A Weekend of Bliss

The awesome singles went to Bushara Island for a weekend away. This island is located in southern Uganda near the Rwanda border. When we arrived at the island there was an orphangage visiting for the day and they did a dance performance. The last song that they performed was a simple song in English with funny motions, so they asked everyone to participate. It was a lot of fun.

On of the days we traveled by boat to another island where we were going to go to a well known market but instead we were led to a pygmi village where another dance performance took place. It was a day of the unexpected but a great adventure.
Below is a picture of the old pygmi man that led the way on our long hike to his village. Keep in mind we had no idea where we were going. How could you not follow such a cute old man though?

Many islanders use these dugout canoes to get from one island to the other. Let me tell you they are nothing like our canoes in America. Also, when they say dugout canoes they mean it.
On our way early in the morning to meet our matatu for our 11 hours back home to Bundibugyo.
I couldn't leave this picture out. This is of an island called punishment island. Many years ago they sent unwed pregnant women here to basically die. Pretty sad. I am glad they no longer practice that way of living.
I hope you enjoyed.

Come Together and Worship

A couple of Sundays ago some of the young girls in church performed a special song and dance. Dancing is a big part of this culture.
On our way to worship in Bubandi.
This is one of the church plants in Bubandi. It is not too far from the mission, maybe a few miles. The building looks small but I can tell you it is definately alive. This church is full of passion. They have started a building fund so that they can add onto their existing building.
These are some of the local children. Some of them attend Bubandi. The children come flocking when they see a Mujungu.
Heading home feeling blessed by the people in Bubandi and the message that was spoken through Bewah.

The Celebration

What a day of celebration. Everyone wanted to come and welcome Pat's visitors. It was like a huge party in front of our house.

This is Scott Will and Pat watching the festivities. Below part of the Masso family is also enjoying the dancing.


I am always amazed at the way that they can move their bodies and feet. Believe me, they can shake their hips. I have tried and it is not easy.
Maybe I will try to dance for you when I return. :)

My Journey

Above- Pamela and Joy, the two newest members of our team about to get on the MAF plane to head to Bundibugyo. Below- The Coast of Kenya

Lucky me. I was picked to help with a demonstration of what a witch doctor does. Quite and interesting experience. Dinner on the train. My first overnight experience on a train. It was a lot of fun.

The next two pictures are from the Christ School teacher retreat. I had a blast getting to know a lot of them better. Here we are at the source of the Nile.

Christmas

These are some pictures that I took on Christmas Day. In my update letter I wrote about how one of the traditions here is to decorate the front of the houses and trees in front with different plants and flowers. If you look closely you will see the trees decorated with balloons and plans and then in the other picture the children have collected different flowers for decoration.



Everyone was dressed up so beautifully on Christmas day. Most of the girls had on nice dresses. Some of the boys had on nice suits. This is the one day of year you will see that they really care about wearing really nice clothing.
The next few pictures are from our team celebration. We had a nice mean together and a gift exchange.

Liana, Louisa, and Gaby opening their gifts.

Elf Boogie and World AIDS Day

One of the team meetings at the beginning of December the kids and teachers performed the Elf Boogie coriographed by Matt. In honor of his birthday and just to be silly. The kids had a lot of fun and the parents loved it! I tried to get a couple more pictures of it on here but no luck.
These are pictures of some traditional dancing. This took place at the WORLD AIDS Day celebration. The pictures continue on the next post. I don't know why the one pic copied so many times.

Dancing

These pictures are from the World AIDS Day celebration. There was a group that came and performed some traditional dancing.

Pat had a table set up that promoted fighting AIDS. A lot of the women who have HIV made some beaded pins that mean Fight AIDS that were being sold.

Above is a picture of some of the mountains that are on one side of Bundibugyo. Below is a picture of some twins we saw when we were waiting for some bikers in the bicycle race.

Amy and I in the MAF plane. We just arrived right outside of Kampala. Boy were we happy to be on the ground.
Last Friday at the hospital in Bundibugyo town we had a Christmas celebration with the support group that Pat meets with each week. All the people in this support group are infected with HIV. We sang and even did some dancing. I got up with Biwah and did a little dancing myself. It was a lot of fun. Well, I hope you enjoyed these pics.