Wednesday was a very special day as we were able to take to GEMs swimming at Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe. But, before we went, we posed for a team photograph. My apologies for the lower quality of the photo. This was texted to me and the resolution wasn’t as good as my other photos. The photo depicts our entire team of nine, along with the entire host family, outfitted in our new GEM tee shirts!

Grace and Francis Kyotobona are evangelists working with Life Ministry Uganda and longtime friends of Karen, our team leader. This is an arm of CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). It turns out the many foreign countries have their own name for the CRU organization within their country. It was a pleasure meeting and interacting with them for the few days they joined our team, but it was time to bid them a warm farewell as they returned to resume their ministry near Kampala.

Here are some photos taken while the staff was loading the GEMs onto their bus.

A note on traffic in Uganda. These photos do not do it justice. I think I was holding on and praying during some of the more dodgy maneuvers. Basically there is one rule: drive on the left hand side. Traffic lanes on most back roads do not exist– it is a sea of pedestrians, bicycles, cars, trucks, and motorcycles (boda bodas) jockeying for the best position. Inches count and no space is wasted! The meme “stay in your lane” does not apply here. Did I mention there are zillions of boda bodas?

Time at the pool. Most of the children at GEM are non-verbal. That said, you can tell when they are having fun. Today, they were definitely having fun!

On the way back to GEM from the pool, we stopped at a local outdoor market to do some shopping. The last booth I visited was selling art created by this man. I ended up purchasing a piece that used to hang in the blank spot on the wall behind him. The painting has been packaged for travel, but when I get home, I’ll take a photo and post it below!