Photo Journal: The First Days in Uganda

A combination of photos from my iPhone and Jess's Canon t2i.

Distorted panoramic from our hotel roof.

On top of our hotel.

Our morning meeting spot at the hotel. I was excited about the Coke. It's real Coke.

(no caption needed)

This was our meeting place later in the day outside Kampala, a church and school building, near one of Forgotten Song's chicken farms they helped launch.

Ringing the school bell.

Matthew, our driver. He works as a mechanic most of the week, and he farms some acres of land for his biological mother on the weekend; he calls her daily. He was adopted and raised by Pastor Joel Bukenya and Joel's brothers, but he's kept contact with his biological mom.

There is a very great push for AIDs awareness in Uganda, from billboards to wall-paintings to signs like these.

A more humorous example of the AIDs campaign.

Thug chicken. A thigen.

Joshua Motes (left) and Charles Davidson (right: Forgotten Song founder) in the middle of sharing one of the three hundred jokes or stories they detailed over the trip's duration. They're best buds.

Simply Jess. My boo.

We went to a crusade, similar to our "revivals," led by a man named Robert Kayanja. A large soccer field was filled with people, mostly standing, for a few hours, in one of the biggest slums in Uganda. There was a lot of worshipping and a little bit of talking. Kayanja then prayed for physical healing, and after perhaps ten or fifteen minutes of prayer, the following two hours were filled with people coming on stage, carrying crutches (one even carried a wheelchair), sharing testimonies of countless miraculous healings of all kinds. This crusade was a days-long event and we went to the first night, and heard of many more healings over the nights to come. I know little about Kayanja and how great a guy he is, but I know God's power was shown very evidently in incredible ways to these people who desperately believed and trusted God for healing, people who have no money to turn to medicine. It was a great experience.

Pals at the crusade.

At the crusade.

A group of kids hanging out in a slum near the crusade.

He saw his picture on the iPhone.

The king's palace.

A night out in town found us at a second-floor restaurant with a view of this bazaar. The small lights on the ground are kerosene lanterns, lighting up the vendors' wares.

Photo bomb, by Sam.

This is a Ugandan "mall cop." Don't think about stealing those Nike's kid.