Give them to Village Health Workers, that’s what!!!

Yesterday, a truck full of 500 fully grown chickens was delivered (from funds raised by ASAP) to be distributed among 33 VHWs. That’s 15 chickens a piece! The chickens went to some of our most dedicated VHWs (and a few VHW who maybe didn’t deserve it, but they always get preferential treatment). The idea was to give chickens to those VHWs who are cooking for orphans and have prosperous gardens with good permaculture technique. These are indigenous laying hens, and the eggs will be a welcome source of protein for the orphans.

There are 13 other chickens in that box!

Like everything else here, it was chaotic. We had specifically asked Nokulunga (the head of permaculture) and her assistant to collect boxes all over town for the VHWs to put their chickens in. Guess how many boxes they collected — NONE! We’ve learned not to be surprised when stuff like that happens (ALL THE TIME). The project manager told the VHWs to bring their own boxes. Apparently, she (and our new youth coordinator) think we coddle our VHWs too much and they need to get their shit together and fend for themselves! Tough crowd! So, not everyone brought boxes (again, no big surprise) and we were then scrambling around to get boxes. While they waited for boxes, Nokulunga and a few VHWs stuffed chickens into an abandoned truck. They were really crammed in, and sadly, a few of ‘em died from suffocation. Only three. Three of out 500 ain’t bad!

VHWs with their chickens

It was an exciting day and everyone seemed soooo pleased to have chickens! The hope is that they will breed the chickens and it can become a mode of income generation. They’ll have chickens to sell, chickens to keep, and eggs to eat!

Happy Chicken Day!

Exec Committee member picking up her chickens