Happy 50th Year of Ugandan Independence

Today is Uganda's Independence Day. I've heard mixed opinions regarding the feelings of today, but overall, people are celebrating and looking forward to what the next 50 years may offer. Tonight I'm heading over to my counterpart's house for dinner. They're slaughtering a chicken in honor of the big day and Janet has offered to allow me to kill the chicken this afternoon. Don't think I'll take her up on her offer. Maybe some other time...

I went to the piggery this morning to meet the 6 new piglets born at the piggery last night. They and the mother seem to be healthy and doing well. Unfortunately, 2 of the piglets from the previous litter aren't doing so well. They're much smaller than the other piglets and don't seem to be getting enough milk. The mother doesn't seem to be producing enough milk to feed all the babies even though she's eating and drinking constantly. I've been doing some online research to see if I can feed them at home and may give it a try, but it seems pretty risky. We don't have any manufactured piglet feed available here, so the best I could do would be warm cow's milk. I can't even find goat's milk although there is no shortage of goats roaming around the village. Anyone have any orphan pig rearing knowledge to share? I'll call the vet tomorrow to see what he recommends. In any case, I couldn't take them until tomorrow since my cooking gas ran out last night and I'll need to travel to Kitgum to get it refilled before I'd be able to heat the milk for the piglets. Poor lil piggies.

Not much else new going on around here. We had a PTU Board of Directors meeting last week where I met two great representatives from the Gulu University PTU club. I think they'll be great partners in spreading PTU's mission and representing the organization outside of Pajule. I also traveled to Kitgum to meet some PCV friends for dinner on Saturday night. Last weekend we constructed a cob oven in their yard, and on Saturday, we made a few loaves of bread and baked ziti! YUM. For breakfast, we made an egg casserole and cinnamon rolls. So good. I think I may find myself at their house every weekend from here on out! Hoping that they'll come to Pajule to help me construct mine!

The oven in action. Made from local bricks and stones, firebricks and cob (mud + clay + sand + poop)

The delicious egg casserole that my friend Aubrey whipped up for breakfast

The Gulu University students and me in the office

Opwonya Denis, Okidi Joseph, Achola Nelly, Owira Emmanual and Akena Leonsyo

The meeting gang

The new kids on the block

Newbies

The spotted one with the really pink nose is who I'm most concerned about. Too little.
This is also a very pitiful picture of him... he was prancing around just a few minutes before.