For Passover, I sent matzo to the Jews of Uganda. They've given me a gift as well
My friend Jacob reaches out to me in Albany, New York, 7,677 miles from his home in Mbale, Uganda. He is seeking matzo for Passover and prayers for his community, known as the Abayudaya. I will mail the matzo to him before the holiday.
Abayudaya means "People of Judah" in Luganda, a Bantu language spoken widely in Uganda. Their ancestors adopted the Jewish religion a little over a century ago. Their founder, the political leader Semei Kakungulu, renounced his political work for the British Empire and started studying Judaism, gradually developing a full commitment to the religion in the 1910s, bringing along with him other members of his family and extended community who had been studying and practicing with him.
The Abayudaya have faithfully practiced Judaism since then, at times suffering terrible persecution, most notably in the 1970s under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. Amin banned Jewish religious observances, forcibly closed down synagogues and forbade the ownership of Jewish books and Jewish burials — all in an effort to force Uganda's Jews to stop being Jewish.
Since then, the Abayudaya have painstakingly rebuilt their community through profound faith and determination as well as help from Jewish communities throughout the world. Today there are an estimated 2,500 Abayudaya Jews in Uganda — about 97 of them in Jacob's village.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/04/02/1167498909/for-passover-i-sent-matzo-to-the-jews-of-uganda-theyve-given-me-a-gift-as-well
