12:30 we were assured the wedding would be starting in 10 minutes time.





Anyway, when it did kick off it was a really awesome –everyone stood as Eybe with his parents and 2 best men from Germany walked up the hill into the marquee. Then we got a very vibey dance from the groomsmen and bridesmaids from Alicia’s side dancing up the hill, with African Kwito-type beats –definitely beat any mundane entrance we’ve always been exposed to! Then finally the bride, in a beautiful white traditional wedding dress.



The ceremony went on for quite some time with very broken snippets of someone translating 2 or 3 sentences in English and an awesome MC who had a constant impulse to check the mic every time it was handed over to someone new rushing forward going testing testing, 1,2,3 and singing a few songs unaccompanied or which he accompanied himself with back up beats whenever he felt the time was right…! Ebye obviously was referred to many times throughout the service mentioned on most occasions as “elbow” and once or twice as Ibo… -fairly amusing!




Anyway, it was a real privilege to be able to be a part of such a special event which was taken very seriously by both respective parties and where we were made to feel so welcome! The generosity shown by Alicia’s family was really overwhelming and something we were really pleased to witness!!