While I was away in Mombasa a student called me to tell me that one of my chickens died, and that he thought the rest were going to die. There was also something in there about eating them that didn't really come through over the phone. I was a little upset, but not enough to ruin my day. I got back to my house yesterday pleasantly surprised to see that I still had 4 chickens left, although one had a limp. I was told that the full story about the other chickens was that one died outright, then two other looked very sick, so they were eaten. This worries me a little bit, because i could imagine a situation in which my friend the animal doctor could have been called and could have given them medicine, but oh well, that didn't happen. So then I had two roosters and two hens, one rooster with a limp. Who knows how it got that limp, I heard somewhere that they also wanted to eat that one, but thankfully they refrained because they knew that someone would tell on them. The healthy rooster was picking on the injured one and chickens are not monogomous anyways, so I decided to take the rooster to the market to sell it.
First a kid that had been picking kale with one of my students offered me 300 KSH for it, but this chicken was worth at least 400 KSH (probably more). Then with the help of my student I shackled the chickens legs with a piece of banana tree twine (the bark of the banana tree is peeled and then used to bind chickens, vegetables, and fix leaky water pipes) and set off for the market. Just outside of the school gate another man offered me 300 KSH for the chicken, but I countered with 600 KSH. I had been briefed on how to bargain from the sellers perspective by this point, and although I felt a little silly saying 600 KSH, which is more than I have ever paid for a chicken, I did it anyways. It worked well enough to get him up to 400 KSH, but I decided to try for 450 KSH and he didn't budge. So on we went. A friend of mine asked me how much it was, but then when I told her 450 KSH she told me she didn't have the money. After walking away I felt bad, and told the student that we should go back and give it to her, but he thought that we should try to get 450 and if we couldn't that we should go back. I agreed, and we walked up through the market, although we continued past the open air market because the student wanted to try selling it to a hotel he knows buys chickens. On the way some old men asked about the chicken, and we went through the bargaining process again, but they stopped too low and I told them "wazee, unacheza," in a joking tone. Translated into English this means, "old men, you are playing," which they appreciated hearing coming from a mzungu (white person) and so they laughed, and then we continuted to the hotel.
Here's how the final debate over the price of this chickens life went:
"Bwana, untaka kuku?" - sir, do you want a chicken?
"ladba, unataka bei gani?" - maybe, what is the price?
"mia sita" - 600
laugh from the shopkeeper. "hapana. Nitalipa mita tatu na hamsini" - no. I will buy it for 350
"bwana, kuku hi ni kubwa, na mimi hupatia chakula katika jioni. Kwa hivyo sasa tumbo yeye is empty (whoops, I used a little enlglish because I didn't remember empty)" - sir, this chicken is big and I feed it in the evening so it's stomach is empty (people selling chickens usually force feed them right before they try to sell them)
"400."
"450. Mimi patia chakula nzuri, na Kenbro ni kuku nzuri." - 450, I give the chicken good food, and Kenbro chickens are very good.
"sawa. 450, na kama utakua kuku wengine, leta hapa, nitanunua." - fine. 450 and if you grow more chickens bring them here, I will buy them.
So my chickens life was worth 450 KSH. Not bad for my first sale ever. Maybe the students can start raising chickens at the school and supply this guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment