I bet everyone knows this Bible story. Jesus, having been invited to a wedding (he wasn’t the sort to gatecrash such occasions-unlike some people I know) noticed that the booze wasn’t flowing at quite the same speed as he, and the other wedding guests, were used to.

Unlike the rest of us, who’d have abandoned the wedded couple to their won devices, Jesus refused to let the party die just like that. He got a lot of water and promptly took the party to another gear. Now that is the kind of God I like to worship.

Nothing against my Moslem brothers; but really, you guys can’t compete with anything like that!

Anyway, sadly along the Christian road something tragic happened. Christianity lost its joie de vivre and became a boring religion that was at home in a convent and not in the real hurly-burly world.

But I’ve been delighted by a discovery I made a few weeks back. It seems as if the joie de vivre is back. I was invited last weekend to a Christian party here in Butare.

Anyone who knows just how boring Butare can be will tell you this; "whenever you get a chance to attend a party, jump on it! You never know when you’ll get another chance”.

Well, since I kicked the bottle (it’s now three and a half months and counting baby) I’ve been more amenable to non-alcoholic parties. And this one my friends, was as dry as the Gobi Desert.

But there was very sugary milk-less tea. I didn’t understand why they had decided to saturate the tea with sugar but I soon found out why they’d ignored the high price of sucrose.

As we sipped tea, I, and the rest, were treated to the normal Christian conversation full of "God bless and Amen”. It wasn’t half bad and I even threw in an Amen once or twice.

However the best was to come. As if by general consensus (although I didn’t see a hint of an election), our seats were removed and all at once I was accosted by a wall of sound.
The festivities had begun and I was quickly corrected in my earlier belief that ‘savedees’ were a bunch of nerds.

Accompanied by gospel music of a sort I’d never heard of in my life, these guys were pulling dance moves that could compete with any made in B-Club. Now I saw just how important the sugary tea was.

It was a fuel. Just like those in B-Club need a Mutzig to rave up; well these chaps were getting sugar highs off the tea. Things I’ll learn. Me?

I’d drunk my fair share of tea and I made sure that I didn’t leave a sugar molecule in my blood, but rather on the dance floor.

Contact: madogz2002@yahoo.ca