Not for the squeamish. Warning-parental guidance!

On Friday 26^th October 2012 the Muslim population of Ghana celebrated Eid al-Adha and enjoyed a day of religious observation and family festivities.

The state schools and main institutions remained open, but in the predominantly Muslim northern regions of Ghana, attendance would be low and applications for leave of absence high. For the VSO volunteers working in education in the northern areas, as none are Muslim, the day presented an opportunity for a working meeting; catch up, exchange of ideas and planning session.

Opposite our venue ( a volunteer’s house) there is a courtyard housing the accommodation and businesses of an extended Muslim family: a corner shop opening onto the street, a chop bar making and selling cooked food, a fabric store and tailor’s workshop, fish and meat smoking fires, small livestock rearing and living spaces.

We were invited to watch the sacrificial slaughter and butchering of a calf, commemorating the Biblical story of Abraham, who in following God’s command was about to sacrifice his son, when ordered to replace the child with a ram. Why did I go? The family continued their daily routines about the courtyard while preparations for the sacrifice were made. The chosen animal was lead into the yard, lifted and lay on its side and the limbs tied together. It was lifted into a shallow pit, positioned with a small deeper hole next to its neck, dug ready to collect the drained blood. The family and invited guests gathered quietly to watch. The event had a purposeful calm about it.   I was curious, but starting to feel distressed. A sharp cutlass was rested against the calf’s hide. Gently the calf was held in position, and an incision made in the calf’s neck.

I was overcome with a surge of emotion, being present at the ritualised death of a living creature, and left the courtyard in tears. I was helped across the road and back to the volunteer house and offered the standard British antidote: a cup of tea and a sweet biscuit.

I later reflected that every scrap of the calf’s flesh and carcass would be put to good use, and that during its life, the animal would have enjoyed a degree of nurture and roaming unknown to the factory farmed animals, the majority of agricultural livestock, in the UK. Through reading and watching certain television documentaries, I have a little knowledge of meat production and processing in the UK, but no direct experience, and I had given the subject minimal thought, certainly nothing to match what I had witnessed that day. However, I decided that if I was to remain true to my response to the slaughter of the calf, then I should no longer knowingly eat meat.