The Chicken

I finally got to kill a chicken. Of course living in Africa it was an adventure...

I walked over to Marcel's house around 9am when I arrived Astou and the kids were eating breakfast and Romoly was cleaning. After 5 minutes of saying "no thank you" to breakfasts and another 3 minutes of saying that "I'm full." I managed to sneak in the real reason I was there. To buy the chicken. As soon as I squeezed in the I would like to buy a chicken in the midst of the no thank yous and I'm fulls that was the end of food. Only to start the ooos and aaahhhs that I'm going to take a live chicken home with me. Romoly took me out to the Chicken coop and caught me a good fat one. After a quick lesson in how to hold the chicken I was off. happy as could be. Yes it was quite a site to see. Try to picture little me walking down a dirt path holding a good sized chicken by its wings. It took me forever to walk across town. Its not everyday that people in Oussouye see a white girl walking down the street with a live chicken. Mostly stopped by old women to have a small exchange in Joola about the chicken and what I was doing with it, and where I was going with it. Everyone that stopped me seemed pretty pleased. At some point I sort of broke the chickens wing. It started squawking and trying to bite me. I didn't realize its wing broke until later. (like when all its feathers were off) I just figured it knew it was going to die. The squawking chicken drew more attention to me. More people came to ask what I was doing. It was pretty fun. oh yeah the best part is it started to rain about half way back to Jerome's. I get to Jerome's house. and I'm standing in the rain not really sure what to do with the chicken Jerome is like come here. I go on the porch and he shows me how to hold the chicken to kill it. Then goes into the kitchen and finds me the dullest knife he can find. (please recognize the sarcasm there) and sends me out back to kill my chicken. Right about then the missionary's that are living behind Jerome's 10yr old shows up and asks if she can watch. Ahh a child after my own heart. She informs me that its raining and she has an umbrella she will hold over me and the chicken. So off we go. Me, a missionary's kid and the chicken. I put its feet under my one foot and its wings under the other foot. Grabbed its head pulled it back and tried to slit its throat. well remember what I said about the dull knife, yeah it made for the whole throat slitting a bit difficult. it didn't do anything. Me and Simona (the Missionary's kid) had a good laugh. I tried again and this time managed to cut its throat. It squawked a couple of times. But then it wouldn't die. It was breathing through its throat and trying to flap around. Simona kept telling me to let it go. That it would be really funny to watch it run around with its head flopping around. If I was at my house I totally would have let it go but not there. While we were waiting for the chicken to stop moving I looked down at the chicken and there was this small white worm swimming around in the blood. I picked it up with the knife for a closer inspection. I was informed that most chickens have these worms and sometimes they come out when you kill the chicken. how cool. The chicken stopped moving after 3 minutes give or take. and I picked it up by its feet and brought it to the waiting Mary Clair. She seemed pretty proud of me. She told everyone that came to their house that morning that I was the one that killed the chicken. It was fun. I had to answer a series of questions about the chicken. At first Mary Clair helped me with the responses but after the first 15 people asking me the same questions I was able to remember how to answer each question. It was a lot of fun. Mary Clair and I cooked Cheb bu gahala. Its like chep bu gen. but its with the chicken. I guess its a really special dish they don't get to eat a lot. but since it was a special day for me we made it.