The Crabs of Bangui

Chapter Twenty One

145 Chapter Twenty One T he epoch-making letter from China which catapulted Hansel into the pinnacle of fame and wealth came in on the 15th of August 2001. Hansel had yielded to Salomey’s persuasion and had promised to be a church goer thereafter. Two weeks after that he had kept his word and had gone to church, to his wife’s utter dismay but happiness. He had followed up this new life by yielding to one his wife’s repeated urges, that they should attend A MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER. This was a world famous event that was believed to lubricate and cement the relationship between married couples, a miracle drug, so to speak, that rejuvenated stale or half-broken marriages, and spiced new ones. Over the years Hansel’s response to her plea had been the same: it was not a Reverend Father – major officials at the event were usually priests - that was going to teach him how to run his marital home. His marriage was doing just fine and he had often received full marks from his wife, while his wife had often told him how other couples admired their relationship. He loved his children, was doing well in his job and was generally admired by people who came across him. Whether he had other ideas up his sleeves, nobody could tell. What was important to Marion was that he had finally agreed to go. The next Marriage Encounter was to take place at Futru parish, and the prestigious Pastoral Centre Upstation. It was to take place on Friday the 3rd November and was to last till Sunday afternoon. The two of them, Hansel and his spouse looked forward to it with feverish expectations. On 146 Linus T. Asong that long awaited day they were expected at Futru at 5pm. By noon Hansel was already home and packing, he knew not what since both of them were strangers to the even. At any rate he took along a pair of pyjamas, a jogging suit, a couple of inner wears, a tooth brush, a pair of slippers and his towel. The wife too put together what she thought they would require there. At 4.30pm they were already at Futru parish. About thirty other couples were present but it was Hansel’s presence that caused a great stir, especially because many of his wife’s friends had not stopped congratulating her for causing the husband to go church for the very first time within living memory. They hugged and embraced Hansel and his wife and almost shook their hands out the sockets. And then they were led to their rooms by older members of the event who had given them the invitation to attend. The rooms had been constructed with the greatest economy and they looked like rooms in the army barracks: oblong, with an external toilet where you needed to carry water from a drum to flush your stool because, as they were told, water pressure was extremely low except early in the mornings. The beds were hardly a metre wide but long enough to accommodate very tall people. They would learn later that the choice of such narrow beds was deliberate because the whole idea of Marriage Encounter was to bring couples close to each other, and there was no better place to make couples feel each other’s heart beat than on a narrow bed. Supper was a scanty meal ‘jollof” rice, some bread and broiled Irish potatoes. Upon the assumption that couples would be too tired the very first night, nothing much happened that night beyond introducing them to the environment and new friends. The actual opening ceremony took place the following Saturday morning at nine in the conference Room which had been introduced to them the previous night. On the 147 The Crabs of Bangui panel was a priest, Rev. Father Menda Fidelis who acted as the moderator, and a couple, Mr and Mrs Etienne Mancho. Each member of the panel spoke with a hand lying over the should of the other, an indication that they were bound to each other by love. Hansel wondered what the hell the priest’s role in the event involving married couples. But he would soon see that he too declared that he was married – to Jesus, married to his faith. Even more than that, he spoke about his tribulations in his marital life with his...