oh oh, Koko

When I arrived here in Kopong--was it really two months ago?!--the driver of the van carrying all my worldly goods pulled up to my little house and said 'Oh oh, koko'. At the time I did not see what he saw:  I would be living in the midst of a small chicken factory. Mma Kgopo, my landlady, teaches history at the secondary school in Gaborone. Her husband, who studied in Florida, teaches aeronautics at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. In addition, they raise and slaughter 'broiler' chickens. There are a few free-range koko running about the compound (and waking me with their crowing at indecent hours) but they seem to be 'for show.' Batswana  prefer the white broilers that reach slaughter size in only six weeks.

That means that at least every two weeks, sometimes more often, Gladys and her Zimbabwe maid Gail set about killing and cleaning any number of fat white koko. This past week the whole family set up shop to provide koko for a number of New Year's feasts. I decided to help...

waiting for the axe

Gail delivers, felix watches

I pushed the button on the camera but I didn't look---

a quick dip to loosen feathers

mother daughter plucking time

okay, I'll try...

how am I doing?

I plucked two of the 31 koko that day. One more skill to add to my resume? If you look closely you can see the free-range rooster to the left of my hat--he dug a nice hole and stayed in it the whole time we worked.