our animal farm

My friends back home are all getting pregnant and having babies at the moment. I guess that’s what happens around this time of life for some people. (For the record, I am not pregnant.) To add to the baby craze, however, all of the animals around me have been making their own contributions to the world population. We have our own mini-farm here, and apparently giving birth is the standard procedure for animals in August. A couple of weeks ago, our six-month old cat gave birth to three kittens. (I had no idea cats could get pregnant so young!!) Last week, our goat – who is also very young – gave birth. Contrary to Ugandan tradition, my staff decided to give the baby goat a name. Since no one bothered to check whether it was male or female, they decided just to name it Davis. I guess it’s probably a good thing no one checked. One can only speculate what the goat’s name would be if it turned out to be a female. All of these newborns are very cute, I must admit. And it has been an amazing thing to watch the mothers take care of their young ones. It seems to come so naturally for them. Upon observing the goat who had just given birth and didn’t look at all fatigued by the experience, one staff member – who is seven months pregnant herself – commented, “I don’t think animals have labor pains like we do.”