There will be blood

So with school  back in session and the holidays over it was back to business. Fortunately, the teachers and administration at my school believe in a healthy balance between work and play. So once a month we all get together for staff socials. We pool our money together, buy two goats along with other essentials from market and of course a healthy amount of beverages. Wednesday night is when the goats are killed and prepared. Many of us come to watch this, have a few drinks, and keep those who are doing the work company. Some of the scrap meat, ie hooves, face, tail, etc, is prepared with pepe soup that evening to give us a sneak peak of what is to come the following afternoon. This evening is very enjoyable and not as formal. Other volunteers have visited me to see how the goats are prepared and thought it was very interesting. The conversations also tend to be quite simulating as well. Perhaps the recent death causes people to be more sociable. But when Thursday does arrive, we feast. I am generally the last person to leave, as meat is quite expensive to buy, so I take full advantage of the large quantity we have for these occasions.

For our most recent goat killing I asked if I could be the one to end the life of the furry four legged creature. I would finally have my revenge for having to put up with their incessant bleating at all hours of the day and night. My fellow teachers happily obliged. When I got to the house that Wednesday afternoon one goat had already been killed and was being prepared. Just after it is killed it is hung by it's jaw on a large stick that has been staked into the ground. It is then covered in kerosene and lit up like the eyes of Allah. This is the simplest way to remove all the hair. So with one goat sufficiently charred I turned to the one with it's heart still beating. A student held down it's body while I stepped on it's head to make sure the throat was well exposed. I had a dull machete in one hand and some leaves and grass in the other. I said goodbye to my new friend and then swung down hard on its neck. Nothing. Not even a drop off blood. Apparently goat skin is very thick. I took about three more hacks before I was able to even produce a slight wound. But when it did finally open up it was a red geyser. The leaves and grass I had to shield me from all the spraying blood were doing a mediocre job at best. Amidst all the bloody chaos a teacher was yelling, "Keep going!" Then I realized the goat was still alive. Apparently the jugular was still intact and I needed to saw through it to finish the job. I could see the spine at this point but the little billy goat was still frantically wagging it's tail. Perhaps it even thought it would somehow make it out of this situation alive.  Ha, not a chance! The blood of this goat was already on my hands so my fate had been sealed. But at times my arm needed a rest so I would take a brief break from sawing at the neck until the annoying baying from the goat urged me back to my work. It seemed like it would never shut up until, after about five minutes of pathetic sawing, the animal finally stopped breathing. I'm sure it wasn't the best way to die, perhaps I should've watched someone else do it first, but hey, when you have the urge to kill all rational thought is left behind. Billy was burned as well and then opened up and dissected like a 7th grade biology experiment. I can now readily identify the lungs, stomach, small and large intestines along with many other goat organs. After that point it seemed as if I was at any America butchers. Watching the meat divided into the separate cuts was familiar. The next day was very satisfying, as I was able to eat what I'd helped to prepare the day before. It was nice, and in a sense reminded me of the thought that this world is in some ways like a game of poker. For someone to have many chips, someone else must have few if any. For me to enjoy some of the finest meat in Cameroon, there must be a goat or pig to pay the price. On this hand I went all in, I wasn't bluffing, and I won the pot, which was full of goat meat and plantains, covered in a spicy pepe soup.