Protecting chickens from hawks

Do not throw an egg at the hawk who has just snatched one of your chicks. (Africa)

Dear Zayda,
Hawks exist in the world. They look for chickens not because they are bad people, but because they are hawks.

Many mothers learned to be chickens and passed on that message to their daughters. We think we must never talk back to those (usually male) who have power. We may believe that if we are nice, the world will be nice to us in return.

Hawks look out for nice chickens. They will tend to avoid the tougher chickens who will squawk and draw attention to the hawk in their midst. Hawks often don’t want to mess with hens that will peck at them and call down their barnyard crew to chase away the hawk. Most of all, hawks might not want to tangle with roosters who will use their spurs to defend the chickens.

So here is what some of the modern hawks do. They may be friends of moms and dads, and they may even be family members. They manage therefore to get between the chickens and those protecting the chickens. They may even get into the chicken coop and pretend to be just another chicken.

When the chicken cries out, a mom or a dad may say, “This nice person would never do or say that to you.” The chicken may also be told, “You are too sensitive,” or “You are being emotional.” Worst of all, those who matter most to the chicken may say, “You must be sick to be making up these stories. You are a liar.”

A hawk may threaten the chicken so she stays silent. He may say that terrible things will happen to the chicken or the chicken’s family if she ever talks about what is happening to her. He may even tell the chicken that it is her fault that he is attacking her.

Hawks often look for chickens on the Internet. In that way, the chickens don’t get to see what the hawk is like in person. The hawk can therefore pretend to be a chicken, gentle and sweet. Even if moms and dads want to protect the chicken, they may not know what is happening in an online chat room.

So what can you do to protect yourself, my grandniece? Trust your feelings. Act on your instincts. You don’t have to wait till the hawk has snatched a chick to know you could be in danger. You certainly do not have to do anything to placate the hawk, even if the person is a family member, your parents’ friend, or an online friend who says he is your age and in your grade at school.

Chickens need to learn to squawk. They may need to stop being polite as their moms and dad no doubt trained them to be. They need to yell, slap, kick, and bite if that is what it takes to scare off the hawk. If need be chickens need to risk going to the police to report the hawk’s behavior. The almost last thing a chicken needs to do is to hold the hawk’s secrets. The very last thing a chicken needs to do is to try to throw an egg to a hawk that shows signs of wanting to snatch a chick.

The world is a beautiful place, my grandniece, but we may not find all the people beautiful as they may seem. We don’t have to blame them for what they are, but we do need to protect ourselves by staying clear of danger, especially when our instincts tell us. “Watch out”.

I hope you will always listen to your instincts.

Blessings,

Your shangazi Nothango (Yvonne)

Learning how to lead

The egg says, “I am like authority. If you hold me too hard, I break; if you let me go, I fall and break to pieces on the ground.” (Africa)

Dear Zayda,

Women are still learning how to lead. Since we know what we do not know, we may be better off than men who think they know. With centuries of practice, men are still making a mess for women to clean up. For too long we have accepted the work and expected none of the authority or even the credit. Increasingly, we women are demanding our share of authority not just at home but in the boardroom and in parliament.

Girls usually become leaders much younger than boys. When the new baby comes, parents usually give some of their authority to the big sister. Parents may blame the three-year-old girl for any harm that comes to baby under her watch. If she and a younger child have a fight when they are grown, parents will say, to big sister, “You are the older one, so you must set the example.” Perhaps some of us avoid authority because we link it to blame, sacrifice, loss of childhood, and loss of fun.

While the girls are doing chores and supervising younger children, the boys (certainly in Jamaica!) are usually outdoors playing games. They therefore learn about authority through games. So while women take authority seriously and often too seriously, men tend to see authority as a game. Where women may take a loss to heart, a man may accept a loss as the price for staying in the game. Women may think their power base is formed in discussions at meetings; men know the power base is formed over drinks at the bar.

