A wedding - proof of contrasts

Last night I was invited to a wedding of a former NCA colleague. This became an eye opener for the huge social and economic disparities in this country.  While my previous blog was from a remote village in Nkhata Bay, I will now take you to the big ball room at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.  This is one of the upmarket hotels in town.

Tables with seating for 10 were beautifully decorated, and I briefly calculated between 30 and 40 tables.  All tables were filled up with people all dressed up, surrounded by people seated around the wall since tables were not enough.  As many as 400 people attended this gala event.  The bride and bridegroom seated high up on the podium together with best man and woman and other participants of the close circle around the couple, received cascades of praises and well-wishes.
 

        The bride in the "high seat".  (My apologies for poor quality of photos taken with my phone)

A well-known personality from the main private radio station in Malawi had been hired to be Master of Ceremony, and huge loudspeakers thundered out heavy music with stomach-shaking base power.

In between presentations and speeches, the main activity of the evening was throwing of money to the couple.  Groups were called by name and danced their way to the front and threw money at the couple who greeted everyone of the guests in this way.  Later there were sessions with "ad lib" money-throwing.  On the sideline a bank had established itself in order to offer exchange of big notes into smaller denominations.  The number of notes being thrown was obviously giving quality to the party.
 

                 
     






Bride and bridegroom receiving showers of bank notes.

                                                             

                                          Dinner was of course served to all 300 - 400 guests, simple but tasty!

What was the final bottom line for this party?  I would not know, but I asked some guests what their guess would be.  I was informed that the rent of the hall would amount to about USD 2,000, while the total party easily would amount to around USD 10,000 - 15,000.  What is an average annual salary for high professional level of government employees?  I am not sure, but my guess would be around USD 8,000 - 10,000. The fact remains, however that around 80% of Malawians live on USD 1.5 per day or less: around USD 600 per year.

My observations are two:  There are huge social and economic disparities in Malawian society, and... weddings must be the ultimate symbolic proof of how your fare in the eyes of people in the community around you.

In conclusion, I enjoyed a lavish evening together with colleagues from NCA!