Oh…the Flies!

I will never look at flies the same way ever again. You know those commercials that we too often see in the United States of poor Africans with flies swarming all around? Well, for the record, I have not seen anything like that. I have seen no starving, sick people in the streets or any babies with ribcages poking through their skin. Yet, I have seen a whole lot of flies. What I am trying to say is that these flies are not typically living on people like those commercials for “Feed the Children” convey but rather, they’re always there…forever present…around especially wherever there is food or drink. At my own house, I see too many flies in one day. Today, I tried to take a nap but couldn’t quite get to stage 2 of slumber due to the buzz, buzz, buzz of flies! I remember the first time I ate agouti – the rodent like animal which is a popular variety of bush meat for Ivoirians –in the little hut of a restaurant in a local village; the eatery was full of flies! So the fact that I was going to eat agouti which had been full of flies just minutes before it was set before my eyes on the table made me want to hurl even before I had put the rat meat to my lips.