The wedding of the year is that of Joseph Ssmpala to Vilate Nielsen yesterday in Jinja.  Joseph is the second counselor in the Jinja District and a PEF student.  Vilate came to Uganda to work with Melissa (other girl in photo) who runs an NGO jewelry store in Lugazi.  Summer is a busy time with guest NGO workers and Vilate and Joseph fell in love and got married in short order.

Vilate called me the night before the wedding and asked if I would play Cannon in D and  accompany the opening and closing song at the wedding ceremony.  I felt honored and also sad for them that I was the best there was to play at their lovely celebration.  

A tradition for the bride and groom to cut the ribbon on this arch as they arrive at the wedding reception.  The reception was held at the Uncle's home.  I guess you would call it a garden wedding with lots of happy relatives of Joseph to celebrate with them.

This was the fanciest wedding cake we have seen in Uganda.  I worried that the lower layer would lose all the roses that were beginning to slide off the cake.  We left before they got around to cutting the cake.  

We had a good turnout at the Busia fireside.  We left in time to get there and set up but 1/4 of the way there we realized neither of us had brought cash for gas and realized that we may not have enough for the trip.  No one here uses visa.  What a trial it is to always remember to have cash.  We always carried emergency cash in the truck but had to use it last week to help with Pres. Charles' wife's emergency surgery.  Since we had forgotten to replenish the fund we had to turn around and go home for the cash.  Luckily the two hour trip only took us one hour forty-five so we weren't late.  Being late around isn't that big a deal.  Not many came anyway till a half hour after we were to start.

This is Wilberforce, named after one of my favorite characters in history.  He attended the Self Reliance/PEF workshop in Busea.  He is too old for a PEF loan and has just started a shop to sell milk.  He wanted us to donate a counter to his shop.  Wasn't he listening when we talked about the evil of "something for nothing"?  We gave him a Self Employment Workshop booklet and showed him how to budget his money so he could save and buy his own counter.

I had never seen this fruit before coming to Uganda.  Maybe we have them in the produce department of the grocery store but I don't remember seeing or hearing of passion fruit.  Right now it is my favorite fruit drink.  Until this week I had no idea how to make the juice.  Mary, the lady that cleans for us taught me how to make a yummy passion fruit juice.  

The same day I made pesto carrots, one of my favorite vegetable dishes from home.  Since getting a blender I picked fresh basil from the garden and blended it with all the fresh ingredients like at home.  Wow, there was almost no flavor.  

We find that dishes we made at home all have the same problem here.  The basil smelled as pungent as ever and so did the garlic and cheeses. Why does this happen?

 We are looking forward with mixed emotion for the next 3 1/2 months.  We've loved being here but sometimes home looks just wonderful.

Another activity this week was tearing one bathroom apart when we discovered the built in tub had a leak behind the door leading to the plumbing.  The 3-4 inches of water was a great place for mosquitoes to grow.  Rand couldn't get to the tub without removing the toilet.  Nothing he has done yet has stopped the drain from leaking.  We've learned from experience that telling the landlord is futile and hiring our own plumber means going to get someone then going to get parts then taking them home afterward.  Such a bother when something goes wrong that it is easier to try and figure it out ourself.