Slaughtering a Goat

Lohutok, Sudan

I went up to Ahaba, the mountain field, this morning.  The sorghum is looking good.  Much of it is starting to head.  I saw a pumpkin which is already about the size of a muskmelon.  (Some pumpkins were planted among the sorghum plants.)  There was a man up at Ahaba who is already cutting trees for a garden for next year.

AIM missionaries David and Joanne Gladstone came to Lohutok for a visit.  They drove a Land Rover pickup.

We slaughtered a goat today.  It was the first time I have seen the throat of a live animal cut.  The blood really spurted from the jugular veins.  On second thought, it is not quite true that this was my first time seeing an animal's throat cut.  We often cut the heads off chickens on our farm in Kansas.  Somehow, killing a chicken seems less disturbing than killing a goat.  Perhaps this is because I am more closely related to goats which are fellow mammals.  Perhaps it is because the goat's death was a little slower and drawn out than the sudden demise of our chickens.

The Diguna missionaries got the pipe put in the well for the new windmill today.  I helped a bit.

I wrote letters to Mom and Dad and to a friend today.  Letter writing is always a last minute task before the plane comes.