I greeted Ted at the airport, Dec 19th, with some tea and digestives. Our first day together in Nairobi, we went on a lovely walk in the arboretum :)
There we are! The arboretum is a favorite place for Christians to go and pray and for university students to relax and sleep - this day, we just enjoyed a lovely walk, happy to be together again after almost 7 months apart!
I took Ted to Kibera, to visit Pastor Josphat at Word Fellowship Centre, and to meet Ruth
Here we are inside the church
Bella!!
Ted gave her a "Christmas cracker" which contained this regal crown
Uh-oh, crown fell off.
We're out on Lisa's balcony here.
The following day Ted's good friend Rachel, who is doing Peace Corps in Kenya came for a visit! We had a great time hanging out for a day and a half
Uhuru Park, right at the foot of the hill Lisa lives on
Ain't we a happy bunch?
On Sunday, after going to Mamlaka Hill Chapel, we visited Virginia's church in Uthiru. I was really excited to do this, as I had wanted to see Virginia's home and meet some of her family. Virginia, by the way, was my greatest friend in Kenya. She works for Lisa and stays there through the week.
There's Virginia and me.
She has several nieces and nephews that she takes care of. Here are Johannes and Gloria :)
Virginia's brother made us a delicious dish of githeri for lunch, and we all enjoyed it together.
Gloria modeling some of Virginia's hand-made jewelry
Uthiru
So beautiful... here begins our 15-hour bumpy bus ride from nairobi to kampala, uganda
I knew from my previous bus-ride to Ruth's village that the bus kicks up tons of dust from the road, blows it through cracks in the window and fills my hair with dirt! So this bandana is my weak attempt to prevent that from happening again :)
Acacia trees - a common symbol of Africa
Sunset as we arrived in Uganda. We didn't arrive in Kampala until 10pm at night, and we left Nairobi at 7am!
The Oluka's house! We stayed here, in an area outside of Kampala called Banda, for 10 nights, interrupted in the middle by a night trip to Jinja and a 4 day excursion south to Rwanda.
Ted and me with Ben Oluka (the father) and two of his nephews - Emma and Enoch on Christmas Day
Turkeys at the Oluka's house! We ate turkey on Christmas day with the family :)
Ben and Joy Oluka with family and me :)
Ted bought me those earrings for Christmas :)
Deliverance Church Makarere, the Oluka's home church where we visited on Christmas Day.
Nativity set at church. I think most Africans attend church on Christmas day, instead of Christmas Eve like the American tradition
Christmas cracker hats! In the absence of Christmas trees and stockings, we had to celebrate somehow.
Mr. ted bought me roses ... what a guy. *big smile*
Oluka relatives
Relaxing on Christmas day, this is little Enoch, what a cutie!
Ted with a chicken, oh my!
National Performing Arts theater in Kampala. We saw a pretty mediocre production :p But I spent a lot of time at the Crafts Village right next door, so there are some good memories associated with the place!
Faythe Oluka was our great friend and tour guide throughout our 10-day stay in Kampala. On our first day in town, Boxing Day, she walked us around to the main governmental buildings (here we are in front of Parliament) and sites of interest in town.
These gnarly, huge birds stake out in this trees in downtown Kampala. Aren't they nuts?
Look how HUGE they are!
Ted, future practitioner of law, in front of Uganda's Supreme Court!
Colorful cool market in Kampala
Yep, that's me with a grasshopper! This is a relatively expensive Ugandan snack, liked by many! I gave it a try (after spitting it out once, I got it down the second time) as amused store-keepers looked on ;)
Banda - walking up the road to the Oluka's house
...at the end of each day. We were commonly greeted by children bouncing up and down, shouting "how are you? how are you? how are you?" i'm tellin' ya, it's their favorite (and only) english phrase... One day, about 6 children just ran up to us and gave us HUGE hugs. what a random and lovely treat! haha
Our day and night excursion to Jinja - about 2 hours from Kampala, the town at the source of the river Nile. Here we are with the wife of Ted's good friend John, whom he met in Cairo this past year.
Nile
Regina and me :)
Taking a *boat* onto the Nile. John and Regina just led us around - we were hopping on and off boats, walking around jungle paths, just enjoying the ride!
The newly-weds, John and Regina. John just finished his masters in Cairo, allowing him to come home and marry his sweetheart.
At the source ... the four of us explored the area where the Nile emerges from Lake Victoria, widely regarded as *the* source of the longest river in the world.
Aren't our bright orange vests the *coolest*??
Goofballs! (Oh my, I think that's a vocab word I picked up from Ted...)
I think you can tell how camera happy we are, huh? Just couldn't stop snapping. I think this is a mixture of me being so happy to have a camera once again, *and* my and Ted's giddiness to simply be in each other's presence. Awwww ;)
Our boat driver - who I think was some sort of relative of Regina's...
There's our boat.
Ghandi! What are you doing here?! Ohhh ... your ashes were scattered at the source of the Nile?? I see. Cooool!
Playing in the park!
Boda-bodas ... our favorite form of east african transporation!
Nice, looong boda-boda rides. It took me a couple tries to feel comfortable with sitting "side saddle," which is what all the ladies do. However, I finally got the hang of it - though I never looked as cool and relaxed as the locals :)
Bujagali Falls.
Hmm, didn't read the sign mister?
Boat driver no. 2, on our second water venture. This time, we explored the water and terrain surrounding Bujagali Falls.
I just can't get over how cool I am in bulky bright orange. ;) Ted couldn't either. That'd why he snapped this photo without my knowing.
I had to touch it! Cause in just a couple weeks I would be seeing the Lower Nile ... in Cairo!
Isn't our driver COOL? I love his shades.
