On our first full day in Africa, we celebrated our 33rd anniversary. Actually, we didn't do much celebrating, we just had dinner at the hotel in Nairobi. It's significance paled in comparison to the gargantuan trip we were making.
But our host in Zambia, Israel Simbaya, knew of the occasion through the multitude of emails that he and Ed exchanged. On the third day of our conference, the Zambians took the opportunity to honor us and celebrate our anniversary. Israek and Beatrice Simbaya presneted us with anniversary cardssigned by everyone in attendance. They presented us with flowers and a anniversary cake decorated with my favorite color.
The best part was the way they presented the cake and flowers. The effect is lost in pictures, one needs sound to go with it. A long line of women came down the middle aisle singing Come and See What the Lord has Done. They don't just sing, but dance as they come down the aisle. And all is done with great joy!
The last woman in the line was carrying a huge knife to use to cut the cake. But she went through a lengthy process of teasing us, pretending to give us the knife. Then as she finally did give it to us, she helped us cut the cake.
After cutting the cake, they insisted that we feed it to each other as we do at a wedding reception. Then, they demanded we kiss, which we accommodated. Our 33rd anniversary will always have a special memory with it.
