On my last day living on church property, I made a chocolate cake, and had a very small gathering up in the flat. After a little bit of visiting time, the two women in the right in the picture, took me by the hands, and led me out of the flat and into the flat across the hallway where, much to my surprise, they began to undress me. It was a little strange. After I was dressed down to my skivvies, they began to wrap me in fabric the same hot pink color as my shoes. Turns out, the traditional way to get dressed in those kinds of clothing is with the mama or the older sister dressing you. Before I knew it, I was decked out in an elegant Congolese dress, my hot pink shoes to match. Then they paraded me through the church and taught me a shout. After we got back to the flat, we laughed for the rest of the evening. It was a great goodbye present.
In the mean time, Ndlandla and his sister(whose name I have written down somewhere-I only knew her for a few days, she goes to school in Jo'burg where her mother lives) had asked for the remnants of the floral decorations from a conference happening at the church. Then they picked some flowers around the church as well, and showed up at the door with a big bundle of sticks with a few flowers at the end. It was so cute and so thoughtful!
All in all a good night for Lauren.
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