The day I killed the chicken

June 6^th started off as any other regular day. I woke up, ate breakfast and did little tasks to help around the house. Soon I found out that it was my mother’s birthday and so I decided to make preparations for a little birthday party in the afternoon. In Chad, birthdays are not generally a big deal, unless you are a child. If you are young, you can invite your friends and the neighbourhood kids too to your house for food and soft drinks. The typical present that is given to birthday people is candy!

But before the celebration I went to CENTRAM to teach an English club to the students. We talked about weather and the environment. I taught them the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ and we played a game to improve their vocabulary.

 My mother was out for much of the day but when she returned, I had bought candies, soft drinks and some fried sweet dough cakes. We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and Maman distributed some candy to everyone.

Then she announced that Salomé should go to the market to buy two chickens and some potatoes. I had decided some time ago that while I had plucked chickens, helped cut chickens and prepared chickens during my year here, I had not killed a chicken and I felt that now was the time.

So as it was getting dark, I grabbed a knife, sharpened in on the pavement, and went over to my 10 year old sister Ornella who often kills the chickens. I helped dig a hole for the blood, and then following Ornella’s instructions put one foot on the feet, the other on the wings, and had the knife at the ready. Now my hope was for a quickly and painless experience for both the chicken and I. Unfortunately, this was not to be. I started cutting at the neck, getting more and more aggressive only to realize that the knives my family owns are not sharp AT ALL. I kept sawing at the neck until finally I started to see blood dripping from the neck. By the time Ornella took the dead bird from me, I felt bad for the chicken, and a little stressed that it’s last moments were of me sawing away willing the bird to die quickly so it was not in pain.

I prepared the french fries while my host sisters prepared the chicken and then we ate together. It was a good experience but I think I will leave the chicken killings to my talented host sister Ornella!