There's More Than One Way...And More Than One Thing

We all know the expression, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Well, I witnessed more than one way to slaughter a chicken. You may remember the night I spent duct-taped to a tree as punishment for losing a game of Farkle. Thankfully I was merely a witness to this punishment: Matt had to kill a chicken with his hands. He researched the night before several methods of killing a chicken, and chose to break the neck. After our weekly Ultimate Frisbee game, we convened in my backyard to watch. One of our Nigerian friends, Monday, killed the first and advised and aided in the plucking. Monday’s method was to saw through the neck of the chicken and bleed it to death.

Then the plucking, gutting, and butchering.

Meanwhile some others and I prepare the marinade and fixings for the feast. The whole ordeal took about 3 hours! And yes, this is the chicken head: brains, eyeballs and tongue. But, dear friends in the Philippines and Charity Baptist, I think that balute was more difficult to stomach even after seeing the whole process!


I’ve also been trying my hand at more traditional Nigerian dishes and have possibly mastered egusi soup. To avoid a complicated list of ingredients that won’t mean anything to you anyway, let it suffice to say that it’s a thick stew with meat, veggies, and grinded special stuff eaten with lump of something that resembles extremely thick mashed potatoes. Bottom line: REALLY GOOD (regardless of how it looks).

I served this dish when I had my Hausa teacher, Bilhatu, over for dinner. By the end of the evening, I started to get the understanding that crime is on the up-rise. Then prayer for internal security was mentioned several times at church this past Sunday. Car stealing, armed robberies, and kidnapping for ransom and spiritualistic rituals are increasing. I’ve been unaware of these issues. I don’t want to scare you guys out there, for I’ve never felt in any real danger (and I know how to be careful), but here are some news snippets:

http://www.tribune.com.ng/27072009/news/news11.html

For those of you who have been in tuned in on BBC, there was a crisis in Bauchi State and 4 other surrounding states. It was led by an Islamic extremist group who were against all things Western. In a matter of days, hundreds of lives were taken. The federal police took the matter seriously and promptly ended the conflict before it had a chance to spread. We praise God for the disturbance to be over, and respectfully mourn for the fate of the lost and otherwise affected souls of both the Christian and Muslim sides.

I am asking prayer for the country because these things are evidences of a people without Christ. Yes, I praise the Lord for His protection thus far and ask for the hedge to continually be around me, but I pray for the end of these things to come about due to the glorious salvation of the participants.
For the sake of their souls and to the glory of the Father,
Kari
PS:sorry pics decided to be difficult, so follow this link to view...

Chicken, Hiking, Market, Goodbyes