The fact that fire never went out in our homes also tells you our homes were never left unattended. You could not lock up a Nyandarua home and leave for days no matter the emergency. Our homes are too busy with lots of responsibilities to attend to, you cannot just pack up and leave without leaving a surrogate.
There are chickens to let out of their coop (kiaga) every morning, feed them and then lock them back in for the night. There are many cows to be milked every morning and evening and they have to be taken back to their pastures to feed and water. There is milk to deliver to the collection center.
There are young calves, too young to go to the pasture with their “mothers”. They are feed at home, kept indoors for the night and let outside during the day to learn how to graze.
There are goats to be let out of their pen (kiugu) in the morning and gathered back from the extensive pasture in the evening and back to the pen. There are dogs to be let off their leashes and fed, and put back on leashes in the morning. Need I go on? Nyandarua tasks are endless and they are all very vital, otherwise some things will suffer terrible consequences.
You can leave the farm chores unattended for a day or two but the homestead cannot be left unattended even for half a day. Some animals would suffer.