Women with state authority used to be rare. The first female elected to head a government was Sirivamo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, in a country where men usually lead while women follow several paces behind. From similar cultures came such leaders as Indira Gandhi of India, and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. Today we had many more women holding state power in countries such as Liberia, Germany, and Chile. Portia Simpson Miller was Jamaica’s first and only female prime minister, and this year Kamla Persad-Bissessar became Trinidad’s prime minister. You can see a list of women currently in power at: http://www.filibustercartoons.com/charts_rest_female-leaders.php

Women continue to search for positive ways to handle authority. Most women, such as Maggie Thatcher of Britain, have decided to hold the egg hard, often so hard that they defeat themselves. Some, like Eugenia Charles of Dominica, stay the course as a strong leader, not seeming to care if others think they are acting like males. Many more women avoid handling authority. They let go of the egg out of fear of being seem as trying to be a man.

My grandniece, you can begin to practice handling authority as soon as you have any kind of leadership role – at home or at school. Remember the lesson of the egg. Carry an egg around with you for a few days and see what you have to do to protect the egg.

Understand that you can be gentle without allowing the egg to fall. Notice that you can hold the egg firmly without crushing it. Remember that if you put down the egg, someone else may pick it up and act as if the egg belongs to him because that is what he grew up to believe.

And if you find no other sources to guide you, Zayda, remember the wisdom the ancestors have set down for us in these proverbs. Remember women such as Yaa Asantewaa and Harriet Tubman. They had the courage to take up the egg and nurture it. They could be tough and gentle, flexible and uncompromising.

Balance and self-trust are some of the qualities we need to feel at home with the authority that belongs as much to us as to anyone else.

Blessings,

Your shangazi Nothango (Yvonne)

Recognizing alligator's eggs

Alligator lay egg, but him is not a fowl. (Jamaica)

Dear Zayda,

Things are not always as they appear. In a short while, you will be at the stage of questioning, and of saying “no”. You need to keep this quality when you are grown up. Sometimes people see one and one and they get two; at other times, people see one and one and swear they have 11 or even 1001. So fowls lay eggs, but not every egg was laid by a fowl.

Yet children as well as grownups can get into trouble for asking questions and saying “no”. And if we get into trouble often enough, we may start to say what others want us to say, rather than what we think and believe.
Jamaica’s State of Emergency ends today, after being in force for two months. The two parties continue to argue about who is to blame for ending this State of Emergency. It seems that most Jamaicans want it to continue, but those are not the Jamaicans like Leon.

Leon called me once when he needed someone to talk to. Actually, his uncle, a policeman, suggested that he call me. Leon was so angry at the police, that his uncle feared he might do something bad and get into real trouble with the law.

Leon was working with a man who refused to pay him what was due. One day, Leon decided to go to the man’s office to demand his money, but still had to leave without getting paid. On the street outside the office, the police came and arrested Leon. He spent a week or two in lock-up before the police released him. He was angry at the man who still owed him the money and caused him to be locked up. He was even angrier with the police who kept him in a jail cell that was smelly and crowded, where he needed to go to the bathroom in a bucket and the food was not what anyone should have to eat.

Well, Leon and I talked, and then I arranged for him to see a counselor. As a result, Leon seemed more hopeful, and decided to move on with his life even if he never got the money owed to him.

He lived in a poor community. Because he had no job and no money, he was sleeping the only place he found shelter – in a chicken coop. He was worried that he didn’t have the means to support his son whom he loved a lot. He talked with me about going back to Clarendon to work on his family’s land there.

He did return to Clarendon, and that where the police held him. He has been in lockup now for about three weeks, and the police have not charged him with doing anything wrong. The police could hold him for as long as the State of Emergency lasts, and no one could help him.

I will try to get Leon an attorney, and hope that he gets justice before he gets angrier.

The State of Emergency might look as harmless as a fowl egg to a lot of people. But young men like Leon see it as an egg that hatches an alligator with sharp teeth.

My grandniece, we need always to try to see the world from other people’s points of view as well as our own. We need to realize that truth can be a lot more than what we see or think we see.

Blessings,

Your shangazi

Yin and Yang of creation

Creation: Spring & Easter
The world is a big place, but God is the creator. (Ghana)












Pan Ku

Missa Chin who have de Chinese shop say de world start wid one black egg. In fact, everything else was pure darkness dem time.

Pan Ku born out of de darkness. He never have anything else to do, so he sleep and sleep for bout eighteen thousand year. Who was to wake him, and what he was to wake up for?

When he get tall like ten coconut tree, the egg get too tight that he wake up. As he stretch and turn over, he break the egg in two. The top part of the egg light and clear, and it fly up in the sky to become heaven. The bottom part cold and thick, and it fall down to become earth. When you hear bout yin and yang, two sides that make a whole, you know what Missa Chin talking bout.





