White Ants

At least that is what they call them. They are not white and they look nothing like an ant.
Also, they eat them here.

I woke up early one morning while Shannon was in Jinja to the sound of many excited children outside hunting for ants. It's not much of a hunt because they are everywhere and you just pick them up! I also thought I heard English being spoken so I went out and realized that my boys had also been woken up early and decided to join the hunt. Each kid had a cup that they were filling full of these ants. Joel and Finny had no idea why they were doing this but thought it was fun anyway. They didn't think it was so fun when I told them they had to eat them!

David (one of the helpers at the children's homes) came to our house to help us prepare them. We washed them (still alive), pulled off their wings (still alive) and then put them onto a hot frying pan (not alive now). Then you fry them with salt until they harden.

They taste salty and are a bit chewy. Finny couldn't get enough of them but Joel had too hard a time getting over the fact that they're ants and ended up throwing them up (it's a great video!).



The ant hills like this one take only one year to be built by the ants. During the rainy season (right now) it cools down inside the hill which is why they all come out in the mornings