With just two small rooms and two tiny windows, a simple stool and a reed mat for a bed, my house in Makwatata is typical of those lived in by young families. Indeed, it was the home of Mike Nyewali and his wife and child for the first two years of their marriage, before they built a bigger house adjacent to it just a few months ago.

The houses in Makwatata range in size from 5m x 3m (two small rooms) to 10m x 8m (five rooms). The house that I have been staying in is one of the smallest, and would be common for a family with no more than two children, though I admit I found space tight to say the least! The larger houses have simple furniture, perhaps a low table and a few chairs, and the very few families who can afford solar power would have a radio or even a small television set, though I have come across only one in my time here.

Most houses are used for sleeping and eating only, as the majority of families have a separate outhouse for cooking and food storage. The reason for this is two-fold: cooking is done on an open fire which produces a lot of smoke, and if food is kept outside the main house there is less chance of rats paying a visit – though in reality at this time of year when food is scarce, they will look for food anywhere, and the thatched rooves of every building teem with them.

Thatched washrooms are used for bathing, where the bather stands on flat stones to elevate themselves from the muck as they wash from a bucket.

Most houses are used for sleeping and eating only, as the majority of families have a separate outhouse for cooking and food storage.

Some houses have dug latrines, which are also concealed by thatch or brick. The latrines are 2m deep by 1m wide, and will last the typical family two years before a new one must be dug. There are many families who do not have access to a latrine, which is one of the major causes for concern among NGOs and Local Authorities working to improve sanitation in rural areas.

Polygamous families may have several houses in their compound, one for each wife and her children, though cooking and washing facilities are often shared.

All houses also have a structure for storing maize, and another for groundnuts. These are made from woven branches, and thatched with grass to keep out the rain. Households with poultry and small livestock have similar structures for keeping their animals, sometimes made from brick.

Almost all houses in Makwatata village are made using materials sourced within 200m of the house itself. A hole is dug in the earth near the house to provide clay for the bricks, and the branches used for rafters and grass thatch for the roof are cut from the surrounding bush land. Those who can afford it buy cement to use as mortar, but most use clay mixed with water and river sand, which is also used to plaster the brickwork once the house is built.

The process of brickmaking is interesting in itself. Once the earth is dug up, the clay is sifted to remove any stones, before water is slowly added to make a stiff paste. The bricks are moulded in a chikomboli made from wood, before they are left to dry out in the sun.

The bricks are then piled one on top of the other to make a 3m high oven. Channels are left in the oven where burning wood is inserted, before the oven is covered with clay mixed with a little water to seal in the heat. This oven of bricks smoulders for 24 hours, and must then be left for a full week to cool before the oven can be dismantled. A brickmaker charges 500,000Kw (€80) to make bricks sufficient for an average sized house, and another 500,000Kw to lay them. The roof costs another 500,000Kw to thatch, though some opt for a tin roof which costs more than twice this amount.

Once the bricks have been laid and the roof constructed, many of the houses, especially the smaller ones, are smeared with clay, inside and out. The clay dries to form a hard render. This clay can be mixed with ashes (white) or charcoal (black) or dye from the roots of local plants (red and orange) to produce different coloured render, which can be used to make patterns. Most houses have a “veranda” to elevate them from floodwater during the rainy season, and these are often beautified using clay mixed with maize porridge to make a shiny surface.

One of the first things I noticed on my arrival in Makwatata was the amount of construction going on in the village. Great big mounds of red bricks are a common sight, piled up beside half-built houses. Unfortunately, many of these houses are left like this for months or even years, as the owners wait for more money to pay for materials and labour to complete them. Reminds me of somewhere else I know well…