A Village Boy's Global Journey: A Story of Defiance, Self Discovery and Triumph

By Isaac Mburu Njoroge

 A Village Boy's Global Journey is the remarkable journey of a village boy who defied all odds to travel and experience the World that many only dreamt of.

Born in a remote village in Kenya, where dreams often evaporated amidst poverty and limited opportunities, the young boy'

• Language: English
• Publisher: Isaac Mburu Njoroge
• Release date: Nov 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781916820968

Book preview

Chapter One: The Call of Adventure

Everyone has a book in them, the kind of book that nobody else can write. Let me start with the teenage years. How you Rocked and Rolled and Boogied and Lived and Loved. The Highs and the Lows, the Joys and the Sorrows. The Conquests and the Defeats. The things your Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren will not Believe. Only you can write. And as we start families and grow in our Careers and get Older and Wiser and Travel; we observe things, do things, and influence people; only you can write.

Every family has a unique history comprising of milestone events and peopled by a diverse cast of characters. This history of a family is passed on in the telling of its stories. The richest families are those in which the stories have been remembered, treasured, and incorporated into the spirit of the family. Grandparents, more than anyone else, are the keepers of the family stories. They are a Living Bridge between the Past and the Future of a Family. Their intimate connection with the two generations that preceded them and the two that follow gives them a remarkable knowledge and view of the Landscape of Five Generations. When Grandchildren hear the Family Stories, they Learn Who They are and where they Came From. 

While telling My Story, I am also telling the Story of My Family going Back Eight Generations.

All The World is a Stage: It is William Shakespeare, the famous English writer who said, All the World is a stage in his play As you like it. The following is my adaptation of his introductory words:

All the world is a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their entrances and their exits;

And one man plays many parts in his life.

His acts being seven ages.

At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the mothers’ arms;

And then the whining school boy, with his school bag,

And shining morning face, creeping like snail,

Unwillingly to go to school.

And then the Teenager,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful set of stories,

Made to his girlfriend’s eyebrow.

Then a Young man,

Full of courage and ambition, bearded with a moustache

Jealous to protect, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking to build a reputation.

And then comfortable Middle age,

Well-fed and well groomed,

With sharp eyes and well-trimmed beard,

Full of knowledge of everything;

And so, he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts,

Old age beckons with oversize clothes,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful looks slowly fading away,

For his body build and manly voice giving way,

Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Without teeth, Without eyes, Without taste, Without everything.

The Source of Information for this Book: To write an autobiography is a challenging exercise. It is even more challenging when you want to write about several past generations. First, I had to decide how far back I needed to go to deliver the desired message. I decided to go as far back as the birth of my sub-clan. This is estimated at around AD 1770. Going back this far in history required two things: First, a lot of research. This has fortunately been made much easier by the internet. Information from around the year 1890 AD was made possible by reviewing Kenya National Archives. But more difficult was to remember matters of our clan’s history that were discussed with my maternal great grandmother whom we fondly called Cucu wa Kariuki, my grandmother’s two sisters whom we fondly called Cucu wa Stanley and Cucu wa Mwaganu, my father and my mother and my parents’ agemates and friends.

Around 1967 and 1968, one of our extra-curricular subjects in school was called Oral History. We were encouraged to learn about our individual histories from the old people in our families and in our communities. I was lucky because one of the oldest people in our area was my great-grandmother, Wanjiku wa Kariuki. She was very old but her brain was still very sharp. She was my mother’s maternal grandmother. She belonged to the Mutung’u (Ndung’u) age-group which put her year of birth to around AD 1877. She was therefore about 90 years old when I met her in 1968. My mother would give me pieces of sugar cane, sweat potatoes and arrow roots to take to my great grandmother. She lived across Kagurumo stream in Kamuyu village. She lived alone in a hut in a compound that housed her late son’s family. Her late son was known as Waikuma.

I would sit with my great grandmother, with an exercise book and pen and write stories that she would tell me. Most of the stories were from her own experience. These included the coming of the Whiteman and the establishment of the first school in the area. The stories also included the demarcation of roads as we now know them and the establishment of the first Indian shops at the present Saba Saba township. Other stories, and which are very relevant to this book were based on what she had heard as a child. These included the migration of our ancestors to the region where we were living. The stories did not have dates and I had to extrapolate the dates in line with the age groups and events as documented in the Kenya National Archives. I believe these dates are within a reasonable margin of error. And finally, I have documented things that I personally experienced from around 1961.

