Home away from Home

When I think of home, many memories flock my mind. What is home for you. Better yet, where is home. You will be Surprised by how much many people can’t summarize this question with just one word. A simply question yet it, consumes such a broad answer.

For me home is my mothers compound, in a village called Nyakach Kenya. Like many foreigners who have or might have migrated for greener pastures. In my opinion, Home is always going to be your country of origins. Nevertheless; I live in the USA now but my home will always be Nyakach.

Growing up in Nyakach was breathtakingly beautiful. The land, the rich soil, the trees, the ionic sceneries. The birds chirping occasionally throughout the day. And the best part, the crow of a rooster at 5am in the morning daily. We never relied on an alarm clock, the rooster crowing was the alarm clock for most families. The feeling was bitter sweet. Cause it Ment it was time to wake up and get ready for school on weekdays. And on Weekends, preferably Saturdays; it ment it was time to get ready for chores. No I was not fond of those early mornings sessions then, but they did give me ahead start of the corporate world now in my adulthood. The list is endless, but nothing brings back greater nostalgic memories like a herd of cattle grazing.

You see my Mother was a farmer, entrepreneur and etc. she owned cattle long before I was born, till the very day she took her last breath. This picture summarizes what our day to day life in Nyakach was like growing up. Seeing my mothers cows graze peacefully brought great joy to my soul.

Everyday was a routine schedule that the workers followed when dealing with my mothers farm animals. The cattle were milked by a certain time, then let out of their stall to bask in the sun for awhile. Before eating their first meal for the day. Their drinking water was then fetched and staged for later consumption in the evening. My Mother had a mini excursion for her farm animals exceptionally planned out to perfection. Nevertheless; every afternoon my younger brother was tasked with the chores of walking the cows. His job was to leave our compound with the animals and take them to graze in unfamiliar territory for afew hours. The hardest part of his job was keeping the cattle in-synched, and preventing them from going astray.

He took great pride in his job and made my mother happy by not skipping his chores. Seeing how much he enjoyed walking the cows daily, gave me a new perspective of what true happiness felt like. You see, for my mother; it was a teaching lesson for the son to learn how to be responsible while contributing to the family chores. And for my brother, this moment in time was his chance to prove himself as a young upcoming man. Being tasked with grazing the cows and taking them for a walk ment he had a little bit of freedom, but he still had to prove he can deliver his job unsupervised.

Every kids dream growing up was to ditch their parents for afew hours without supervision. And my brother now had the opportunity to either be a responsible young adult, or be careless. He knew how much my mother loved her cattle, so he went above and beyond to deliver his task efficiently but effectively. Watching him mold into the young man my mother envisioned him to be, also motivated me to exceed expectations in all my chores. It was a ripple effect without much effort.

My mother was skilled in many areas, but the one skill I miss most was her ability to unite the Family with individual chores/task. What started as my brothers chores molded our childhood and created marvelous memories for centuries to come. It’s been 2 and a half decades since I left Kenya, Nyakach precisely. But the beauty of seeing cattle grazing or a herd of cattle brings new meaning to my life. It is then that I am reminded of the great teaching lessons my mother bestowed upon us from a young age. whether it was her urgency to echo the importance of being consistent, to being responsible, to being trustworthy, to being independent, and best of all creating memories effortlessly. These childhood chores have now become a reality of my adulthood.

I tend to gravitate towards the country lifestyle more and more. I want to live in a farm just like my mother raised us. And carry on her great traditions. Coincidentally; whenever I drive by the roadside and see a herd of cattle grazing, I tend to unknowingly pull over to grasp the beauty of these animals. I am many miles away from home but the beauty of cows grazing always brings me back home. Never in my wildest dream would I have thought that one day I would be this mesmerized with cattle outside of Kenya.

Nevertheless, my return to Kenya afew years ago was met with the memory that started it all. I was leaving my mothers compound for a stroll in the neighborhood, when I came across this young boy. I captured this young man walking his cows afew yards from my mother’s compound; Literary outside our gate. The ahhh ahhh moment in this photo, is truly a full life circle. The land and soil I once graced upon with such beauty, was now the future of another young man. The beauty in this photo lens is breathtakingly beautiful. You may not know Kenya or Nyakach. But you too can now see the beauty of Nyakach without stepping into nyakach just from the lens perspective.