My First Ever Goat Roast

June 24, 2010

Today after work, we went to the WSH surveyors’ house (those who are conducting the baseline survey for us) instead of returning back to Mbarara. Because we hadn’t had an opportunity to meet them yet, we’d decided upon a goat roast--like a BBQ but a much bigger deal in Uganda, since goats are relatively expensive here--to get to know them. In attendance were ourselves, the 20 surveyors, and people from MMHF who have been crucial to our work as well (Dr. Mugerwa, his brother James, Bob, Becky, Christine, Fiona, Gloria, Sister Jackie, etc.).

We all chipped in money to purchase three goats, although it ended up being way too much, especially since most of the girls in the group are vegetarian here or eat very little meat. Because there would have been little other food than goat and matooke there, we ended up U-picking corn from the field next to our health intervention location: 40 ears for 4,000 shillings (~2 dollars). The corn, once grilled, ends up tasting more like popcorn than what I think "corn on the cob" should taste like, but it’s still pretty good once you get past the initial hardness of the kernels.

What else happened at the roast? The girls fawned over a 7-month old baby named Princess, I actually tried a small piece of goat (about the size of my thumbnail), and I was forced to drink directly from a glass soda bottle (which you’re not typically supposed to do) because there weren’t any straws. Lauren, Claire, and I all cleaned the lip of our bottles with a handy sanitizer wipe though, so I think everything is going to be okay. Good purchase, Mom!

Pictures from the goat roast will be uploaded soon! We’re headed to Lake Mburo tomorrow; we’re departing early at 6 AM and should be back in the evening in time for the U.S. World Cup game. Expect to see a blog post on it next week!