To boldly go where you haven’t ventured before

Visit the Pearl of Africa, and experience the world of the Abayudaya

Johnny Parker, David Freiman, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, Bob Watts and Jonathan Epstein stand with members of the Abayudaya community on either side.

In December 2024, several FJMC members from the Seaboard and Tri-State regions of FJMC journeyed to southeastern Uganda, to visit the Abayudaya Jewish community, which numbers more than 2,500 people in over 29 villages spread across the region.

The trip was led by David Freiman, former FJMC Abayudaya coordinator, and included FJMC Vice President Bob Watts, FJMC Seaboard Region Executive Vice President Johnny Parker and International Region Vice President and HaD’var Editor Jonathan D. Epstein, as well as others, and for most of us, it was our first time in Uganda. Watts and Epstein have since taken over as co-chairs of the Abayudaya Initiative.

It was a fascinating and inspiring experience, to meet a people that voluntarily adopted Judaism more than a century ago, and has since fully embraced it with an enthusiasm not often seen even in established communities in North America or Europe.

Today, the community – which is led by Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, who was ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles – has at least two schools, a hospital, and more than 15 synagogues, with Reform, Conservative and Orthodox represented.

It’s a community that struggles with day-to-day issues of poverty, food insecurity, and often inadequate living conditions, but maintains the joy of living and is eager for more contact with global Jewry and Judaism. And we want to take you back there.

Epstein and his wife are hoping to lead a 10-day return trip this coming December 2026, using the same American tour guide as before. We will fly into Entebbe (just south of the capital of Kampala), drive to Mbale in the east, and stay in tourist-level hotels.

We will visit several villages, including the main village at Nabugoye Hill, as well as Buseta, join the community for a Ugandan Shabbat with Rabbi Sizomu at the Stern Synagogue, and tour the Hadassah Primary School and Semei Kakungulu High School.

We will meet community members, learn the challenges they face and how they overcome them, visit ongoing projects, and see how they make a living through crafts and other entrepreneurial efforts.

We will also visit the source of the Nile River at Lake Victoria, see the beauty of Uganda and its national parks, hike Sipi Falls, learn to cook traditional African food, take a boat ride on the Nile, ride through the wilderness in ATVs, and experience Ugandan and African culture, music and dance. There are also options to add on a gorilla trek, chimpanzee trek or safari.

If this sounds exciting (it should) and appeals to you, please email for more information (including an itinerary and costs) and to indicate your interest, as we are currently assembling a roster of potential travelers. A minimum of 12 people is required to make the trip work.