Pan Ku born with hammer and chisel in his hand, his head touching the sky and his feet on the earth. He use his tools to keep the two part of the egg from joining up again. A magical tiger, dragon, phoenix, and tortoise help him with his work for another eighteen thousand year. They make sure heaven and earth can never ever meet.

Finally all that work wear out Pak Ku and he die. But as the old life leave him, his body take on new life. What was his breath become wind and clouds. His voice become thunder. The light from one eye become the sun, and the light from the other eye become the moon. His body and two foot and two hand turn into the five mountain of China. Out of his blood come sea and river, and his hair become tree and shrub and every kind of plant. His bones change to rock and his muscle to fertile ground. His sweat give us rain and dew, and his marrow become jade and pearl. When he happy, sun shine, and when he sad, cloud hide the sun.

Since he never bathe all those thousands of years, he have parasite on his body. So flea and lice turn into animal and human being.

So Missa Chin say.

Obatala: Creation needs a clear head

Spring, Easter & Creation
The devil tempts but doesn’t force. (Guyana)





Water and chaos were all that existed in the beginning, the Yoruba say. Obatala, one of the orishas (lesser deities) was losing patience with those who didn't share his dream of taming the disorder below heaven.

“What is the use of our powers,” Obatala asked Oludamare, the Creator-God “if we don’t ever use them?”

“The power is yours. You can do what you want with it,” Oludamare said.

“I want to create a world out of chaos,” Obatala said.

“Done. You have my blessing,” Oludamare said. “Just make sure you talk to my son who knows the future. He will tell you what you need to do to succeed.”

"I am on my way, Oludamare. Thanks."

"And stay away from....."

"I know, I know. I can't thrive and drink," Obatala said.

On the advice of Oludamare's son and other orishas, Obatala collected maize, a palm nut, a chain of gold, a five-toed chicken, and a calabash of sand. In addition he carried an egg so sacred that he wrapped it in his shirt, close to his chest.

Seven days after Obatala left to climb down the chain of gold toward water and chaos, no one had heard from him. So Oludamare sent another orisha, Oduduwa, in search of Obatala. Oduduwa, found Obatala drunk on palm wine from a heavenly feast. When Oduduwa could not rouse Obatala, he took the chicken, the palm seeds, and the calabash and completed the journey.

Oduduwa scattered sand from the calabash over the water and he dropped the chicken on the sand. The chicken scratched the sand, and vast land sprang up wherever the sand was scattered. Oduduwa then planted the palm nut in the earth, and from it was created the Yoruba kingdom of Ile-Ife.

Obatala was furious when he found out that Oduduwa took his plan and acted on it. Obatala's heart beat so hard the sacred egg cracked. From the egg flew a sacred bird that dipped and whirled till it created hills and lowlands. Obatala walked around, scattering maize seeds that grew quickly in the new land. Seeing these changes made him even more irritated with Oduduwa, so he sought Oludamare's help.

“Oludamare,” Obatala asked, “Do you think it is fair that Oduduwa gets the credit for my idea?”

“Surely you haven't forgotten why....?” Oludamare asked.

“I just took a little sip of the palm wine to celebrate," Obatala said. "It won’t happen again.”

“There is still work for you to do. If you are up to it.”

“I have learned my lesson. I won’t fail this time.”

“You can use your powers to create men and women,” Oludamare said.

“How do I do that?” asked Obatala.

“Use clay to create forms that look like the gods and the orishas,” Oludamare said, “and I will do the rest.”

Obatala molded clay into different shapes and left them to bake in the sun. He made lots of these bodies and got so thirsty that he took a break. He checked out the newly-grown palm trees and tested some juice to see if it had fermented as yet. He took one sip and then another, and then many more.

When he returned to molding the clay, his eyes and hands were unsteady, but he still thought all the bodies were beautiful. As a result, when Oludamare breathed fireballs of life into these forms, some could not see or hear, walk or even stand.

When Obatala realized what he had done, he promised himself that he would never again touch strong drink. He also pledged to protect those who suffered because of his carelessness.

Until today, Obatala is the protector of persons with disabilities. His followers may eat palm oil, but they must never ever touch palm wine.