Written by Nicole Mills in Uganda-
Christmas has come and gone. It was amazing watching the girl's with excitement in their eyes and appreciation in their smiles, open their gifts. It rained on Christmas day even though it is supposed to be the dry season (Uganda only has two seasons: rainy and dry). We spent the afternoon watching the movies I had brought them from the states including How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon), A Year Without a Santa Clause, and Enchanted. There were volunteers here from both the states (including Texas and California) and Venezuela. Christmas dinner consisted of beef stew, rice, matokee (cooked bananas that create a plain heavy starch), potatoes, and chicken that I personally killed. That's right, I killed two chickens for our Christmas dinner.
I was still in PJs and I had told Kato, the guy who takes care of the KIK compound, that I wanted to kill a chicken. At first he thought I was kidding, but Christmas morning I went out ready for the new adventure. It was sad, and there were already a couple of heads from other beheaded chickens on the bloody plastic. The girls were plucking the feathers from another slaughtered and boiled chicken. Kato handed me a white chicken by the wings and a bloody kinfe. Now, in order to properly kill a chicken and make sure it doesn't run around with its head chopped off you have to stand with one foot on its feet and the other on both of its wings so that it can't squirm away.
Then with some resolve you pull the neck out tight (as it's crying!), take the knife and cut its throat with quick decisive strokes. It bleeds out onto the plastic and when the head comes off you have to grab the neck quickly otherwise it sprays blood everywhere.
Once it stops twitching you take it by the feet and dunk it neck first into boiling water to make it easier to pluck its feathers out.
The most disturbing part of the whole process is that the head once severed still blinks its eyes at you...taunting you, letting you know that it is very aware of what just happened and what you did. TIA (This Is Africa)
I was only going to kill one, but Kato immediately handed me another one...so, I killed him too. This one wasn't such a smooth process. I guess I didn't start cutting the neck in the right place and its head just wouldn't come off. I mentioned this to Kato as I'm cutting and he grabbed the head, pulled the neck tighter and said, "cut faster!" I did, but it was still a challenge and there was more bone grinding involved to get the head off. Whew!
It was an adventure to say the least. And then, we ate them, buttered and baked, merrily at dinner.
The rest of the day was filled with movies and jump roping with the kid's new jump ropes.
Merry Christmas to all!
Ps. Still no water...so another cold bucket shower.
Christmas has come and gone. It was amazing watching the girl's with excitement in their eyes and appreciation in their smiles, open their gifts. It rained on Christmas day even though it is supposed to be the dry season (Uganda only has two seasons: rainy and dry). We spent the afternoon watching the movies I had brought them from the states including How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon), A Year Without a Santa Clause, and Enchanted. There were volunteers here from both the states (including Texas and California) and Venezuela. Christmas dinner consisted of beef stew, rice, matokee (cooked bananas that create a plain heavy starch), potatoes, and chicken that I personally killed. That's right, I killed two chickens for our Christmas dinner.
The most disturbing part of the whole process is that the head once severed still blinks its eyes at you...taunting you, letting you know that it is very aware of what just happened and what you did. TIA (This Is Africa)
I was only going to kill one, but Kato immediately handed me another one...so, I killed him too. This one wasn't such a smooth process. I guess I didn't start cutting the neck in the right place and its head just wouldn't come off. I mentioned this to Kato as I'm cutting and he grabbed the head, pulled the neck tighter and said, "cut faster!" I did, but it was still a challenge and there was more bone grinding involved to get the head off. Whew!
It was an adventure to say the least. And then, we ate them, buttered and baked, merrily at dinner.
The rest of the day was filled with movies and jump roping with the kid's new jump ropes.
Merry Christmas to all!
Ps. Still no water...so another cold bucket shower.
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