Give a Chicken an Inch

Folks like to be around nature, albeit in varying degrees. City dwellers content themselves with potted plants (or pot plants as the Brits call them), or parks where they can walk or jog or take their leashed, groomed and sweatered dogs for a run. And if you leave any evidence that your dog has been in the park/street, you pay a fine roughly equal to one months salary here in old Berega. There's tree lined boulevards in the tonier areas and neighborhood gardens for folks who want to get their fingers in the dirt but not actually bring it home.

Country folks have more actual contact, lots of trees, farms, cows and such. Lakes for fishing, mountains to climb, wildlife to see. However, there's an element of control here, you can participate or observe depending on just how much nature you can handle at any given moment. You go to it, and leave it when you've had your fill. 

Beach cows in Malawi.

Not so here in Berega. We live in relative harmony with nature, but it's by no means controlled. Take for example, the monkeys, which according to some of my evening students steal maize with regularity and impunity. There's absolutely nothing that can be done about them. But then, they don't do anything about the humans who steal their maize either. A few weeks ago I was sitting on my porch and a three foot green monitor lizard skittered by me, last month there was a turtle on the playground. Two tourists recently got eaten by a lion while changing a flat at Mikumi Park. 

Street cow in Malawi

I spent Easter week in Kyela, where the hippos and crocodiles are raising hell on the rice farms. Adamson told me that hippos are a true bother during rice growing season, as they like the rice, as well as the cool, muddy water it grows in. So at various times some brave soul will grab a big stick and beat the water, causing vibrations which hopefully frighten off the hippo. You can't get too close to a hippo because not only will it kill you, but it will toy with you for a bit first. Sometimes they kill with their gigantic teeth, other times they stomp you to death. Either way, it's decidedly unpleasant and you should try to avoid it.

Crocs are sneaky, lying in wait for dogs, monkeys or the odd unfortunate villager cooling off in the river or washing clothes. Personally I would transport the water to higher ground. For some reason they don't eat the head. My friend from Kyela told me this, and as she had no idea why, I promised to google it. Some conversations you will only have in Africa.

Taking a break from whatever it is dogs do, secure in the
knowledge that he can sleep there all day if he wants to.

Village dogs and cows will lie down for a rest wherever they please, and although the cows will move if you hit them with a stick, the dogs sleep unmolested by cars and passersby. One day as we were driving around a skinny, mangy specimen lying in the middle of the road I asked Abdallah why the dogs never move. He just looked at me and said "Mama Liz, that dog was born here." I had no response to such simple logic, and we drove on. There were a few other home grown canines scattered here and there on our way to the big road, and we drove around every one of them. You have to love this place.

The chickens, however, have forced me into an offensive mode. We feed the kids breakfast and lunch, sitting in the courtyard between the two classrooms. Kids being kids, there's usually bits of ugali and beans on the ground after meals. In the past a chicken or two would come to school and peck at the leftovers on the plates and in the dirt. Well now we have 63 kids, which has made the pickins more lavish. The chickens have told all their friends and now we have an entire army of free range fowl running around the school. The first time a chicken came into our Math class I just laughed and let the kids chase it around for a bit till Mbuli caught it and escorted it to the yard.

Recon chicken checking it out for the troops

It's gotten out of hand and now they're sneaking in through the drainpipes and sashaying through the gate. Some manage to fly over the wall. They've made themselves quite at home in the classrooms. The kids love chasing them around, but there's feathers all over the place and today Freddy slipped on some chicken mavi and almost hit his head. The final straw was today when they showed up BEFORE Mama Dani, who brings the food. They were WAITING FOR HER, like old friends at a favorite restaurant. We've found an abandoned building near the school and will be cleaning it up so the kids can eat there. It won't stop the chickens, but it will get them out of class.

We were discussing local transport one day and my student asked if the buses in America are like the buses in Tz. I said that in the US we don't have five people in a seat made for two, and there's no chickens and goats allowed inside the bus. They were shocked and wanted to know how we transport our chickens and goats. Yet another conversation you won't have in the US.

And as always, the road wanyama. If there's only one or two, you can muscle
them out of the way, but a herd takes their time. Safety in numbers and all that.

The First World tries to control and legislate wildlife, so no one is hurt or inconvenienced. There's laws about where you can have chickens and how many you can have. You can't have a cow if you live in New York City. If a dog bites or mauls someone, it's put down. Here the animals are just part of life, they stroll down the road, come into your house, and occasionally eat someone. It's just one of the perks if you are, as Abdallah puts it, "born here".

L