Paul Kimani – The fifty-five-year-old patriarch of a smallholder family and a long-haul lorry driver

Catherine – Kimani’s forty-two-year-old wife and head of household in his absence

Mwaura – Their nineteen-year-old son and university student

Njoki – Their seventeen-year-old daughter and high-school student

Mama Nyambura – The forty-three-year-old female head of a wealthy household

Nyambura – Mama Nyambura’s twenty-five-year-old daughter, regularly absent in China

Shiko – Mama Nyambura’s eighteen-year-old daughter and college student

Mama Gethi – The fifty-year-old female head of a nearby household

Feye – Mama Gethi’s twenty-five-year-old daughter

Roy – Mama Gethi’s youngest son, twenty-three years old

Gethi – Mama Gethi’s eldest son, thirty-five years old

Ikinya – Mama Gethi’s middle son, thirty-three years old

John Thairu – Sixty-five years old

Jata – His twenty-three-year-old daughter

Stevoh – Her twenty-six-year-old brother

Ndovu – A neighbourhood elder, seventy-six years old

Njeru – Ndovu’s (slightly) younger brother, seventy-two years old

Murigi – Paul Kimani’s younger brother, in his late forties

Wangui – Paul Kimani’s youngest sister, forty years old

Jose – A twenty-seven-year-old former player

Gathu – A twenty-six-year-old player

Kanja – A twenty-three-year-old roofer

Gĩthire – Kanja’s nineteen-year-old younger brother