Chickens with no heads

Trip Start Jul 27, 2006

Trip End Sep 27, 2006

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Flag of Kenya Kisii, Kenya
Thursday, September 14, 2006

TOday is our last day in Rongo- Raj leaves this afternoon, and I will follow tomorrow. Much has happened in the past two and a half weeks- Mr. Okidi returned and had some surprises to contend relating to his projects. So we've had to be flexile but have had some great experiences with the many clients that we have seen. We had an intensive training week with clients who have challenging neurological conditions.

The past few weeks have presented me with some challenging thoughts: so many to discuss in the short time we have at the internet.

I've learned much of the impact of 'mzungos' in this part of the world. Not surprisingly whites are seen as having money, and compared to the common man we do. It occurs almost daily that we are approached and asked to buy anything from a soda to sponsor a child to go to school or to come to Canada

Goodbye lunch

. We have heard stories of the precence of whites in Mr. Okidi's program having a positive impact on the lives of those living with disabilities- motivating families to change the way they care for a child. We have also heard awful stories of how whites are perceived and have impacted clients negatively. Even the Okidi's are perceived as being rich because they have whites who stay with them

Anyways... onto the chickens... Raj and I decided one night to make chicken for dinner. THis entails buying the live chicken (I got ripped off because I'm a mzungo), beheading it, plucking then cutting and finally cooking. All you vegetarians are free to stop reading now. The neighbours 12 year old daughter Sophie helped me select the chicken and stopp on it feet and held the head while I approached the neck tentatively with the knife. I began to apply a bit of prssure when the chicken let out a bit squack and made me jump out of my clothes. Sophie quickly grabbed the knife and finished the dirty deed. Thank goodness. Raj caught the whole thing on video... great.

So we' ve also celebrated Raj's birthday. Mercy, Sophie and I decided to make a cake. First problem was no oven, so Mercy quickly told me how they fashion an african oven using sand in a pot and coals on the top

Learning to walk

. It seems to be working well until we decided it was finished too early and had a big pile of half baked cake on a plate. No problems, just put it back in the pot and into the oven. I decided to make icing, but the milk was warm, so melted the margerine and it became really runny. Long story short, the cake was a disaster, but everyone still tried a bit and Raj at least had some candles to blow out on his B-day. They don't really celebrate birthdays here. Soe people don't even know how old they are. People are ore likely to rememer their birth year then the day, and then they are given their name according to what time of day they were born. So many people have similar Luo names but most also have a christian name too.

Okay... enough babble... I'm gonna try and post a couple of photos. Tomorrow I'm heading back to Nairobi to meet with my friends Erin and Nicole and to Climb Mt. Kenya. Until later...
Shona

Kisii hotels Slideshow