Videos of Soroti and Kampala

 By Anthony:

So we live in a strange age. We live halfway across the world from our families and supporters and yet at the click of a button you can see what our city looks like and where we go day by day. Somehow it still surprises me how different life is for us compared to missionaries 50 years ago. I don't even have to do the video recording myself. You can simply look at what is already on YouTube.

First, here is a video of driving around Soroti. These are the very streets where we go to the market, go to the supermarket, go to the ATM, go to restaurants, visit friends, and do other errands in town. 

Second, here is a video someone took of a walking tour through the new market in Soroti. This is where we buy most of our food. The old market was just ramshackle wooden stalls with tarps overhead to block out the rain - very dirty. This new market is amazing.

Third, here is a video driving through a part of Kampala that we have driven dozens of times. This is the road that the American Embassy is on and is close to the World Renew office. Also on this road is the Embassy supermarket where we sometimes shop during Kampala visits, and also some of our favorite restaurants.

Toilets

 By Sara:

 There are many kinds of toilets in Uganda, but they can basically be divided into 3 categories:

1. Pit latrines.  This is simply a deep hole in the ground, covered with a cement slab that has a hole in the middle for you to squat over.  It can be inside a small grass-thatched hut or in a brick building like this one:

 2. Squatty potties connected to plumbing.

3. Western-style toilets.

There are usually more fun creatures inside an outdoor latrine (like bats, cockroaches, giant flat spiders...), but we have found frogs inside the shower before.  (luckily not in the toilet)

Languages in Uganda

 By Sara:

English is the official language in Uganda, but there are around 40 other languages spoken. 

Whenever we travel somewhere, we usually have a translator to translate into the local language, for the people who don't know English well or who have trouble understanding our American accents!  Here is translation from English into Lango in the district of Apac:

Even Ugandans need a translator when they travel to a place where they don't know the local language (which is most of the country, unless they are extremely multilingual).  Here, Stephen is getting help with translation into the Ik language, in the Karamoja region.

Jane can understand Lango, but she doesn't speak it well, so she also needed a translator in Aduku:

Cool Tools

 By Sara:

 This is a home forge for a blacksmith in a village:

This is maybe not so cool, but a guy welding wearing only sunglasses to protect his eyes (at least he's wearing sunglasses instead of nothing?)

If you need your tools sharpened, this is your man with his bicycle powered tool sharpener: