week in paradise
It’s that time again – weekly highpoints! I did preview a few activities on Facebook so some of these will be a repeat.
As a quick side note, I’m extremely grateful for technology! Sunday night after a long weekend of festivities I was able to call and talk to my niece and my brother! Between the two of them I spent two hours on the phone! Thank you T-Mobile for having network connections in so many countries to provide data and text messaging. Thank you Google Voice and Hangouts for providing the ability to stay connected to family and friends so easily through data connections!
My Ugandan sister, Hellen’s son named Jason turned four and we celebrated his birthday at school with soda, cake, candles (aka torches!) and these tiny cream & biscuit cups with an even tinier spoon. It was also Fortunate’s 7th birthday this week as well so they were both sung to and had birthday crowns.
Trying new foods is one of greatest joys of travel and here in Uganda I’ve tried MANY new things – Jack Fruit and Grasshoppers are two that I thought I'd share this week. I actually really like Jack Fruit but it is a texture that some might not enjoy. It’s almost like a green pepper feel – soft and squishy but also a little rubbery but the taste is very sweet.
It’s now grasshopper season here in Mityana and at night when you drive through down you’ll see all the bright lights shinning to attract them. I’ll try and get a photo of their “traps”. Randy from True Impact Ministries is visiting and he and Jeff bought some to try. I had Randy video my experience.
Wearing my new gomesi dress for two events this past weekend!
I attended an Introduction party on Saturday for Eva’s niece Edith. An introduction is where the groom is formally introduced to the bride’s family and also when he pays the dowry to her family/parents. Eva was what we’d call the host back home – the one who was to announce the groom. We arrived at the house around noon, the party started about 2pm and we didn’t get home until around 9pm. It was an amazing experience – so many gifts from the groom’s family, the bride to be changing multiple times and wearing four different dresses during the evening. I sat with Charles who is an “uncle” to Edith. I’m not sure of the blood relation but he was part of the group of men who were introduce to the groom’s family as uncles. He works on Patrick’s farm and is also a veterinarian. He was a great date, letting me know what was happening during the event, having with a photo session and encouraging me to love on the kids at the wedding who were excited to see a Mzungu.
On Sunday, at the Harvest for Christ Church in Kampala, they had a Cultural Event and I wore my gomesi dress again there. They had music, dancing and cultural dress all part of the event and I loved it all! I was also invited to be a part of the fashion show portion of the event but I didn’t get a photo of me on stage.
Between church and the cultural event on Sunday, Jeff, Margaret, Randy, Joan (one of Randy’s daughters/sponsored child) and I were able to tour the Parliament building for the Kingdom of Buganda. The building was completed in 1958 but the history of the kingdom goes back hundreds of years. It was only in 1962 when the Republic of Uganda became a country that a president was introduced for the whole country which is made up of many kingdoms/regions. The Buganda kingdom is the largest and oldest of the country and the people of Buganda adore their king.
