So, There are times in a mans life that makes him a man. It is different depending on the culture you are in. I have become a man in many cultures. As a jew I had my bar mitzvah, as an american I turned 18 and voted, when I was in china, I climbed the great wall (Chairman Mao says that you are not a true man until you have climbed the wall). But the most gruesome and toughest thing I have ever had to do to become a man, was slaughter a chicken.
So, once a week, because I enjoy eating chicken I give my host mother 2500-3000 CFA (5-6 USD) Usually by the time I get home from my tough strenuous job (note sarcasm) the chicken is already slaughtered and stewing with some vegetables. today however this was not the case. I get back from work and during lunch my host mom says that she has bought a big chicken (and it was a big chicken compared to what I normally see here.) I say "oh good, I can't wait to eat some chicken tonight!" then she looks at me and says, "you will slaughter the chicken". I look at her and lean in and say "but i have never done that before". Then she said "you will slaughter the chicken". I say ok and get very excited and even call my dad and friends to let them know, and to see if there is a certain prayer that I should say. apparently there isn't a prayer to say before slaughtering an animal. So of course I want to get pictures of all of this, so I try to explain how to use a camera to our house maid. she is 16 and from the village and may have never held a camera before. I show her how to use the zoom, and how to take a picture. for some reason, she could not figure it out. ( it is an easy point and click digital camera too...) she practiced by trying to take a picture of my head. for some reason she was not able to get my head centered in the photograph. something was always cut off. eventually I got antsy and just forgot about it, and gave her the camera to take pictures. then there was the chicken. I took out my tactical knife, and sharpened it. then I grabbed the chicken. I asked for some instruction mostly to reassure me that what I was doing was right. and I proceeded to cut the throat but then my host mom quickly stopped me, and told me to go do it outside. she was right. and so I took it outside grabbed the head in one hand, and stepped on its feet, and with one clean stroke I slit the throat. I look up at Aisatu the maid and say "it is dead, I have slaughtered the chicken!" she looks at me and says "you have not slaughtered the chicken". I look back down at my feet, and of course to my surprise, there is the chicken still alive, and now it is bleeding all over me. I give out a little shout and the chicken starts to flop a little bit. I grab it again and slice it again, and look up all happy and say "Now I have killed the chicken!" Aisatu looks at me and then back at the chicken and says "no, you have not slaughtered the chicken" thats when I freak out. and I grab the chicken and really slice its head off. then I look at Aisatu and she looks up at me and says "there, now you have killed a chicken. you are a man". Now that I have killed a chicken, I believe that I can kill bigger things, like rabbits and goats, but I think that I will need to practice on a few more chickens before I get to a goat.
-Mike
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