The Tana river in essence originates from Mount Kenya and flows east towards the sea. Central Province is also home to many hard working small-holder farming communities and large agricultural estates. Mornings are often bitterly cold at high altitudes and cattle are usually milked during these early hours. Amongst farming families, children usually fetch water from a stream, spring or tap some distance away. The small family farms are scattered all over the countryside, so most children are required to walk long distances to school, sometimes more than five kilometres.
Some children walk all the way home for a hot lunch, and then all the way back to school.
The home compounds,or shambas as they are termed in Kiswahili, are fenced by a live hedge. The house and sheds are round or square, with roofs of thatch or iron sheets. Farm animals kept at such shambas include dairy cows, a few goats, sheep or donkeys, a flock of chickens and a guard dog. Cash crops, such as coffee, are sold for export and earn money for families to buy school books, amongst other things. Food crops, such maize bananas and potatoes, are grown for family meals or sold locally.