Every time I visit my Louisville friends from Somalia, it is an adventure. Last time – I went to their home, I was greeted with much excitement. They wanted to show me their new family edition… at first i thought they just wanted to show me the chicken that they made for dinner. But no, they wanted to introduce me to their family pet. Ha. i had to get some photographs. And as i followed the little boy back to his room in his small louisville city apartment…. out in the hallway came running a little white chicken. The smallest girl screamed and jumped on the couch as the pet chicken went running around the room. I must admit that i jumped too as i didn’t expect a live chicken to come out of his room much less for a boy to have a pet chicken in the projects. I asked their mom – “Are you planning on eating him?” Reasonable question considering these are African refugees – killing, plucking and cooking a chicken is a normal part of culture. But no, this was just their pet. By the way.. his name is chicken.

The funniest part was when ‘chicken’ jumped up on my American friends lap and she screamed but she couldn’t get the chicken off of her.. he just kept flying toward her. And by the way, the chicken is not potty trained – i got proof when i tried to help my friend. Awesome!! I had to get my iphone out for some special photographs and video – i mean no one would believe me.. ha, it’s true.

he loves his pet chicken