View of the Nile in Jinja
The home where John and Regina are staying in Jinja
Dirty feet! All those boda boda rides kick up a LOT of dust.
Moooooo. Back in Kampala for a few more nights, before our departure for RWANDA.
Fun with Faythe.
View from the Oluka's home.
Happy Birthday, to David Oluka! Ted and I cooked an "American" meal for the family - burritos! I thought they turned our rather nice, considering the improvising we had to do, using chapatis for tortillas. We also made a fruit salad, and got ice cream and cake for dessert in honor of David's recently-passed birthday. We also played American and Ugandan trivia. Perfect that David ended up being the winner - cause the cake served as his prize! ;)
Streets of Kampala
Meeting Ted's friend, Hanifa. She leads his cell group Bible study in Cairo, and was home in Kampala for the holidays
Border crossing - heading to Rwanda.
Okay ... neither Ted nor I knew that we were about the visit the most stunning and gorgeous country. Once we walked across the border and hopped on our bus again the scenery became so dramatic ...
Walking across the border in Gatuna
See? Oh it gets better...
Hotel Des Milles Collines. If you've seen the film or heard about Hotel Rwanda, this is the actual hotel where that event took place. If you haven't seen Hotel Rwanda, I recommend that as well as a film called Shooting Dogs (may have a different name in America, that's the British title) about the Rwandan Genocide
Ted and I did a 2 hour bus tour of Kigali that was totally worth it. The first stop was at the memorial for the 10 Belgian soldiers who were killed. The bullet holes are still splashed across the building on the left. The murder of the UN soldiers was a strategic move to get the UN to completely pull out of the country
Kigali Town (pronounced Chigali by the nationals)
Hey Ted :)
The city, is built into a series of hills. I had never seen anything like it!
Hi!
A handful of Rwandan Francs. I just thought the money was pretty ... :)
The Genocide Memorial. This was the main stop on our bus tour - we spent 2 hours there, and it was just barely enough. The memorial, built on the site of a few mass graves, was so moving. Ted and I returned the next night for a film screening and survivor testimony
Going out to the memorial gardens...
View of the mass graves
1,000,000 people died in the genocide.
Change of mood here - this is the Compassion Rwanda office. Ted sponsors a child that lives in a village one hour outside of Kigali. We visited him, one fine day, with a Compassion staff worker!
When we arrived in the boy's village, 2 rows of children were singing and dancing to greet us. They are members of the choir at this Compassion project. They were sooo sweet, and you could tell they've done many greeting dances like this before :)
Ted and his 11-year-old boy, Mukama. Mukama was very quiet and shy, but his parents say he is often this way - a very good, rule-abiding little boy. Sweet :)
But his shy-ness shed away once we asked him to sing us his favorite song (Mukama is also a member of the children's choir).
Here he is, singing and dancing! Ted and I even got up and joined the party
And of course we had to reciprocate by singing a little ditty of our own!
Mukama presenting a gift to Ted...
It was a traditional Rwandan basket filled with peas and eggs, eggs laid by the chicken that Ted's support allowed the family to buy.
Ted with Mukama and Mukama's parents and aunt.
Ted with Mukama and Eugene, the Compassion Sponsor Visits specialist that took us to Mukama's village
Farewell song from the children
So our time in Rwanda was awesome, and packed! Our last day there, we finally did it ... we took a safari! As an early birthday gift, by parents helped cover most of the cost, allowing Ted and I to have such a cool day in Akagare National Park, which is along the Rwanda-Tanzania border.
Impalas, the most common animal we saw
So these photos don't require much explanation ... we drove through the park for about 4 whole hours, and these are the awesome things we saw! :)
Giraffes, ooooohhh
Um, that's my best impersonation of a giraffe =)
I believe Ted has found a better way to embody the giraffe physique. :)
That's our car! The roof thing popped up, letting us stand most the time ... this was a full on safari man! :)
View of one of the two large lakes in the park
Zebra!
If you look reeeeal close, you can see a monkey - these guys were hilarious to watch!
Who's that in the middle of the road?
Three hippos soaking in the lake.
Hello Ted!
Baboons! The highlight of my day! I saw one briefly on my way to Ruth's village in Kenya, but I so badly wanted Ted to catch a glimpse of one in the wild -- and we got the best look at 'em!
We observed 15 baboons for about 10 minutes or so -- they got close to our van cause our driver was throwing out banana peels. Not sure how "ok" that is ... but the park ranger didn't seem to mind ...
This big fat bully stole almost all the peels.
Goodbye baboons...
Ted and our driver for the day. I'm so glad we had the chance to do this - thank you mom and dad! :)
Ted and his Rwandan friend Charles. Charles did the same Masters program in Cairo that Ted's Ugandan friend John (the one we visited in Jinja) did. Charles is the one that found a great hotel for us in Kigali and took us to some cool local places to eat, etc. He was great to have around.
Interesting -wasn't expecting to pass this on our bus back to Kampala!
Back in Kampala for 3 days before departing for Cairo (via Nairobi), we visited the Compassion Uganda office. The wonderful staff worker on the right showed us alll around the office, even inviting us to have lunch with everyone. I actually met the man in the middle, Peter, in San Diego at a Compassion event last summer, the very DAY before he flew back to Uganda to work for Compassion there! It was so cool to run into him again!
Flying over Lake Victoria on our 1 hr flight from Kampala to Nairobi. *Sniff* Only hours remained before I'd have to bid East Africa farewell :( Ted and I were able to visit Lisa and Bella and Virginia in Nairobi for a few hours before heading back to the airport for our early morning flight to Cairo ... I miss everyone already, what an amazing ten weeks!
