Acholi Wedding

I had the honor of attending the wedding of an Acholi friend of mine, Loyen David. Although it wasn't a 'traditional' tribal wedding, it was a wonderful time.

At left you see David with his new bride Acan Christine, dressed in traditional Karamajong atire -- the tribe of the bride. 

One tradition here that I really like is how they receive gifts.  As the drumming and music plays, the guests line up with their gifts and dance their way up to the newly weds waiting to receive them.  There is hooting and hugging and laughing as each person congratulates the new couple ... really a fun and touching time.

Gifts included presentations of songs, traditional Karamajong and Acholi dance; many 50K sacks of beans, rice, and flour; chickens; goats and household goods (my set of coffee cups paled in comparison). 

At left you see some of the wedding party coming with their gifts. That's my good friend Geofrey with the green bag (affectionately called 'Geofrito'). 
The line continued for some time as David is known and loved by many in this community. 

The bottom photo is me with Lamara, the daughter of Obwana Charles, a loved member of our ministry team.
I met David, Geofrey and Charles in 2006, during my first visit to Uganda.  I was greatly encouraged and in awe of their commitment to serve God at any cost.  They are members of an amazing ministry team who spent every night for several years loving and teaching the 100s of children who commuted miles each evening to sleep in safety.  These 'night commuter shelters' were set up to protect them from abduction by the LRA (a notorious, brutal rebel army who abducted 1000s of children during their 20+ reign of terror.  They were driven out of Uganda in 2007, though their terror continues in Sudan and the Congo).