Kenyan Traditional Hospitality

This morning we went with Joyce and Matano to Moses' home.  We took a matatu (only 20 bob each) and then walked in from the road with Moses.  This is the first time that I have seen something like a western residential neighbourhood...  O.K., it's not really anything like a Canadian neighbourhood, but the closest so far.  On either side of the dirt road are "plots" with houses on them, in a row, like we have in our neighbourhoods.  Some of the houses were brick, some mud with tin roofs.  The plots are skinny and long, maybe a quarter acre or so.

Moses gave us a tour of his property, starting with where he breaks stones into ballast -- he carries the stones up from the river and then breaks them down by hand.  Then we moved a few feet to where he makes bricks.  He demonstrated  mixing the soil and water and forming the bricks in a wooden mould.  They are then left to bake ... Maybe they are "cooked" and then left to dry in the sun, or maybe they are left to dry in the sun and then baked, I'm not too clear.  We walked down to the bottom of his plot where the "river" runs (the river is more like a stream, but is quite swift in the rainy season.  This is where he gathers sand, which he carries up to the front of his property to sell and/or use for brick making. 

Moses showing Terry the bricks he has made

He has three small mud houses on his property -- one for he and his wife, Jennifer, with a sitting room and a bedroom; one for his six children, I didn't ask how many rooms it had, but I would guess (hope) a sleeping room for the girls and one for the boys; and another building for the kitchen.  There was also a pit latrine structure.

Left to Right -- Joyce, Matano, Moses

 As is tradition in this region, when a "good friend" comes to visit, we shared a meal of chicken, cow peas, and chapati.  It was delicious, but as always, we hate the thought of having an elaborate meal when we know how much work and precious money goes into it.  We are planning on hosting a party soon to return the hospitality.

Before the meal, we drank Fanta and Moses gave us a demonstration in fly tying.  Though he said he didn't have the proper materials, he tied three beautiful flies using hen feathers and the few materials he had.  Back in the eighties and early nineties, Moses worked in Kisumu flying ties -- he was paid 3 shillings per dozen.  Back then you could by two sodas for three shillings (today a Fanta is about 40 shillings).

All of Moses' children came in to greet us -- two girls and four boys from Form 4 down to Standard 6.  Moses showed us all of their report cards from school.  One of the girls did quite well with an A in Biology, another had an A in History, the others... well, it seems as though they struggle in school.  The girl who is the highest achiever has been called to a school that is quite far away, so she needs to take a matatu.  She leaves the house a little before 6am and returns around 6pm.  The matatu costs 50 bob a day, which is quite a burden on top of fees, but it is a good school. 

We also learned that Jennifer, Moses' wife, was the buyer from the fish harvest last week.  They didn't want to confuse things by introducing us at the time.  Three days a week, Jennifer sells dried or fried fish in the market.  She purchased the fish last week for 1,600 shillings and sold them all for 2,000, a reasonable profit.

Moses and his family -- I had to trick them into smiling!

 After a wonderful meal, we took a picture of the family -- the kids had all changed into their school uniforms, likely their best outfits.  On the walk back to the road, Moses was telling me that his two children in Form 4 have to pay a sitting fee by the end of the month to write their exams -- 4,200 Ksh each.  Then, as we were saying good-bye, he handed me a little piece of paper... a cash deposit slip with his bank account number on it.