Kristel Wyman Photography :: Vancouver Wedding Photographer

the day started before sunrise.  it was the last day that graeme and i were in kampala, so i was sure to wake up to enjoy the start of the day from our room (here).

well, it’s about freaking time that i post this wedding.  it was the foundation of my entire trip to africa, and it certainly did not disappoint.  it was a magical day on a small island on lake victoria, at a place called lagoon island resort.  i’m so happy that it turned out exactly as sarah and shane wanted — small, intimate, with all their closest friends and relatives from all over the world.  it was definitely a wedding day i’ll never forget, and i hope to have many more experiences just like it in the future.

complete side note:  the owner is a fascinating german man who i was incredibly inspired by, and hope to see again someday.  he told me that he used to work for a company, flying all over the world, and working more hours than should be legal.  and one day, he was on a flight for work from the u.s. to somewhere in asia (can’t recall where), and he had to switch planes in kampala.  and he just decided while he was in the airport that he was going to quit his job.  and so he didn’t get on his next plane, he just decided to stay, even though he’d never even been there before.  i was amazed by sarah as well.  she’s a canadian girl that grew up in switzerland and the u.s., and just decided she needed to go to africa.  so her parents supported her and helped her find work with an ngo in kampala for a few months, but she decided to stay, and here we are, several years later, with her now married to shane.

happy first anniversary to my now-good-friends, ben & esther.

the view we were greeted with the second we stepped out of the airport, as we waited for our taxi.

the largest, craziest avocado that ever existed.

this whole market is just for fruit salad.  they have all kinds of vendors and each one might have a few chairs and even a table, and they shout at you to buy fruit salad.  all the signs there are quite animated and say things like “give you lots of energy!” and it just seemed like a nice way to spend a day.

most people here, especially visitors, are probably annoyed by all the vendors.  i love it.  a lot.  while stuck in the traffic jam (forever), i had a great time seeing what all the people milling through traffic were selling — lampshades, cushions, newspapers, fruit, jewelry, beans, etc.  this man was selling newspapers in the middle of the (busy) street.  he was much more passive than the other sellers, of course.

the most amazing thing!  coming up a major road were these two guys with camels.  i don’t think i’d ever seen a camel before, and certainly not on a highway.  they offered me a ride, but i was too scared of the other cars.  although right now, i kinda wish i’d gone.

those are just a few of the things we saw on our first day in nairobi.  we were pretty tired after about 28 hours of travel, so we decided to go straight to our hotel.  the ride there was one of the most incredible times of my life.  firstly, it lasted forever.  i had heard how brutal the traffic in nairobi is, but i still really had no idea.  and driving on roads there is absolutely terrifying — so many cars and so many people out walking, and of course there are few sidewalks.  and i only saw 2 or 3 pedestrian crosswalks there (over several days).  one time, graeme and i were out walking and wanted to cross the street.  there were police standing nearby, and i actually asked them where we should cross, because i didn’t want to jaywalk in front of them — even though everyone else was, i figured it would be us to get a ticket or something, and how embarrassing would that be.  well, the police just looked at me with a very confused expression and just waved to the street and said, “just walk.”  that’s the way it goes there.  you just walk in faith.

so, we arrived at our hotel, and had to go through a few security checkpoints, since it is right across from the u.s. embassy.  it’s always weird to be somewhere where guards carry machine guns.  but we actually felt incredibly safe there.  people were SO nice.  we drew a lot of attention, and felt like everyone was staring at us (which, most of the time, was true), but it wasn’t even bad because so many people came up to us and said hi and welcomed us to kenya and wished us a wonderful stay.  the kindness of the people in kenya will be talked about more in future posts, along with the kindness of all the people we’ve met in each country.

internet here is painfully slow, but please be patient, i can’t wait to show you and tell you more.

…from a recent Ismaili wedding ceremony.