Sunday, July 10, 2011

Uganda...A Fresh Perspective...

We have all seen it on tv and in pictures...the dirty, fly ridden kid, with tears in his eyes sitting in a slum...and yes, we do have those here in UG BUT I want you to see the pictures you don't ever see...A glimpse of what real life looks like here in Uganda...


Our International Airport - This is what you would see when you first arrive in UG


Inside of Entebbe Airport, Complete with Duty free stores...


Around Town...This is Kampala Road in the heart of our capital city. The Brown building with red letters on the left is our main post office...this is where I pick up packages sent to me :)


This is a Friday Night at Emin Pasha, a local hotel/restaurant/spa - On Friday nights they have a jazz band called Qwela...it's a great night to snack on good food, listen to good music and hang out with your friends!






This is Cafe Java's...it's kind of like our version of starbucks but it is also a full restaurant with all the "american" food you could want...My fav...An Iced Mocha and a Chicken Salad Sandwich.


This is Garden City, one of our malls. It comes complete with a casino, bowling alley, movie theatre, dance club, and food court.


Here's a peak inside Garden City, this is one of our grocery store chains called Uchumi. This particular grocery store also hosts a christian book store and electronics shop.


In Uganda, we drive on the left hand side and rather than having traffic lights everywhere we use these roundabouts at intersections.


This is the inside of the National Theatre, every few months they host musicals and plays here. My Ugandan sister Barbara is part of the theatre group so she can often be found singing on this stage.



This is the parliament building in the center of Kampala



This is where my sister Barbara works and one of our best options for car insurance.


Our football stadium, home to the Uganda Cranes...This is called Mandela Stadium



Kampala is home to many international schools, this one is KISU, which is a school for primary through high school age kids. My friend Jeff's kids go here...they have an amazing school campus!



Here is our national bank, Bank of Uganda...some of my Ugandan family members work here as managers and economists.


Yumm...another great food spot here in town is called Faze 2 - This is great for lunches or candle lit dinners.



This is downtown Kampala, the building you see straight ahead is home to many little shops BUT is also home to my church (Calvary Chapel Kampala) - the top floor is our sanctuary, and the one right below it are the church offices and sunday school rooms.


This is the Kololo airstrip with a great view of our capital city...large events are usually held here, such as concerts, fairs, motorcross events and political speeches.



Our golf course, in the center of our city...its soooo beautiful that it almost makes me want to learn how to play golf...humm...



This is the Speke, it is a hotel about 5 minutes drive from my house and has this amazing pool, house back riding, and water sports...It also has some great Indian food :)


The Sheraton Hotel...They have a great little dance club here where they like to play old skool music (60's-90's) videos...If you want to dance to the "YMCA" song, this is the place to do it :)



And...last but not least on my little tour of Kampala is the Serena Hotel...Its also a great place with an amazing seafood buffet and a lake in the lobby.


I hope you enjoyed my little tour...I am hoping this will help clear up the questions I get about how many wild animals I see on my way to work everyday! I'm also hoping some of my long lost friends from Cali may want to come visit me and this city I call home :)

3 comments:

J.Ryan Davidson said...

Hey Lena, this is Ryan from the 2010 TLI teaching team. Thanks for the pictures of Uganda--Christie and I are sitting here saying, "we love that place". Can you mail Cafe Java to us...?

Hope you are doing well!

Gayle said...

Thank you for the great tour of Kampala. Looks lovely! I have to say it is far more sophisticated and developed than I had envisioned.

May God greatly bless you for your faithfulness in serving Him there!

THE SUPERNATURAL said...

Hey Lena,on behalf of our country Uganda I would love to say thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You are God sent. May the Grace of God forever be upon you.