Royal Crowned Cola

You are a royal priesthood, co-heirs with Christ." 1 Pet 2:9

After the closing ceremony concluded (with eighty-plus Queens adorned in their newly acquired crowns), we shared our last afternoon tea time. The sun was shining on our little spot of hillside and although simple plastic, the crowns glittered like gold! As the women made their way down to the courtyard in front of the Bible School they steadied their headpieces like newly crowned beauty queens. Faces shone with pride. Laughter filled the air and their abundant joy was contagious.

What a sight they made as they gathered as a group for a parting photo. Once all the digital cameras had been passed forward and faces framed for posterity, the women lined up again to go through the ceremonial hand washing. They passed by the table set outside and selected their tea biscuits and today, for a special treat, a SODA.

The ritual of afternoon tea is one of those strange echoes of colonialism still practiced even in a remote village hillside. Stopping to “take tea” is an extended and expected form of hospitality. Tea the common, Coke the extravagant. As our team sat down and scanned the crowd of crowned black beauties seated on the small retaining wall, we chuckled under our breath, thinking it was too bad the drink offering wasn't R.C Cola (Royal Crown).

As it was, we were quite content gazing at the harvest.

We “had a Coke and a smile.”