Project Sekong 2013: Do We Share Our Camp With The Pigs Or Do They Share Their Home With Us?

Last year when we set up camp in Sekong, we boldly attempted to keep the village pigs in their place which, from our point of view, was any place of their choosing except our camp. We underestimated how persistent pigs can be. They were constantly around, rarely close enough to catch a boot in the bacon but always nearby, ready to dive on any dropped object that might be edible.

And, what does a pig classify as “edible?” One day a villager returned to me a pair of shoes which his pigs had stolen from me and carried home. To this day I wonder, did two pigs each take one shoe apiece? Or, did one pig make two trips?

The pig in this photo is wearing a “pig necklace” to keep him from sauntering through the door of a house or squeezing through the pickets of a fence. He’ll need to learn to respect his owner’s boundaries or he’ll wear that necklace for the rest of his life!