Chickens Come Home to Roost

Chickens…they are ubiquitous in Haiti. There are countless good reasons for the chicken to cross the road in Haiti. I’ve seen them cross the road running from the ubiquitous dogs, to escape being hit by the ubiquitous motorcycles or most likely fleeing from the ubiquitous children of our village. Many of our villagers have chickens as a result of the generous giving of people like you. Some have even been given goats as well. Yesterday morning as the sun rose over the hills by our village, I watched a chicken bolt across the road, past a house and stop at the house’s outdoor latrine. (This is basically a concrete and block outhouse with a wood door that is about a foot short of going entirely to the top.) So imagine my surprise to see this chicken go to the door and start jumping and flapping its wings. I thought at first it was seeing a bug it wanted to eat because it hit the door every time. I watched it jump, sit for a 10 seconds, jump again, wait some time, and jump again. Over and over until finally it got what it wanted. The lady of the home came out the back door grabbed the jumping chicken and threw her over the latrine door into the latrine. It suddenly became quite clear to me. Our chickens have come home to roost. You see we give our villagers an option. Their homes have a flushing toilet as well as an outdoor toilet. Some Haitians have never used a flushing toilet and don’t care to even try it, so for them the outdoor toilet is their cup of tea. But for those who have adapted to using an indoor toilet, what are you going to use the extra room out back for. Well the hen has got to lay its egg somewhere safe from the ubiquitous dog. So, who knows what we will find in our village latrines that are not being used. Why, just the other day we heard that a couple in our village had a fight and the spouse got kicked out for the night. Guess where they slept. Yep!

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