I celebrated my birthday in village. The actual day of my birthday was exhausting because we did a vaccination campaign (meaning we went door to door to give polio vaccines to kids). April, by the way, is hot season although it’s basically always hot. And in the late afternoon, I had to go with my counterpart to visit families to talk to them about our malnutrition program. But the next day, a neighboring volunteer came over and we (and by we I actually mean my brothers because that’s why I have brothers) killed one of my chickens (see story below), and cooked a delicious meal – curried rice and jerk chicken (all Takiyah’s doing. I just got the charcoal going). It was delicious!
So my chickens… my oldest brother (Drissa) is really into animal raising. (Animal husbandry I think is the real word in English, elevage in French). He has goats, cows, pintards (guinea fowl, it’s probably the stupidest bird besides turkeys. They get stuck in my latrine and can’t figure out how to get out), turkeys, and chickens. He really wanted to me buy a chicken so it could take care of the pintard eggs so that I could have my own eggs to eat. I still don’t really get why the pintard takes the chicken eggs, but whatever. Anyways, I was in a larger city and decided to by the chickens there since they were cheaper. And then took them on a 3 hour bush taxi ride and a 13 km bike ride. I named them Lucy and Ethel after I Love Lucy. My bag with cans of tuna fell on Lucy during the bush taxi ride, but she seemed to recover. Ethel did not like the bike ride. Wish I took a picture. Anyways, I got home and gave them to my brother (because I don’t really know what I’m doing with them). The next day, he informs me they’re not chickens but roosters. Meaning they won’t take the eggs. Oh well. Guess I should rethink the names, but we ate Lucy for my birthday. The other was a gift to the volunteer in a neighboring village, so Ethel biked 33 km with me to the other village.
I’ve been starting running a lot more in village, which definitely gets a fun reaction from my community. In the evenings, if I run about the time school gets out, the primary school kids will run with my for a little bit. There’s actual two girls who do surprising well keeping up. It’s kinda fun always having encouragement, although most people just laugh (loving of course, but still laughing) when they see me running. Although I think altogether most people are just confused as to why I would want to tire myself out for fun – life is already exhausting here, going to the pump, handwashing landry, and cultivating in the fields. But I consider this a huge success – my 23-year-old sister has started running! When I first started, my brothers would occasionally run with me, along with the family dog. But one evening, my sister and her friend decided they should start running too. My sister went to school in the capital city for a little bit, so she’s not so “villageois” anymore and at her school, she did sports as part of school, so it’s not the first time she’s run. But I still think it’s really cool for girls to see a young woman from their village run, not just the crazy nasara.
Some other new and exciting news….
I got a radio/cassette player. So if you don’t want to write a letter, you can record on a cassette tape and I can listen to your voice!! Or you can record random conversations or everyday happenings to make me feel like I’m at home with you!
I also got a kitten. 
A nurse at the health clinic is looking for an American pen pal. So let me know if you are interested! It would be really cool if someone who did something in health wanted to write with him, I think he’d like that, but it’s really just about learning about America and learning English. You can e-mail letters to me and I can e-mail you his letters. Or snail mail if you prefer the excitement.
Miss you all so much and think about you everyday!
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