Going to the market

This morning one of our DRC staff, Marceline, kindly accompanied me to the main market in Kalamie. We were in search of fabric ("keyquembay" in swahili) for a dress that her mother is making for me. I noticed on my last trip here that Marceline was always "smartly" dressed and it turns out it's because her mom is a seamstress/tailor. We found some cool fabric, but in the midst of our search, we stopped so that Marceline could buy some chickens. Now some of you know I have a thing about birds. Too many pigeons too close to me freak me out. So I'm standing next to Marceline and about 10 ladies come up to us waving their upside down live chickens, wings outstretched and flapping, hoping to strike a deal with Marceline. It was too much for me...I had to step out of the sellers' circle, away from all the birds. After buying the chickens, Marceline tossed them in the back of the LandCruiser. I'd been riding in back on the way to the market (since Marceline was in a dress) but I was afraid the chickens would get a little rambunctious on the journey back so I was too nervous to sit in back with them! Marceline and the driver laughed and laughed. When I told the story to Buck (our consultant I'm working with) he laughed too. So I have a thing about large flapping birds in close proximity to my head, so what?! (Yes, I agree, it's quite absurd!)