Busoga ordinations

I am horridly late in posting this… in Uganda I was either proctoring, marking, or recovering from exams before I came to the US, and in the US I’ve been enjoying my holiday.  However, I thought it wise to take advantage of this nifty internet speed and post photos while it doesn’t take long!

In August, one of my students was ordained in Jinja, which is in Busoga Diocese.  Jinja is about one and a half hours east of Mukono if there’s little traffic, which is certainly true when one leaves at 7:30 on a Sunday morning.

 The lighting is terrible here, but the view of Lake Victoria from the cathedral is stunning!

I must have been seated during the end of the first service (though honestly, there wasn’t much turnover after the service ended).  However, I’m fairly certain that there WERE two services because after the first ended, these gentlemen came out to sweep the altar area.  Having the altar in the center means that technically, no one has a bad seat – it’s an interesting concept.  I was seated “behind” the altar, and had a lovely view of everything.

David, my student, is in the center.  There were five more ordinands on the other side of the aisle.

I think the vicar (rector) was introducing the bishop.  The entire service was in Lusoga, though it was pretty easy to follow along.

Full house!  I love the gomesi material on the woman in the bottom right of the photo.  It was gorgeous, and the skirt had a slightly different pattern with the circles, which had to be how the material was made, because the dress is only made from one pattern.

David is our newest deacon!

It was rather difficult to get a picture of this, but there was a row of children in the front dancing, and the row kept growing.

My favorite part, however, was when the bishop pulled this girl from the end to come and dance front and center.  See the priest on the right also taking pictures?

 Christ’s Cathedral has stunning views of Lake Victoria.

 The architecture of the building fascinates me; I wonder whether it’s windy on the hill, and that’s what prompted the steeple to be architecturally transparent.

 With our newest deacon, Rev. David!

The people in the trucks were preparing to leave, and I assume they arrived the same way. Busoga Diocese is quite large, and people will travel huge distances to attend important functions.

Even though the text is in Lusoga, I bet you can find key phrases that indicate that this is the Nicene Creed (hint:  look at the beginning of the third line in the first paragraph, then five lines up from the bottom of the same).