Africa, Part 3: Chickens

Before we left Zambia, my family and I had to partake in something African women and girls have been doing forever. Buy a chicken, kill it, cook it. And thats exactly what we did. A woman named Foster went with us to the market where she chose three chicken. She then sawed the heads off. I couldn't look. The poor chickens were still moving even after they had died! She then pored hot water over them and we were instructed to pluck them. Not a single hair remaining. Let me say, it was very tedious work. And long! Six of us were plucking three chickens and that was hard enough, but Foster said that she and one other woman killed, plucked, and cooked eighteen chickens the other day! Wow! My poor brother, Will, who's a vegetarian, looked sick the entire time. It was definitely a unique experience. After we had plucked them, Foster took their insides out. Seeing a chicken's heart, stomach, liver, and intestines gave me a squeamish feeling that wouldn't leave. Then came the easy part - cooking them and eating them. Though, eating them was harder than I imagined. I'll never look at a chicken the same way again. I might even give up eating chickens. They were pretty tasty though.

Buying the chickens...

Waiting for their death sentence...

Cooking...

The finished product!