A cow rushed away making the old woman I was speaking to get impatient to follow. It could enter in somebody's nappier grass farm. She was telling me that for one to be a man he had to have a wife and child. And getting a wife was not the shameless seduction my generation did. They'd hide if an elderly person passed by.
Small falls and turbulences on the black rock riverbed was a sign that by look the water was safe for use. Early mornings before children and cows reach for the river, water needed for household use is directly gotten from Materere when springs are far. A stream from Marukoni spring joins here.
With a keen eye there is a change to the face of the river. The water makes the sides weak, it is seen sweeping light sticks and it is quick in sloppy places. Caution is important. Jeremeke remembered that his father had died by the stream. Tipsy, the ageing man had underated it and for two nights neighbours and family combed the bushes. A big snake jumped giving a lead. The late had been hooked stagnant. Jeremeke was 72.
From up South in kidundu (and Kapsotik) a stream called Kidundu joins Materere where many vidundu plants can be seen. Tall and bushy, the stalk to this plant parasites the banks to prevent any other growth. Had they served as fodder, nappier wouldn't come to the banks. When cut the stalk hardens like bamboo. Useless even for firewood and therefore cut while young.
Kidundu Stream is equally loaded as Materere and one thing makes it inferior. A river or stream that experiences a radical change in direction flow is always lesser to the one adjoining. Jeremeke's land is served by Kidundu as boundary to the neighbor.
Tea picking men and women wondered what the boy wrote by the stream. I shouted greetings and one shouted back. I crossed over on a log bridge to Luvembe's farm. They said that Luvembe is largely known - maybe to them. I found the men outspoken and the ladies quiet. One was mgihayo, mlukhombe and mmahani respectively. On speaking about the water level in the stream they said eucalyptus trees was the cause of drop.
More known than Luvembe could be Eliot who had built a metal bridge fit to see cattle, wheelbarrows and humans access either sides. It is said that the need to access Gilwani Dispensary saw villagers take long routes. A log bridge is not good for a sick person.
A boy in Musuzwi secondary school carried a heavy sack of sand that I'd least lift. Several bags would be counted a canter to earn himself school fees. Being the second sand harvesting case, it was appropriate to know where sand comes from. From the water from the shambas! The area had red alluvial soil whose sand content I'd lose my mind in knowing. A woman had harvested sand at the very point for long to provide for her family, he said. And the name of this valley bottom? Madrumaya. It must have been a swamp if not a grazing field. It was a maize field.
On asking the boy what the river was known so far he said, Izava! Where in specific does it become Izava? Up at the start or where Kidundu joins?
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