UNDER GROUND Potato Roast

Medie, our compound worker, helped the kids dig the hole and get the fire started. This was a new venture for him as a potato roast such as this is the practice of the Ateso tribe, not the Buganda.

In early January we learned the fine art of roasting sweet potatoes underground. We spent an afternoon and evening with the vocational school staff as part of our annual envisioning week and we all prepared a traditional meal together--everyone with their own task.  Toby was shown how to roast sweet potatoes by digging a hole, placing the poatoes in, and covering them with hard packed dirt.  He had so much fun that he decided to roast some of our own sweet potatoes we had grown on our land.  

Kevin fans the fire to get it nice and hot.

poking in a stick to see how the fire is progressing

Toby needs to double check just to make sure it is just right.

Geoff stopped by on his way to a meeting and checks on the progress as well.
At the end of it all, we didn't succeed with our first batch--we didn't leave them in long enough.  A fellow staff member from the Ateso tribe stopped by to give us some pointers.  A bonus of his stopping by was another treat from his tribe.  Smashed roasted sweet potatoes mixed with roasted ground nuts.  Yum Yum. We made a second batch applying the pointers given and it turned out so well that we enjoyed them for three days!!!!