Surprise Birthday Party

Maura’s birthday (Sept. 4) was a huge success.  The night before her actual birthday it occurred to me that we could throw her a surprise party.  Waiting to the night before to plan the party fits in very well with the culture here, everything happens at the last minute.  I talked with two of the sons from next door, Paul and Michael, and they said it was no problem to make it happen and that they must sacrifice because we are family. 

To make it happen their family would have to shop for food and cook it.  I also gave them the task of getting the drinks (drinks are the most important part of Cameroonian life).  Paul and I created the menu, estimated the cost and in the morning I gave him the money to shop.  His brother, Anthony, was in charge of drinks - pop, beer and wine.  I ran up to the Newburn's on the birthday eve to discuss with Joy and she agreed to make a salad and cake.  Diane, our house helper, prepared food too.  The plans fell into place very nicely. 

The plan was for our family to be invited to a birthday dinner at the Newburn's at 6:15pm and Maura’s boss, Sr. Sheila, to call her to the office for a meeting at 5:45.  I asked for all the food to be prepared by 5:30 so when she left we rearranged our house and filled it with food, drinks, and about 25 people.  I figured she would return to our house around 6:15pm. 

Cameroonians are not timely (not that anything is wrong with that but it is critical for a surprise party) so I was a bit worried when only our family and the Newburn's were in the house at 6:15pm.  Finally people trickled in so I made the call to Maura that we left the food at our house that we were to bring to the Newburns and for her to get it, of course it was raining. 

We had everyone in our living room sitting in the dark and silent waiting for her to come.  Sr. Sheila drove her to our front door so our wait was finally over, so we thought.  They continued their conversation for another 10 minutes outside our door as we all squirmed inside.  Then we heard the keys go into the door, the door open and we yelled “SURPRISE.”  Maura had a look of horror on her face as she thought we were getting robbed.  She was stunned for awhile and didn’t know what to do so I suggested she say hello to everyone.  For the Cameroonians in the room this was the first time they had been to a surprise party.  They loved the idea and were so excited about it all day.

My favorite memory of the day was around 4 pm just before the party.  Maura was tired so she laid down to rest and finally fell asleep.  While she slept the neighbors had 6 people frantically cooking in their outdoor kitchen over the fire and Diane was in our house cooking away.  I called the Newburn's and they were baking the cake.  So all these people were diligently working and Maura had no idea while she slept. 

She would not have permitted any of that work to be done for her so the surprise was the only way it would happen.  Loveleen, the mother next door, is one of Maura’s favorite people here and she was so excited to prepare endola, a special dish for Maura.  We did not plan to have this particular dish because it is difficult to prepare but Loveleen knew it was Maura’s favorite so she surprised all of us with it.  I could tell how excited Loveleen was by her huge beautiful smile as she told me she made endola for the party. 

I am grateful the party was such a success.  The pictures are of Paul cooking the chicken and plantains; Loveleen, Michael and Joseph preparing food while Maura napped; and Anthony with the drinks.

-Ryan