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Dearest family and friends,
i know i've been out of touch for quite awhile - i've not written a journal entry in far too long. there is a reason for this...and once you hear the explanation i'm sure you'll understand. rest assured that i'll eventually catch you up on all the happenings up till this message. but until then i have some big news I need to share - i'm so excited to tell you!!
i don't mean for this to shock you, and i hope you'll forgive me for not informing you before of the plans for this news. i'll explain it all in due time - either in person for those of you that i'll see in seattle or north carolina in october, or over subsequent emails for everyone else. but...
ok, here's the news: I GOT MARRIED!
yes, it's totally true!
i married Jabez Onyango Otieno -
on Wednesday September 18th, 2002
Jabez and i met through his sister, and my friend, Beryl at the beginning of June (see journal entry on website for that history) at their cousin's wedding of all places! if you've been looking at the website you will have seen/read alot about him - he's been one of Nicole's and my best friends from the very beginning of our time here in Kenya. since the time we met, we worked together on both documentaries, fell in love, and decided that we wanted to be married to each other. so, then we started the process of arranging a civil ceremony here in Nairobi. i thought collecting a package from the nairobi post office was full of bureaucracy! that doesn't even compare with all the steps we had to go through to arrange an official civil wedding ceremony here! we picked the 18th as the date we wanted the ceremony to be on - it was a time that anyone who would be able to attend, could attend.
i wore kanga on wednesday (if i haven't yet explained kanga they are brightly colored and beautifully patterned pieces of cloth that women in east Africa wear. there is a kiswahili proverb written on the bottom of each piece). the proverb on the kanga i wore read:
harusi ni furaha na sote tuone raha
which loosely translated into english means:
a wedding is happiness and let all of us be happy
Jabez's parents even attended - all the way from Kisumu. they arrived at 3am wednesday morning - we had no idea - and stayed in Nairobi until we met at the courthouse! can you believe that?? They were so happy to be there. Baba Jabez kept telling me how happy he was, and how he wanted us both come back to kisumu.
Beryl was there as my witness. and Rogers, one of Jabez' brothers, was there as Jabez' witness. And Celine, Rogers' wife, also attended and worked as our capable photographer. it was just the 7 of us. We went into this room and the marriage officer read us some words and we repeated them and then put on each other's rings (i had a hard time getting Jabez' on!) and then signed the certificate and then Beryl and Rogers signed and then the marriage officer signed and THAT WAS IT! no, you may now kiss the bride! it was a couple minutes afterwards while we were mingling around in there, passing the certificate around, that Jabez and I realized we hadn't yet kissed - so we did it without the formality. it was nicer. oh, and the best thing about the certificate is that it lists our occupations, so mine says 'photojournalist' and Jabez' says 'disc jockey'!
i think i'll just end every sentence in this email with an exclamation mark! i'm so so happy.
then we all went out to lunch and Jabez' family told me funny stories about him, and i showed everyone photos of MY family and friends. but it was a sorry substitution for the real people. i REALLY wished that so many people could've been there representin' my stateside fam and friends. after our nice lunch, we took some family wedding photos all together and then said our goodbyes. it was especially hard to say goodbye to mama and baba Jabez because i know i won't see them for quite awhile - most likely until next july. it was a wonderful wedding though. and now we're going to plan reception parties for all our friends and family in both Kenya and the US.
the future plans depend a lot on the US government. hopefully, if the INS gods smile upon us, Jabez will be able to come over the US very. i'm crossing my fingers for the end of December cos my family will be together in Seattle then and he will be able to meet them in addition to all my friends who live there. We also really want to come back to kenya for 6 months next year so that I can establish residency here, learn kiswahili well, spend more time with the Otieno family, etc. after that i don't know, it really depends on what happens in the next few months with the immigration stuff.
i hate to drop this huge news and then abruptly sign off, but i'm still on my honeymoon here in Nairobi and i don't want to spend it in a cybercafe. i'll get back to the email thing early next week... thanks for listening - it goes without saying that this is an important time for me.
love,
Marta
September 18, 2002 • Nairobi, Kenya
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