LEAD Uganda

One of the things I have been spending a lot of time and energy on over the past few month, and especially over the past few weeks, has been planning for our upcoming trip to Uganda. Unfortunately, Tomi will not be able to join us this year because she only gets 10 vacation days!!!

Last year, just four of us went for an "exploratory" trip. This year I am leading a team of 14 to experience some of the harsher realities of Uganda, and to teach educational seminars for the children in the LEAD Uganda Program (www.leaduganda.org). There are currently 75 kids in the program - former child soldiers, AIDS orphans, child laborers - who are now in some of the best schools in the country. The program is preparing them to become the future leaders of their own country.

Simply pumping foreign aid into developing countries is not a viable long term solution. Instead, the LEAD Uganda Program - Forefront has become a significant partner with the organization - equips gifted kids with the skills and abilites to forge a better future for the country.

It is quiet a challenge for me to plan and lead a trip of this caliber, but I am confident that it will be mutually beneficial for the students in the program as well as the people from Forefront coming on the trip. We will be in Uganda from August 18th to the 28th.

pele o!

(photo: left: my grandmother, my mother as a young
woman and my father as a young man)

Wanna learn yoruba? Here's a quick lesson for you.

Bawoni (Bah woah nee) How are you?
Daa daa ni (dah dah nee) Good
E she (eh shay) Thank you
E Kaabo (eh kabow) Welcome
Odaaro (oh dah row) Goodbye
Odabbo (oh dah boh) Goodnight


Wanna know what Yoruba music sounds like? From my parents generation sunny ade and from my generation styl-plus

birthday wellies

Who doesn't like a good surprise? Two weeks ago, i celebrated my 26th birthday. To keep it simple, I took a handful of friends to Atlantic City-I've never been before and thought why not. I had a great time and left thinking, my birthday turned out great. I wasn't expecting anything more but lo and behold, Jacob and Ferris had something else for me. On my actual birth date, they manage to get a handful of friends together, into my apartment for the surprise. Well the surprise was on them. For me, unexpectedly seeing 15 crowded friends in my living room had me in serious freak out mode. This in turn made everyone else scream. When I finally calmed down, I felt really honor to have all of those people in my life. Simply amazing people.Good times with good people. One sweet part were the wellies I got as a gift. I LOVE the color red and have been achin' for these for quite some time. This birthday was great and it was definitely one for the memory books.

Run! Skip! Hop! We got married!

We know, we know. You've been asking for these pictures for sometime now. Well now we have a flickr site you can check out to see those images. Check out flickr.com/photos/jacobandtomi and you'll see images from our wedding. Those images were used in a book Jacob and I made (via Blurb) for each member of our wedding party, our parents and grandparents. To give each book a unique twist, the last page included a scanned handwritten note, explaining how much we love them all. Okay, so click on our flickr link to see how that day unfolded from our point of view.

We must be compatible

It's been over 400 days of marriage. Oh, my, how time flies by! We hope you enjoy these quick snippets into our lives. Whether you live across the street, the country or even the world, we hope to share with you what we've been up to these past 400 odd some days.