Sunday May 4th 2008: Too much talk and Chickens

Attention vegetarians and chicken lovers, this posting might not be for you.
Today the GAP volunteers living at Amani (Michael, Leoni, Claire, Rachel and Nicole) can’t stop going on about how they are going to buy live chickens at the market and kill them.
I decide to join them as I haven’t been into town for a while but make it clear I will not take part in cutting a chicken’s head off. No thanks not for me.
So after lunch in town and the best omelet I have had so far in Tanzania, we head out to the market and get 4 chickens.
On the way back in the Dalla Dalla, Michael and Claire are holding the 4 chickens which have been attached by the legs but 2 let loose and it gets quite amusing as they try to regain control in the mini van.
We get back to Amani. I go up to my room waiting for them to finish killing the chicken but the girls just come back up and say they were unable to go forward with their plan. The only ones who killed the chickens were Michael and Leoni. So I head back down to help with the cutting. I end up cutting almost all the chickens and getting an anatomy lesson. When that is done, all the Gap students are gone and I am given the task to cook the 4 chickens, legs included.
The work in the kitchen here is unlike anything you have ever done. The food is all cooked with firewood and in this instance, for hygiene, we have to boil the chickens first which takes over 1 hour as the coals are not taking fast. We have to manually tend to the wood and coals. The hut is filled with smoke and very hot. My eyes are watering and I can barely breathe but all I can think of was how do these girls do it, I can’t be a pansy AND where the ---- are the GAP kids, this wasn’t my idea in the first place!!!
Anyway, I finally get some help after giving Rachel the evil eye. Seriously! I learnt a lot in this kitchen but feel like a sweaty mess. Finally the food is served! I get my favorite piece while still snotting from being in the smoky hut. We get some beers and down them with our food. It turns out to be quite the meal. So it was a great idea after all but moral of the story: don’t say you are going to do something and brag until you actually get it done.