John in Liberia

Chickens and Ducks I became much closer to the food I've been eating in the past week as my family gave me the honor of killing our chicken. I'll spare the graphic pictures but here's one of me and our pet chicken who recently became our meal. My host brothers laughing as I awkwardly struggle to pick up the chicken for the first time Though I didn't particularly want to kill the chicken, I did see it as an essential part of experiencing the culture here and feeling more connected to the food that I am eating. It's a different feeling killing the animal you're eating. As someone who eats primarily vegetarian (for animal, health, and environmental reasons), it was difficult to kill this animal. However, I am happy about the fact that this she was raised naturally, free range, and living life like a normal chicken. This is also a society that animals are not grown in excess or factory farmed like in the states. Not to mention, I knew someone in my hou...

The chores here are the real deal. So for this I thought I'd just share some of the many things I've been learning to do here with my host family the past month I've been living with them.  My host family's home One thing to keep in mind when looking at these pictures is that as a generalization,  the gender roles here in Liberian culture tend to be very traditional, where women are taking care of the home/children while men are working or socializing. So, for me as an adult male, seeing me do these types of chores looks a bit out of place. Sometimes men who do these chores might be made fun of by other men because they are doing "women's work" and it is socially unacceptable to do this. Women who see me do this sometimes exclaim, "That man can WORK!". Overall though, my family has been great with giving me the opportunity to try these new things because they know I'll be living on my own soon and need to develop these skills...