It is again another Christmas season and the residents of Maseno are giving their houses a new and fresh look as it is their yearly custom. The residents, especially those with mud walled houses have always given their houses a fresh layer of decorative clay soil during every festive season.
This Hivisasa writer on Wednesday encountered Mrs. Joyce Ratemo, a Maseno resident who was giving her house a final decorative layer on the walls and the floor. Mrs. Joyce said that the process was an elaborate and a tedious one. She said that first she had to collect cow dung from her neighbors, look for raw bananas and several leaves of Aloe-Vera tree and finally buy clay soil.
The cow dung is then mixed with the special clay soil with water and it is then carefully smeared on the walls then the Aloe-Vera leaves are used to engrave zigzag decorative lines on the floor while the raw bananas are used to produce white drawings on the outer walls. This writer followed Mrs. Joyce who was in the company of her son downstream to Mr. Omondi’s farm where the special clay soil is purchased. Mr. Omondi sells the clay soil at Kshs. 15 a bucket.
Mr. Omondi confirmed that he sells it to women who use it to decorate their houses and also to middle persons who go to sell it to other people who can’t reach him directly. He however hinted that despite the business being highly lucrative during the December holidays, he faces a lot of theft cases as unknown people always raid his farm during the nights and make away with free soil.