Uniqueness About Kenya's Kerio Valley Shelters
A well structured hut takes less than a week to complete under strict orders from their beloved husbands, pastoralists whose main work is to look for pasture and herd their livestock.
By Joseph Kangogo
One uniqueness about shelters housing locals living along the remotest Kerio Valley in Kenya is that they are being engineered and constructed by women.
This gender have really mastered the art of weaving traditional huts made of rafters and grass-thatched roofs.
The culture up to date allows women to do the work of sheltering the entire family using all their means including trekking miles to fetch the raw materials, including rafters, grass and water to mix with soil and cowdung for smearing if applicable.
"Indeed it is such a stressful and tiresome job which in some cultures is meant for young energetic men, but women in this part of the world are left with no other choice but to fulfil their responsibility," says a local resident.
A well structured hut takes less than a week to complete under strict orders from their beloved husbands, pastoralists whose main work is to look for pasture and herd their livestock.
Upon completion, it houses the entire family members minus five-year old boys who are believed to be grown ups enough to sleep in their own separate rooms or even spend outside in the bushes for 'hardening' and preparing to become real men.
This house, besides simple routine maintenance like rethatching and smearing, takes at least 20 years standing in use before plans are put in place to construct another one.
The main advantage of it is its cost effectiveness because it doesn't require any money to purchase ironsheets, nails, or polls. Everything is being collected locally.
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