Uganda: Day One & Two.

we made it to africa!

after three days of travel and three different time zones, we were beyond exhausted.

to make matters worse the airlines lost jeff's one and only bag.

 they had no idea where it was (new york, london, kenya or uganda??) 

and they were unable to track it in their system.

awesome. 

(poor guy, jeff only had one outfit to work with.

 eventually they found his bag after 4 looong days.

 honestly, it was a christmas miracle seeing that bag again!)

from the airport we had a six hour drive to our destination, the town of mbale, 

where we'd be staying for the next two weeks.

at this point, i couldn't believe i was really in africa.

 it was eye opening and humbling to see the difficult circumstances these people faced.

 so many thoughts raced through my mind as i watched countless people out my window.

i learned quickly that africans were as wonderful as i'd always hoped and imagined.

 i'll never forget, when i made eye contact with someone (a child or even an adult),

 their faces would immediately light up and they'd flash a big beautiful smile.

it was in those moments,  that i knew i was going to LOVE it here.

 later that evening, we had our first ugandan meal at a local cafe.

we ordered matoke (mashed up plantains), rice and beans.
all three of these items are considered staple foods and are eaten by everyone.
i thought the matoke was flavorless and kinda gross. that was my first and last time eating it!

at the cafe, we met some of the volunteers for the first time.

there were 22 volunteers living in the same house for the two weeks we were in uganda.
(many of them had already been in country for 3 months!)

we loved getting to know these wonderful people.

(can you tell jeff and i had been traveling for three days?... yikes!)

the next morning we attended church at the mbale branch.
it was fast and testimony meeting and we loved hearing the members testimonies.
it was incredible to see how consistent the gospel is, even half way around the world.
we were also pleased to learn that the members spoke english so we understood everything.
we really enjoyed meeting everyone and creating friendships.

 next up is our first boda boda ride!

 a boda boda is basically a motorcycle and it was our main form of transportation in uganda.
we rode these everyday to our different projects and could get most places for 40 to 80 cents.
it was always a gamble whether we'd get a good driver or a reckless one...
it was so much fun, i'm wishing we had boda boda's in nyc!

 sarah and i at the fresh market.

this is where we'd buy all our fruits and vegetables for the week.

these beautiful necklaces are made by the local women.

sarah, one of the volunteers, started a bead and jewelry making project.

she taught a special group of women different items to make and sell.

now, many of these women are leaning how to support themselves and their families.

i think it's pretty amazing work!