A Ugandan Wedding and Mission Call!

Well I experienced three Ugandan weddings in a matter of one hour. Rafting was two hours away in a place called Jinja which was why we went because the church branch had a conference there and we figured we would meet up with them. After the conference, we went to a wedding in which we had no idea was happening until we got in a taxi and ended up at a church building with the ward. The first couple just kinda stood there and barely held hands. The wife wasn't even wearing a traditional wedding dress. The minister said the words and when he said to kiss the bride, everyone cheered them on and it they didn't even kiss! The second and third couple walked down the aisle and they actually kissed and everyone freaked out. Here below we have the third couple...

They actually had cake which I was surprised about but they were little baby cakes. The only reason they had cake was because it represented something in which I can't remember. It was so weird to attend a wedding that was first of all shared by two other couples and not affectionate whatsoever and had no gifts, no food, no dancing. Nothing. It was honestly just the ceremony if you could even call it that. I was confused. 

Tyrel, who is in the ward got his mission call and opened it right before the wedding. He is the second missionary called that is from Mbale. He's going to Ghana and was so excited and said he was going to get fat. I asked him what the difference was between Ghana and Uganda and he said Ghana was more developed and they had more food. I would like to go to another African country to compare and see the differences. 

On the way home I sat next to Tyrel on the 2 hour taxi ride and asked him why everyone was freaking out about the couples kissing and why the couples really didn't show affection and he explained that's just their culture. It's considered "racy" to show physical touch to your spouse in public. In other words PDA is highly discouraged here in Uganda. Also, that was the first time the couple kissed!! It's not a big deal for them to kiss. We had like an hour conversation about it. Cultures are different.