The Abayudaya and more

Rafting on the Nile river near Jinja, Maya is soaked in water and cannot be seen

Fish at Gaaba beach in Kampala. You can get a whole delicious fish grilled right there for cheap!

Night falls in Gulu (Northern Uganda) at my new humble abode . I actually left one night later, $14/night was too expensive, I found a place down the road for $10/night and moved 

One the bus stop you have your choice of foods from the hawkers including grilled goat gizzards and sometimes real meat, but you can never be sure, it's a bit risky.

At Lacam lodge near Sippi falls where we stayed for a beautiful but short time

Just a quick update from Uganda: The last few weeks have been very busy with Maya visiting and then some friends from Rwanda coming for a weekend of camping and white water rafting on the famous Nile River. I had never realized how fun rafting is, but most of the time you don’t fall into such warm water that also moves like the rapids do in Jinja. The fun thing about doing this sort of thing here is you don’t have the same crazy regulation and safety rules that I feel like sometimes reduce fun in the U.S.

As crazy as rafting and the gorillas were (see my last entry), visiting the Abayudaya Jews in Mbale in some ways was crazier. The Abayudaya literally mean “Jews” in the local language here and what’s amazing is that somehow in Uganda of all places, people chose to be Jewish without prompt (they had never even met a Jew). The real origin reasons are probably more political, having to do with the British colonizers and missionaires. Hearing their story actually made me think about what the real differences are between Jews and Christians besides the whole Jesus thing. There first Ugandan Jews converted just after the turn of the century and grown men were willing to be circumcised (I don’t think they had a moil)! There are just a few thousand Jews in Uganda today but they are growing as more people find out. It was a bit eerie and amazing all at once to be hearing the same songs in Hebrews song in such different styles and with the local Luganda being mixed in and being the only white people in the room. I guess the Jewish cultural stereotypes have been so ingrained in my head that it’s hard to imagine it differently from your mother yelling at you for choosing the wrong color sweater (see Sarah Silverman’s quip in this video) It was a powerful experience and the community was incredibly welcoming. It was cool hearing peoples' stories and learning about life in the community. It’s also nice to finally not have someone pushing Jesus on me here. It's just so strange to find (non-white) people in East Africa that are different just as you are different.