I want to start out saying that I’m sorry I haven’t taken time to share what’s been going on in Africa because Wi-Fi has been difficult to get to and I’ve had other things that I had to accomplish in those times. However, I’m starting a blog-a-thon so I’m hoping to post one blog a day for at least the next week to share what’s been on my heart and what the Lord has been doing while I’ve been in Africa. Keep an eye out for them!
So we left for Africa after going through team changes at our debrief in Bulgaria. It was a 52 hour travel day that included a bus ride, flight, car ride, two hour stay in a hotel, another flight, tram ride, a much longer bus ride and a few other vehicles to arrive in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
We arrived at our host’s home about 10 am and we had the day to rest since we were beat from not getting much sleep while traveling. Our team ate and took some much needed naps to help us recover. We awoke and were welcomed to help prepare dinner. This also meant we got to slaughter the chickens we would eat that night and the rest of the week.
Our friend T got to show us how to do the first one by putting your foot on the back of the chicken and grabbing it’s head with one hand so you can use the other hand to hold the knife and cut off the head. This would sometimes lead to the chicken flapping it’s wings and stirring up dust until the nerves stopped. Anna Beth ended up getting her foot splattered with blood in this process.
My turn came around and I selected a chicken that looked pretty calm. I took it out of the shed and placed it on the ground. As I did so, it started freaking out. I really didn’t want to have to kill the chicken, but we had to so I tried to calm down my chicken whose beak was open and looked like it was crying.
I finally got it under control and grabbed its head. I start cutting it’s head off in a back and forth manner. Just when I thought I was just torturing the chicken and it’s head wasn’t going to come off, the head went limp in my hand. Such a weird feeling as I still had to finish cutting the head the rest of the way off. Thankfully, I think my chicken passed out because it didn’t move once I was done.
What better way to say, “Welcome to Africa?”
However, it was a pretty tragic task and ended with this infamous picture:
