Jo’s Birthday

Not suspecting anything out of the ordinary the morning of her birthday, Jo took herself to St. Mauritz Health Center as usual. She had not mentioned her birthday to anyone there. However, as lunchtime approached, everyone was anxious for her to go to the convent where she usually has lunch. There she was presented with a lovely cake and lots of birthday wishes. After lunch Jo took the rest of the cake back to the clinic to share with the other workers (and even the clients as long as it lasted).

As lovely as this was, they weren’t finished with her yet! As she readied herself to come home, Sister Hellen sat herself down in Jo’s office, which was very unusual. As she began humming, the girls in the office began to march in singing “Happy Birthday.” One carried a card; another held a bouquet of flowers; and the third presented her with a chicken… a LIVE one! As is the custom here, the recipient must hold the gift (or at least “touch” it) for the gifting to be complete. In Jo’s case, even touching it seemed to be problematic since it tended to move each time she got near. You’ve heard the statement: “I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot?”... Apply that to Jo!

(As an aside, it is worth noting that these people are extremely poor. For any of them, Sister included, providing any gift is quite a struggle, especially a chicken! So Jo was pretty overwhelmed.)

On the ride home Jo was terrified that the chicken was getting loose and would fly up and attack her in the driver’s seat! She called Pat on the phone near hysteria! (Well, not quite that bad, but close). She pulled up to the front of the house and opened the back door of the vehicle. The poor little chicken with its legs tied together was more frightened than Jo was! It had “shit” all over the box and then seemed to have rolled in it! How was she to get it out of the car? She gingerly tried to pick up the box, but the chicken flapped its wings again and of course, Jo dropped the whole box on the ground! We eventually got the poor thing out of the sun and offered it some water. (Did you know that a chicken will only drink water when it also has food?)

Shortly after all of this excitement, our dear cook, Esther, arrived and took the poor chicken out of its misery. It was a very nice little chicken once it was dead, plucked, and cut into recognizable pieces. Since we were going out to eat that evening to continue Jo’s celebrations, the chicken made a wonderful supper the following day! Amen!