Let Me Introduce Mr. Kook

One aspect of my job that I really like is going to do farm visits with local farmers in my community.  The purpose of these visits is for me to go see their fields and try to gain a kind of inventory about what techniques the farmers are using to grow their crops, specifically what is working and what isn't.  It's a lot of fun to do and the farmers feel really honored when I make the effort to visit them all, which isn't really an effort because it's my job.

I like meeting the farmers and seeing what they're doing, but something I like just as much is that nearly every time I meet a farmer I end up leaving with a ton of food.  That's because to show their appreciation for my visit they want to give me things like sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, oranges, and, recently, a chicken.

The farmer I visited, Mr. Musebo, was so happy that I rode all of the way out to his farm that he gave me about 20 pounds of sweet potatoes and a rooster.

Now at my house I have a rooster running around, usually chasing the neighbors' hens.  I've named him Mr. Kook and even though I usually hate roosters because of their need to create audio madness before the sun rises, I do like having him around.  He's my very own chicken and by adding him to my grass-thatched hut I feel like I'm pretty close to becoming a Zambian villager, minus the white skin and blue eyes.

Myself, Mr. Kook, and Mr. Musebo

The generosity that is shown to me by the Zambians in my community is something that I'm sure I'll write about pretty continuously throughout my two years here in the Peace Corps, but being given the rooster raised the level of generosity to an even higher level.  What could be next?