Ages three to four
Going back in time, when I was about three or four years old, I remember my mother told me I was a Gĩkũyũ little girl. Up to now, I have not advised otherwise. I am still a Gĩkũyũ and as well as a Gĩkũyũ mother and grandmother. The Gĩkūyū tribe is one of the forty-two tribes living in Kenya, East Africa.
Danger
One early morning my mother was preparing breakfast-‘wimbi’ grain porridge. Three of us- my mother, the baby, and I were present, sitting around the fire hearth made of three stones, waiting for the gruel to be ready. As it simmered my mother’s neighbor, a middle-age lady knocked on the door, and my mother answered and told her to come in. The lady entered the house and asked for the fire to start a fire in her home. My mother and the lady engaged in a discussion, and as they were talking, the porridge was ready.
Egg
My mother removed porridge from the fire and put on her right side to cool down. As their discussion prolonged, the baby crawled from the left side behind my mother. Before my mother and I could notice, the baby put his left hand inside the hot porridge. He made one loud cry as the hot porridge peeled off his skin from fingers to the elbow. My mother quickly picked up the baby from hot porridge, rushed for two eggs, and broke them on the skinless arm to help heal it. The rest forgot about the visitor, gruel, and breakfast, as treating the limb became a priority.
A left leg burned
As a little girl, my mother loves to play in the yard with other kids. One day she had dipped her leg in burning hot ashes. Her short leg was burnt to the bone from the foot to above the knee. In her story, she told me her loving father held her on his laps with great love. My mother narrated, ” My father held my leg comfortably to avoid shaking from the pain. Because there was no hospital, he had to get creative. He carefully covered my leg with white rabbit hair every day for many days.” Her father was a very handsome man, light skin, slim, and tall, as she said. He worked as a post office messenger, picked letters from Mzungu to the post office, and from the post office back to Mzungu. One day, he never returned home. The stick he carried on letters found, but his body missed. My mother was only twelve years old at the time, and she came to find out that the tribesmen killed him.
Preserving fire
In Gĩkūyū culture, the wife’s responsibility to preserve fire overnight and rekindle it the following morning. Before people went to sleep, one of the thick burning firewood, about twelve inches long by three inches, deliberately made available and covered with hot ashes—the method-a hole formed at the center of the hearth in a flat position. Then the burning wood is placed on one end in the hole and is cover it with ashes. The ashes will cut off the air and slow the combustion of the wood throughout the night. In turn, it would then turn it into charcoal.
Start a fire in the morning
Remove ashes allows charcoal to come in contact with air and glows—thinly chopped pieces of the wood placed on the glowing charcoal. To light frame use, a bamboo or metal pipe gushed air blown into the glowing charcoal until a flame lights up. The denser wood added to keep the fire going as long as needed. Maintain the fire frame; firewood pushed on three sides to the center of the hearth. The wood continuously added to keep it burning for long cooking. It is always made sure there is one specific thick piece of the firewood to preserve the fire overnight.
Who preserved fire
Gĩkūyū women are not only responsible for maintaining the fire in her house (Nyumba) but also in her husband’s house (things). Any woman who never mastered fire preservation received negative remarks and considered lazy and nosy because she would be forced early in the morning to go looking for fire from the neighbor’s houses. Such behavior forced other ladies in the neighborhood to show her how to preserve light in the home.
Purposes of fire
The fire used to light the house in the night, warm up the home in the cold, cook, roast, and burn the sacrifices. The fire was always available when needed, especially early in the morning, for rekindling.
Baby and safety
Since the porridge incident and the story of my mother’s fire incident, I had a better view of the importance of little children’s safety, especially during my time as a babysitter. It made me always conscious of the danger because it can happen at any time to anyone, especially to the little ones. I always make sure to place all those things that can attract the little kids’ attention and make kids pull them down, or shake down the stand to drop the items on the floor.
Technology and childcare
When I became a mother, I bought a baby walker for my firstborn baby to stop her from picking things up from the floor and putting them in her mouth. But one day, it didn’t occur to me that the walker would add to her height, making it easy to reach things from above. So that day, she made her way to a drawer covered in a cloth and pulled it down, and all things that were on top fell. Luckily the objects missed her by a tiny gap. That brought my attention to the conclusion that only God is the perfect care for us all and that my protection can fall short. “…Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stands guard in vain” (Psalms 127:1).
Children explore
I observed that little children do not break things so long as they are on the floor, whereas they play with them. They look at what the adults do and do it. Their hands are soft, not sharp, to break delicate things unless accidentally. When they start exploring at age four, they dismantle items to discover what is inside. I bring a new element to the house and don’t show them what it is; children will seek to find out on their own. To avoid the danger of the child climbing to see what you brought into the house, you should show them the purpose. They are so smart, and they feel deserving and a part of the family when they know all the happenings. Do you have any helpful memories to share?