Spit Shine, Building a House

Spit Shine
Last time I went to market, I sat down to talk to my friend who sells kola nuts. Kola nuts are either green or red. You eat them, and they’re supposed to work as a mild stimulant. They stimulate me to promptly spit ihem out and go brush my teeth. They are very bitter. We were talking about the hot season and how far the walk is from my village to market. She bought some hard boiled guinea fowl eggs and some water for us to snack on. Guinea fowl eggs have a dark yellow, creamy consistency yolk. As we were talking, her daughter wanted to share her egg with me. When I said that I didn’t want it, she proceeded to wipe the yolk of the egg all over my face. She’s little enough that this was funny. Another kola nut seller who was sitting next to me saw my dirty face and frowned. She then spit onto a piece of cloth and scrubbed my face clean with her spit. And all this time I thought I had outgrown that…

Building a House
Most houses here are constructed from mud and grass. Houses are designed into compounds, with rooms arranged in a circle and the middle opening into a courtyard. Rooms are either round or square. Square rooms are more difficult to build, so they have a higher status. Typically only men stay in square rooms.
The landlord is the head of household. His room is always just east of the entrance into the compound. This is because the sun comes up in the east, so whatever the day brings will come to the landlord first.
To build a room for a house, the people measure the space using string. They then dig a shallow line along the measurements. This is filled with mud, which is allowed to dry. This is the foundation for the room.
The mud comes from pits people dig using picks and shovels. The mud is then mixed into cement by stomping on it. Donkey carts bring big barrels of water to mix the mud. People then roll the mud into balls. The balls of mud are carried to the building site. One person is responsible for putting the mud onto the walls, which are built about 1 foot at a time. The other people carry the mud and hand it to that person. This continues until the room is tall enough. A stick is used to push the mud inward. This helps support the room so that it stays sturdy.
Little divots are left at the top of the last layer. People then collect large neem tree branches and cut them until they are all a similar size. The base of the branches is placed in the divot, and then the top of the branches rest together, like a tipi. These branches are the basis of the roof. Roofs are never built on Thursdays. I was unable to find out if it’s bad luck to roof on Thursdays or if people just don’t.
After the sticks are placed and secured together with rope, the people add a few layers of grass. The grass is woven into a sheet before it is placed on the roof. More grass is woven into ropes which are used to secure the sheet of grass to the sticks.
The women then plaster the house with a finer mixture of mud and river sand. This is important, because without plaster the room will wash away in the rainy season. The plaster is applied one handful at a time, and then worked into the wall in upward circles.
Women also make the floors. They do this by using big sticks to pound the dirt until it gets to the consistency of concrete.
Most people buy their doors and windows from carpenters.