CHICKENS

We live on a farm. Well, practically. It's still "Big City" Bujumbura (I've heard around 600,000 now), but it still has that rural feel. It's just another one of those continual paradoxes or tensions I continually find myself in here in Burundi. Crowded busy streets... but then, sometimes, the cars have to maneuver around herds of long-horned cattle or goats. Buses whizz by, around women in African fabrics carrying huge stalks of green bananas on their heads.

And at our home, in the "suburb" of Bujumbura, I find myself surrounded by animals. Two dogs. One very loud cat. A coup of clucking chickens. And now, a rooster. Well, honestly, he didn't last long. I got him last week as a gift from a family in Makamba who Seth and I visit regularly to film / photograph, as we track their life progress as beneficiaries with World Relief. As I often work down there, I've gotten many opportunities to see them, have given them some things... and to thank me in return, they gave me a rooster.

It's the first time I've received a rooster as a gift! I was really excited and the picture here is of me holding him (the first time ever holding a chicken... they are surprisingly docile and I was quite pleased, as can be seen!). However, I ended up having to give him away as his ALL NIGHT CROWING proved to be a detriment to our sleep and his ALL DAY CROWING inhibited Seth's video work. I just couldn't bear to kill and eat the little guy.