Typical Mud House in Rural Kenya

This house is common in communities throughout Kenya and other East Africa countries. It was made by mixing mud with cow dung to form the walls. Sometimes they use grass to make a thatched roof, but this house has a corrugated tin roof.

Usually, the family will place a barrel under the roof edge to catch rain water. The water collected is used for drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning the house. Drinking water is purified by boiling it over a fire to kill any bacteria that causes sickness. If they don't boil their rain water, they may use a chlorine product, like WaterGuard, to make it safe for drinking.

Most rural communities (outside of towns and cities) do not have electricity. The woman who lives in this house uses kerosene lanterns to see inside her house at night. Cows are only penned up at night, to keep wild animals from hurting them, so during the day they roam around and eat grass (or relax in the cool dirt). There are lots of trees and grass in the these country communities, and lots of quiet, until the children return from school!