Like busses this blog, nothing for weeks then loads all at once! A very
unexpected thing happened today… I became a chicken farmer. Last night I got
into a conversation with one of the other members of the team about
chickens, I’m not really sure how.
I may have mentioned before that chickens are a regular fixture of the
clinic here. There are a large number of them wandering around chatting away
to themselves and sometimes to us. The first day I was here one came in to
critique my suturing. I’m sure on many occasions they are offering very
sound medical advice, if only we understood. Anyway there has recently been
a bit of a population explosion amongst the chickens and now they need two
huts to keep them all in. They also need someone to oversee their upkeep and
general well being………………me!
Thus here I am in the middle of Africa and for the first time in my life I
have a flock of chickens to look after! Boiled, Fried, Poached and Scrambled
as the chickens are known are now in the custody of a bloke who has lived in
cities for the whole of his adult life, and who’s only contact with
chickens, so far, has come in the form of the Caesar salad variety. If they
only knew.
The plot thickens slightly as not all the chickens in the clinic belong to
us and so I have to round up our feathered friends every night and take then
to their newly refurbished coop. They will soon…hopefully…. get an idea of
where their new home is and do it themselves.
I’ve spent the evening with my chicken farmer colleagues (two medics and a
guard) chasing chickens round the compound. After a breathless chase in
which a one point there were birds and feathers flying in every direction we
cornered them and carried them to the hut. The hut has a newly repaired door
and feed - cornflakes, stale Rivita and eggshells which, apparently, is very
good for them. When it comes to chickens everyone but me is an expert.
On the medical side, I made a game where the nurses in the clinic had to
match the drug with the disease it treated. A work in progress I think.
I also squeezed a bucketful of gunk from a very large abscess on someone’s
neck. They’re coming back for more tomorrow. Yuck!
Tomorrow involves sorting out a large amount of files and holiday days for
the outreach staff. My maths could be strained to the limit!
