The Plight of the Pig

Ahh...our pig. 

Well, here's the 'tail' of "The Pig That Got Away".....

It's been about a month now, since I was told our pig escaped. Yes, you read that correctly - the pig ESCAPED. 

I have only seen this pig 1 time - when I first arrived at site. She is surrounded by a fence made of thick wooden sticks, and in a very small space and hardly has any room to move. I thought "wow, that is no way to live. And here these people of the village pride themselves in not using factory farms and their animals roam and eat until its their time. I don't understand." 

I asked why they didn't make the fenced area larger for her to move around, and my brother told me that she is very mean and would get out. Ok. Got it. I am going to agree with this, since I would hate to come in contact with the pig one night while walking to the latrine. Even though she has no room to walk around in her little fenced area. But, this is how they do it out here...and I'm the foreigner, so who am I to disagree?

Anywho, apparently the pig got out of her cage. So, of course, I asked "How did she escape?"  

Well, apparently, another pig helped her get out. 

What?! Another pig HELPED her? 

Of course, I asked "How did this other pig help our pig escape?"

The answer is that the other pig dug at the dirt, until the wooden fence could move. 

Ok. This is just too much for me to grasp. ANOTHER pig helped dig a way out for OUR pig to escape. 

And even though my brother laughed as he told me this, he still said it, as if this is a common everyday occurrence. 

So, the plan was to look for the pig that weekend.

Of course, I ask "How does one look for a pig in a village?"

They tell me you just walk around. And when I asked "How do we know someone else won't take our pig?", they told me, no, this wouldn't happen. Apparently, that is a big no-no here in the village. My other sister, Heeno, also told me that usually the pigs can be found at the bore holes where the water is. 

Ahhh...ok...makes sense now. 

??

This girl from NY is still confused about how another pig was the accomplice. 

Anyway, the weekend passed, and we didn't look for the pig. About 2 weeks later, my brother was supposed to go looking for the pig, but ended up tracking down some thieves in a nearby town (10km away) ON FOOT by following their footprints in the sand. But that's a whole other blog post...

So I finally told Nafimane, my brother, that the next time he goes looking for this pig, I'm coming along! I have for to see this - for real!

And the plan was- we would find this pig, and then have a feast!

Well, the other morning, on my way to work, as I was walking with Nafimane on his way to school, he tells me "Oh, Miss Johanna, (which, by the way, I think is so cute when the kids call me that) we found the pig!"

I said "What?? You found the pig? Where was she??" 

He said earlier that morning, he was wondering what his dog, Snoop, was doing- because he wasn't on the homestead as usual. And then he heard Snoop barking near one of our neighbor's homestead. A kid from that family and Snoop had found the pig! AND Snoop knew it was ours! He was trying to herd it back home. So Nafimane made up a new fence, and this time, tied one of her legs to the fence so she wouldn't escape again. 

And guess what....

She's pregnant. 

Wow. 

So - here is my view of the story. And when I tell the Namibians how I see it, they laugh and laugh and laugh!

So, the pig gets her boyfriend to help her escape. They run off together. They have some fun. She gets pregnant. And now she wants to come back home?? AND to top it all off, she just saves her own life, because if she was not pregnant, she'd be dinner! I guess she knew she had to do something to save herself, after escaping like that....

Haha! Wow....

And so my friends, here is a picture of our runaway pig....

She is home now, and who knows if we will ever have the feast...especially if she keeps getting pregnant....