The Herald April 28, 1983
“IF a hen can do it, why not a human being?” asked Mrs Esther Rumaisa. She put it to the test and now she is a human incubator, hatching chicks from eggs heated by her bosom.
Mrs Rumaisa (39), who lives near the South African town of Senekal, has been hatching chicks full-time since December.
She wraps eight eggs in yellow dusters, puts four under each breast, and puts warm linen over them.
Then she fastens her bra over the linen so that the eggs won’t slip as she goes about her business.
Her queen-size breasts make her hobby even easier. When she retires to bed, she even sleeps with them in place and they don’t break.
During the second week of incubation, she tests the eggs by shaking them. If there is no sign of anything moving inside the egg, she knows that a young chicken is being formed. But if there is something loose inside an egg, she knows it has been spoiled.
In the third week, says Mrs Rumaisa, the chicks make a sound like rustling paper, and the shells soon crack to let them out. She puts the hatched chicks back under her breasts and covers them with the warm linen for a while.
Mrs Rumaisa has become the centre of attraction. People travel from long distances to have a glimpse of the “human incubator”.
At first, she hid her experiment from her husband, Simon. But when the first chicken hatched, “I told my husband about the whole thing. He said people would say I was a witch. I told him that I did not care. The following morning all eight chicks were hatched.”
Mrs Rumaisa continues to hatch chickens, though she refuses to sell them.
“People say they won’t eat my food. They want to ban me from attending funerals. A relative told me that people say that they are going to kill me. I buy fresh eggs. The only thing I used to hatch them is the heat of my body. How does witchcraft come into it?” asked Mrs Rumaisa.
“It is my gift and talent. There is nothing suspicious about it.”
But because of the witchcraft rumour, the local police chief and a magistrate paid a courtesy call on Mrs Rumaisa to see for themselves. She delightfully explained to them how she hatched the chickens.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- It is always important to think outside the box and experiment with novel ideas. History is full of inventions, some of which are important in our lives because someone dared to experiment and try out new things.
- People will always be suspicious of new things especially those that they do not understand and they are always quick to dismiss such things. In most cases they are quick to pass judgment or put labels on people who would have come up with the ideas. The woman in the story was demonised for going against the grain. Instead of embracing her ingenuity, some people decided to call her a witch.
- It is important to soldier on, even in the face of adversity. Mrs Rumaisa chose to continue with her new found talent despite the negative comments and judgements that she was receiving from her community.
- A prophet is not without honour in his hometown. While her neighbours chose to look negatively at what Mrs Rumaisa was doing, others chose to travel from far and wide to embrace and honour her for what she was doing.