A day of research

About half the time we took public transport to research areas. These pictures are taken in the Kiminini area, which was the closest and most easily accessible study area. We took a matatu for 20 minutes, then hired a pack of boda bodas to make a caravan and deliver us to some village off the beaten track. Today my boda was slow, which gave me a good photo op of the rest of the team.
I was so glad for my research assistants not only because they could translate well between English and Kiswahili, but also because they gave cultural interpretation along the way. When we passed an oblong mud and stick building with several doors on one side they pointed out that that was likely a set of rental houses. Then I noticed the three stone fire outside and remembered people saying one reason people stay using three stones for cooking is because they are not allowed to build any sort of cooking thing inside, and I suppose there is no kitchen area for them to use?!? (I'll have to check on this one...)

Here is a simple two burner homemade mud stove which is much more efficient than the three stones above.
Do you see that man in the quarry? He is the same colour as the nice red earth. I took a series of pictures here once I saw that they had made a channel in the road to divert all the runoff water into the pit. The next house we went to ended up to be the house of the family who owned this pit, and the first man I met opened his mouth wide to smile at us, and I couldn't help to notice that the mud that was covering his feet, clothing, hair and hands was also splattered all over his face, including those nice pearly whites inside his mouth. Yikes.

Bricks for sale! Well, these might just be ready for firing now... not too sure...

Three happy girls out gathering wood in the rain. The researcher in me now wishes I had asked them if they did this every day, or how long that bundle of wood lasts for.
I'm putting this in so you don't get the impression that all houses that we visited were made of mud and stick. This family we visited had a very pretty yard, with a driveway lined by guava trees, and a great front porch. The dad is a retired veterinarian, and the mom had built quite a large chepkube brooder stove with capacity for 300 chicks, as a money making enterprise that never actually got off the ground.
My assistants and I, relaxing at a cafe with chai and mandazi, waiting for the rain to stop and talking about the day.