It's Easter

We’re enjoying a long four-day weekend. The city is pretty quiet because Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays. Kampala clears out as so many Ugandans go to their home villages for extended time with family.

On Palm Sunday and the day before, every street hawker put their regular goods aside and sold palm branches to be waved in church. Sunday morning, people lined the roads and walked to church with the palms in their hands. Our church hosted a small children’s parade reenacting Jesus coming into Jerusalem at the beginning of what we now call Holy Week.

Good Friday found us at a market across town just toward the end of a large gathering of local Catholic parishes in the fields of a nearby school. At the conclusion of the outdoor mass, hundreds of people joined together in a processional down the adjacent street. We happened to arrive in the middle of the parade. Many carried crosses, waved colorful flags and sang. Traffic was a bite of a snarl but it gave us a chance to stop and enjoy the festivities.

This weekend, we joined some other families last night and will again on Monday to celebrate with special meals. Saturday night’s dinner included friends from Ireland, Switzerland, Italy and a number of Ethiopians. We brought Spike Ball for the kids (including Scott) and shared really good food.

The spontaneity and the welcome of the international community is really a gift that we have loved. There’s always an attitude of “lets do something” and “bring along anyone you know.” There are no apologies for doing things last minute and you often find that you invite yourself along because everyone realizes that time together is short and we need to take full advantage of opportunities to gather.

Last night, a discussion about the best Ethiopian food in town (a family favorite that we’ve struggled to find here) resulted in us being invited to dinner next Sunday to the home of new friends, Nardos and Giuseppe for “The BEST Ethiopian Food in Kampala” – cooked by Nardos. We can hardly wait.

Today we attended our small international church not far from our apartment and enjoyed lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant.

We are thankful for this season. Although we miss our girls and all of you this Easter, we are grateful to be celebrating Jesus’ resurrection and this season that God has given us.

May you have a time of gratitude and reflection today as well!

P.S.

Weekend Highlight - We left 12 Easter goodie bags (special candy and surprises from the US) on the doorsteps of our neighbor kids. Little ones from the UK, Germany, Ethiopia/Canada, Belgium/US, Netherlands/Nicaragua, Ethiopia/US, and Pakistan opened their door this morning to a little surprise from the Easter Bunny.

(We didn’t put them out last night as the monkeys would steal them.)