FRANCES, YOU DID WHAT?!

 

I was at a wedding recently. I had no idea about the politics that go down at weddings. I was the only stranger seated with one of the couple’s family members. They kept bringing food and drinks to the eight of them but I never got any. The ladies bringing the food, would look at me as they gave the food to their people and I’d look right back at them and none asked me,

“Please, what do you want to eat?”

“Here’s a plate.”

“What drink would you like?”

They were all munching, slurping and breaking bones but I didn’t mind.

I was on a liquid fast, so I couldn’t even eat anything at the wedding.

After bringing four rounds of food and these ladies, kept packing them up, she finally brought plates of Egusi soup and semovita and one was handed to me. I was at a loss what to do. Personally, I hate it when at weddings, people collect plates of food, eat the meat and waste the food. I hate wastage. When food is treated like that, it is thrown away. No one wants to eat what someone else has eaten out of.

I had a plate in my bag from something I’d gotten before the wedding, so, I poured the soup into it and kept the wrap of semo in my bag, not my purse.

I was minding my business. They brought more drinks for the family and I got none, didn’t mind.

Next, a lady arrives with a plate of rice for me. I don’t eat rice anymore. I am allergic to something in it. She tells me,

“Please manage this.”

I tell her over and over that I was fine, she shouldn’t worry but she insisted that I have it. She leaves and I sigh. What do I do with this food now? I ask the lady beside me if she wanted it but she had stocked enough to last her through winter already. I remember the takeaway plate the semo wrap was in, was by my foot.

I hate wasting food. I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving that plate of rice on the floor, untouched. It would be thrown away. Asides the population of people hungry in the country; things are really expensive now, that plate of rice is worth some money.

I bent down, took the disposable plate and poured the rice into it and kept it in my bag.

When I got home, I gave the food out to some kids and they were really happy. It made me happy. They ate to their fills.

I told someone what I’d done and she screamed,

“Are you crazy?! In this age of social media? Someone could have taken a video of you doing that and spread it on the internet. Fine girl that’s acting like she has never seen food before in her life. Do you know how embarrassing it would be?”

Yeah, she just reminded me why I hate dancing, eating and doing a lot in public these days. Everyone, has a phone glued to their hands. You’d be minding your business; they take a picture or video of themselves and bam! You’re on the internet without your permission. A never-ending invasion of privacy. Or they knowingly take a video of you and put it online for clicks and followers. You’d be at the gym working out and be providing someone their workout background and they knew you were in it. People and their phones, I’ll stop here. I might have been guilty unknowingly but these days, I try my best not to have anyone in my picture or videos and I have never and will never video a stranger or friend going about their thing without their permission. That’s very disrespectful and wrong.  

Did I regret not wasting the food? Nope! Why should I be embarrassed for that? So, because I want to be a ‘big girl’, someone with pride, put up a front before people, I should waste food that a lot of people are looking for? Because as a fine girl, I want to look good? Why should I be ashamed of doing the right thing according to my conscience just because of what people would say? If people can leave parties with bottle of wines and drinks, why can’t I pack up food given to me?

The little kids enjoyed the meal instead of it being thrown into a dump somewhere and the money the couple spent on food didn’t waste because of my ego. I did the right thing. If there’s a video of me, a fine girl putting food away to share, then so be it.