What made her so distinct and earned her the name, “The Chicken Lady”, is that she kept about 40 chickens at her place. These chickens had free access to her little shack, walking in and out, hopping on her bed, laying eggs wherever, clucking contentedly around the legs of visitors. She also had about a dozen doves and sparrows in cages. Viviana had never married and had no children of her own, and the birds were her friends and companions.
As you can imagine her house smelled horribly. In the summer when temperatures soar into the 100’s the cement floor would heat up and the chicken manure would start steaming, making the stench even worse. Some people had to clog their noses to endure the visit. We repeatedly tried to get Viviana to move, or at least let us clean up her house. But she adamantly refused. This was her home, this is where she was going to stay until she died, and the chickens were part of the family. She shared, “I only have two reasons to get up in the morning: my God and my chickens.”
And indeed another thing that touched people about Viviana was her tremendous faith. She never complained. She lived in what we would view as a chicken coop, with a door that wouldn’t close properly, a crack in the window, and chickens running around everywhere. But she radiated joy and was grateful to God for everything. She would pray with our visiting groups each time and many were moved to tears by her great faith in God. She would often tell us that she prayed for all our missionaries and for anyone who had ever visited her.
Towards the end of her life, Viviana agreed to let us move her and find homes for the chickens as she was no longer able to care for them. But when we went to catch the birds a couple of them got away. We moved Viviana to her sister’s house but she got so homesick she moved back the next day. She was upset that the chickens were gone, even though the caged birds were still there. But the two chickens who had escaped the roundup found their way back inside and soon had some chicks, so once more Viviana was in the company of her favorite feathered friends.
Viviana had always wanted to die in the early morning, and the Lord honored that desire by coming for her at 5:30 a.m. Her sister and niece were with Viviana when she died. And so were her chickens.