Chicken and cars

I have to tell you about what happened the other day in Bushenyi. It was just all kinds of awesome, bizarre etc.

I went to Bushenyi a couple of days ago to interview people and shoot some footage of what the Norwegians are doing there (working on the piggery project and what not)… And last night, we were all having dinner at Bushenyi Guest house, in the garden, under a tree, right next to Gordon’s (the owner of guest house) brand new car.

And as we are sitting there, eating and laughing, some guys show up, opening the hood on Gordon’s car and are seemingly checking out the engine or something. I at least didn’t pay any attention to this, this being a new car and all, they were probably just curious on the new engine. Or not. Because then a chicken entered the picture, or rather a hen, it was pretty big.

The guys started to wrestle a bit with the hen, but I just thought, they’re not going to kill that here are they? Surely, they would do that somewhere nearer to the kitchen? But no, a knife the size of a golf club was pulled out and all of a sudden the hen was headless AND THEY POURED THE HEN’S BLOOD OVER THE CAR’S ENGINE.

It should be specified that all this happened really quick without any of us really paying any attention to it, because it was kind of dark, and it all happened so matter-of-factly, but the moment that hen’s inner fluids were poured over Gordon’s new car, a united “what the HELL just happened?” was heard across the table.

Now, of course, this was neither an elaborate scheme to sabotage the car or a way to startle some mzungos (at least not deliberate), it all was a little ritual to make sure the car never crashes. Good luck with that.

Gordon and the car-baptizers ate the hen a few hours later and, at least to my knowledge, the car runs smoothly.