Some Agikuyu houses were constructed using mud while others were made out of wooden planks. This choice was dependent on the available building materials. First, men put up poles and lattices made from saplings. Once this structure was erected, women made the walls using either mud, brushwood, or wooden planks. The roofs were then thatched with grass. Before the onset of each rainy season, a new layer of grass was added to the existing roof to prevent water leaks. The number of grass layers indicated how old a hut was. Once construction was completed, a shallow gully was dug around the house to prevent rainwater from flowing into the house.
Each hut was divided into several sections. The front part of the house was called ruri; this was where visitors were received. The kitchen (riko) was located at the centre of the house. The uriri was the wife’s bedroom, located at the back of the house and to its right was the kiriri where unmarried daughters slept. Goats slept to the right of the hut in the kwa mburi.
The main entrance to the homestead was called the muromo; it was marked with strong poles on either side. Homesteads were fortified with a rope around the compound. A hedge of tangled tree branches was planted around the compound and later covered by thorny creepers. A mugumo tree , which is sacred in this community, grew at the centre of every homestead.
The first wife’s hut was located next to the mugumo tree while the grandmother’s hut was built to the left of the of the main gate. Since the grandmother stayed awake most of the time, she was the gatekeeper and she alerted the family in case of danger. The man of the home built his house behind the grandmother’s house, and in between the two houses was the cattle shed.
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