Animal Cruelty

Bird Catching

Rwanda doesn't seem to be the best place for animals, as the people here really have no mercy on them.  To my knowledge, there are no laws pertaining to animal cruelty so any and everything that goes on here regarding them (whether good or bad) is perfectly okay.  I said all of that to say this: I have seen some sad, yet funny things go on here.  Sad because the animals here are literally tortured, yet funny because...well, just about everything is funny to me. 

A couple of days ago, I was in my room when I heard my sisters and host mother half screaming and half laughing.  I ran out of my room to see what all the commotion was about and when I got to the back door, I saw my host brother holding one of the cutest little red birds upside down by its two little feet!  The poor little guy was flapping its wings trying to get away and my host brother was shaking and poking at it while chasing my host mom and sisters around the backyard.  (I have no idea how he even caught that little bird, they move so quickly).  I ran to grab my camera so that I could capture the torturous moment, but the little guy had flown away before I was able to push the shutter button.  Oh well, I guess what matters is that he got away.

Goat Riding

There are goats all over the place here and each time I get even a little bit close to one, it panics and attempts to run away only to be stopped mid-stride and yanked back by the rope that is tied around its neck.  The little guys fear for their dear lives whenever anyone gets into close proximity because they are tortured by all of the village kids.  On too many occasions, I have seen some little kid kicking the goats, throwing rocks at them, and yes...trying to ride them as if they are horses.  The other day took the cake for me when I saw a little boy take a running start and jump onto the back of a goat.  The poor goat's little legs buckled and he and the little boy went tumbling to the ground.  I laughed hysterically, as it completely caught me off guard, but it was really sad...the goat could barely get back up :(

Hen Killing

This one made my day more than it made me sad.  Before I came to my site, I was texting one of the workers at the health center and he told me that the staff missed me and would kill a hen for me.  I smiled at this text message as this told me how much the staff really likes me.  Hens here are really expensive and are only killed and eaten on special occasions.  For them to say that they would be willing to kill one just for me really means a lot!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

One of my fellow volunteers did something that I'm sure I would never in a million years attempt to do.  He wanted to make fried chicken for his host family, and on the day that he decided to cook, he realized that he had to catch and kill his own chicken if he wanted to be able to cook one for dinner.  And he did just that.   TWICE!  This boy (who I think is disgusting for eating a chicken that he killed himself and  that just happened to be his host family's 'pets') gave me the play by play and it went like this: he and his host brothers chased the chickens and proceeded to throw rocks at them so that they could get them to run to a corner of the yard.  Once the chickens were cornered, they caught them and held them each down.  Next, they took a dull knife and sawed away at the neck while the chicken squawked and struggled to try and get away.  Once the head was finally cut off, he said that the head rolled away and the rest of the body continued to flip flop around.  As the body was flipping and flopping, his host brother was saying over and over again, "relax...relax...relax..."  (I'm not sure what made him think the headless chicken could hear him, but I guess he felt this was a necessary part of the process).  After a while, the chicken eventually stopped flapping and they all began to pluck the feathers.  Once the feathers were all out, they held the chicken over an open fire to kill any fleas that may have been on it, proceeded to cut it into 8 pieces (I think) and then battered it up to fry it.  And then...dinner was served!

I don't know how you all feel about this, but I certainly would not have eaten dinner that night had it been me who had to do the torturous murdering of the poor chickens.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

P.S. I guess what they say about chickens' heads being cut off is true...I'm sure if they weren't holding it down, that headless chicken would have run for it!