Oops, Betty's a guy.

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Hello loyal fans!

THis one, it wont be serious. Or long.

So yesterday (Wednesday) I killed a goat. On purpose. Yup, I have blood on my hands (or did, until I washed very thouroughly).
On Monday Papa Jean bought the goat and brought it back to the property, where it was immediately deemed by all the worker's as "too small". So on Tuesday Papa Jean went to take it back and get a bigger one. Failing at that, he brought the original one back and told all complainers to suck it up. Seeing as how the goat had managed to survive our scrutinies, I decided to name it, and chose "Betty".
On Wednesday morning Betty got the chop. No worries, animal lovers, it was a sharp knife. We (Gad, Eric and I) then hung Betty from her hind legs and started in on skinning her. It didnt take me too long to discover my mistake. Yup, Betty's a guy.
Let me tell ya, folks, skinning a goat is ooky. Icky. Messy. FUN!!!!!
So the skin comes off (carefully to preserve what little meat Mr. Betty had to begin with), then the guts come out and are split into two piles; edible, and not. Stomach, liver, kidneys and heart make the edible pile, the rest is deemed unfit for human consumption. The rest is boring. Hack off little bits, skewer them with some onions, lather with spicy sauce and barbecue!
The fun part is what you do with the "inedibles". Enter the hawks.
The minute we killed Mr. Betty, hawks start circling. round and round and round they go, and I try to snap a few pics. No no no, says Faustin, you have to bring them to you. So he and I start hacking bits out of the intestines and throwing them into the air, watching as three or four hawks dive and fight over the scrap. AWESOME!!!! Spent ages doing this, got a few nice pics, and a few videos, which will be posted on YouTube some other time.
The food (Mr. Betty, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, peas and veggies) was really good, but I ate too much spice and I am still suffering. But me man! Me strong! Ooga ooga! and all that jazz.
Thats it for the article. Check out the sweet pics (sorry if skinned goat isnt what you like to see).

Again, if you want full size pics, email me ([e-mail]). I dont expect many requests for the second pic of Mr. Betty.

Safe Journeys

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Photos

Mr. Betty
Tuesday night. Sleep well!

Mr. Betty
Wednesday morning. Doesn't Jacintha look happy?

Hawks
Look down and a bit to the right of the top hawk. That little speck, thats the scrap that they are fighting for.

Comments

[Jess]

Yo baby bro!! Awesome entries!!! Sorry that I haven't commented in a while but you are so articulate that I didn't have much to add!!! I think what you are doing is absolutely 100% fantastic. Not only are you helping out the people of Rwanda, you are advancing our knowledge of Rwanda and its people. You should be very proud of yourself. The photos are great too! Although we could use a few more of you! I miss you like crazy. I will try to phone you in the next couple of days. Happy Summer Soltice, or rather Winter Soltice for you! Say hi to Jacintha for me!

[GoGo]

dead goats?
Kevin, I love your blog. I check on it first thing every morning. The dead goat is not your best picture but it sure is part of your story. The hawk pictures are great. You are a gifted writer. You have a wonderful way with words and your blogs could be published. I love the way they run on when you are excited, which you seem to be every time you sit down to write. Your photos are also excellent, dead goat notwithstanding. Kevin, you're a born communicator; you're charismatic and you have always had oodles of charm. When I read your blog I see Paul, the very early first apostle and Evangelist of the Christian New Testament. He, too, had a fire in his gut. He tarvelled around Asia Minor, especially in Greece and Italy. He visited small little communities like Ephesus, Corinth, Galatia, and spent time with early Christian cells that were meeting in houses and caves and catacombs. He was there to encourage the Christians. Some of them encountered lions in the arena in Rome. But no crocodiles. Thank you for bringing St. Paul to life for me. A lot of the New Testament is letters and travels of Paul, who had come from Tarsus originally. There is no record of Paul's dancing. That may be a stretch for you in your travels but if you feel like it, do it. I can imagine you doing anything, you're the king. If they laugh at you tell them that you are doing the newly created Elephant Hop. It wil soon be the rage in Kigali and we will see you on MTV.

[Carolina]

Master Traveller and blogger
You have a perfect balance of funny, serious, happy and sad in your stories--a full spectrum of emotions! Except it doesn't look good when I start crying at work! Keep travelling and blogging--I'm with you! Love you dearly, Mom

[Ruth]

Some Story Teller You Are
Love to read about your travels Kevin. You ARE a wonderful story teller and that is quite an art. I can feel your excitement. Keep on keeping on young man. With Bahai Love - Ruth

[Mark Baker]

Poor Betty
Dear Kevin, I'm surprised that it wasn't until the cleaning stage that you noticed that Betty wasn't a Betty. I can tell from the live picture. Anyway poor old Betty has gone to a better place. Glad you had a nice feast. Are you sure those are hawks? I'm looking forward to the video. Please send more pictures of you. Hope the trip to the Baha'i House of Worship in Uganda goes well. Love, Daddy

[LAUUUURA!]

Dead animals....
Ooo GoGo, I love it!! Exactly what an mzungu would say! So Kevin, I did similar things with live animal purchases but I never named the animal, sheesh. It sounds so barbaric 'Mr. Betty, onions, an sweet potatoes' made loverly skewers! He was a small goat though. You're strange. Say 'Hi' to Jacintha!

[grace]

hi kevin the goat story was really sick. you are really mature now. i wish you had babysat me and sam and will.

[will]

hi kevin all i wanted to know was your favret part of rwanda.