I'll Give You a Good Meal if You Castrate My Pigs



Herbert's pig house in rural Uganda, just outside of Kampala




Herbert loves his pigs




Herbert (second in from right) and his wonderful family




My new FB profile pic, can't get enough of these piglets!




This one was named Dominico after you know who because he invested in Herbert's farm.




Dominic and his photographer trainee



Boy is it great to hang around vets.  They do the dirty work, I photograph and practice my Luganda, and we all get a great meal in the end.  Dominic, Mac and Jonna are all vets, but I just love animals. Together we make a good team in Africa.  Everyone needs help with their animals, whether it is a dog, cat, pig or chicken, and of course they all want help for free.  We have a work friend named Herbert who has a busy but lovely farm in the rural area just outside of Kampala.  He invited us over to castrate his piglets, and we received a yummy traditional Ugandan meal, not to mention a peaceful afternoon from the polluted, crazy city in return.  His family is wonderful, and they love their animals too, which is a rare attitude to find in these parts.  As in the states, the animals are for growing and selling. 

Lunch included: bananas for a snack, pilau (flavorful rice), peas in the tastiest brothy sauce ever made, beef with broth, and the infamous bean-sweet potato mash, much like a sweet re-fried bean for all you Mexican food lovers.  A tray of perfectly ripe, juicy pineapple was for dessert.  Mmmmm good!  This meal takes a long time to cook and to buy the goods, so most Ugandans do not eat like this every day.  Having mazungus in the house can be a big deal, and if they come to fulfill a favor it is even a greater deal.  Not to mention the day was a holiday, Liberation Day, the day that the army marched into the capital in 1986-ish, so the whole family was home and Mac and Dom were off work =)   Herbert’s family was extremely welcoming and they are very warm people.

Piglets really are the cutest things I’ve ever seen.  If you haven’t noticed I have become quite the pig lover, one day we will have our own, with chickens!  I think I will start a pig orphanage, or better yet I will become a surrogate sow.  Farmers can give me a few piglets that are weaned, and I will fatten them up while giving them lots o’ love and a nice yard. They will be sold for the mazungu price and will have lived a nice life, or go to the farm to become mommies.  I like the latter idea better…

Anyway, the castration was “quick and easy”, and I won’t go into detail or post pictures, I’d rather forget I observed it all together.  The piglets scream and sound like little babies, that’s the worst part. But again, it’s “quick and easy”.  Sorry if you have a tough stomach and wanted to see. Dom has video.

Herbert and the family also have turkeys, chickens, very loud ducks, and guinea fowl.  They are healthy and happy.  The ducks and the guineas are used mostly as alarm system as the ducks can be quite territorial, and the guineas freak out if a predator is in the area.  There is a fish farm down the road managed by a Peace Corps guy.  We all took a walk and ran into a few cows tethered in the grass and munching away.

It’s getting hotter and drier here day by day.  It used to be bearable to walk in the sun during midday, but now you want shade at all times and it is no fun running errands midday.  At least it is mostly dry heat.  However, none of this is worse than the cold and snow you are having, sorry folks (we’ll be back in a month).  The next rains are expected at the end of February, this will cool things down, however these days Ugandans have learned not to have many expectations about the weather because the climate is changing.  By the way, I heard 3 airports on the East coast shut down again?  Yikes!  At least the Premiership is not playing in snow anymore.  That was ridiculous!  All of the games were re-scheduled after the Uganda newspaper we had with the full 2011 schedule was printed.  Hooray for the iPhone!