My Turn to tell My Story on the Stage: The time is one morning in 1770 AD in Mwea in the present day Kirinyaga county in Kenya. The actor is a young man who has made a brave decision to leave his parents’ homestead in search of greener pastures. He gets the blessings of his parents after which he starts the long journey to the West through thick forests, across three mighty rivers of Sagana, Mathioya and Maragua, and finally settling at the present day Kiandugira village in Kagurumo location in Murang’a County. As a young boy, we uncovered a lot of evidence of this early settlement in form of stone and earthenware used by our ancestors as we dug up what we thought were virgin parts of our farm. Little did I know that this evidence was to become part of My Story.

The young man’s name was MURURU. He belonged to the Agaciku clan. This one decision set in motion a series of events that would culminate in my appearance on the stage almost 200 years later. As is common with the Gikuyu naming system, the name MURURU has a meaning. It means the Shrewd one, a person who reads and judges a situation quickly.

One People: Two Stories: Like all the African communities, the origin of the Gikuyu people is explained in two different and sometimes conflicting sources. There is the legend of Gikuyu and Mumbi that has been passed through generations. And then the written history of migration.

Migration of the Bantu people: According to recorded History, the Gikuyu ancestors migrated during the Bantu migrations between 1200 and 1600 AD. They travelled from the Kilimanjaro area in Tanzania to the Kenyan coast and then travelled northwards along River Tana. Some settled in Mwea while others travelled further north along the river. It can therefore be assumed that our ancestors had lived in the Mwea area for about 100 years before Mururu and others moved to parts of what is now known as Murang’a County.

Gikuyu and Mumbi: Gikuyu and Mumbi are regarded as the parents of the Gikuyu people. Their home was at Mukurwe-wa-Nyagathanga in Muranga, not far from the present Muranga town off the Kiria-ni road. Gikuyu and Mumbi are said to have given birth to nine daughters.  Gikuyu prayed to God to provide husbands to his daughters and God asked him to make a burnt offering of a goat under the Mukuyu tree (Sycamore Fig Tree) and to leave the sacrifice overnight and return the following morning. When he returned the following morning, he found nine young men waiting for him. He took them home and each of the daughters took one young man for a husband. The nine couples went on to establish the nine Gikuyu clans with the clans taking on the names of the women. There was a tenth daughter, Wamuyu, also called Warigia (the last one). It is not clear whether she also got married. It should be noted that the Gikuyu people never counted their children for fear of a bad omen. Hence the term nine full. The meaning of nine full is actually nine plus one in the manner of counting people among the Gikuyu people. It is thought that there were, indeed ten young men and not nine and that Wamuyu had a husband as well. There are other theories that Wamuyu was either too young to get married at the same time as her sisters or that she was born after the sisters had already been married.

Below is an artist’s impression of the Gikuyu family in front of their home and with the snow-capped Mount Kenya in the background. Seated are Gikuyu and his wife, Mumbi and their ten daughters standing behind them. Below the portrait are the names of the ten clans under each daughter’s name written in Gikuyu language.

The above drawing has been re-produced with the permission of the Gikuyu Centre for Cultural studies

In the traditional Gikuyu community, the clan is united by perceived kinship and descent and the mother of the clan was the starting point. As the Clan grew in numbers, Sub-clans (Mbari) were born and this time through the fathers’ names. Every family is linked to a Sub-clan and it is under this apical ancestor that sub-clan members are organized. To maintain purity, members of a sub-clan are prohibited from intermarrying.

I take cognizance of the fact that most of my relatives belong to clans different from my own as children take the clans of their fathers. I have two sisters and one brother but many step sisters and therefore the majority of my nephews and nieces are from my sisters and step sisters. That said, we must record history and legend as it is passed to us. If you feel that the characteristics of your clan according to the legend is somewhat recorded in the negative and does not represent who you are, you are right. Every human being has a dark side. Present generations can work towards moving away from this undesirable past.

According to legend, all the ten clans made substantial contribution to the community but each had its own characteristics as explained below:

1.Anjiru: They are the defenders of the Gikuyu people. They offer sacrifices for warriors before going to war.

2.Ambui: They are spies in the land and always seek leadership.

3.Agaciku: They are very good brokers and negotiators.

4.Aceera: They have sweet tongues and make good lawyers but they are also very mean

5.Airimu: They are defenders of the land.

6.Ambura: They are doctors but also thought to be witch doctors

7.Angari: They are investigators in the community

8.Angui: They are messengers in the land

9.Angeci: They are warriors who protect the land

10.Aicakamuyu: They are said to be witches.

Which Story to Believe

There is no dispute that both stories have historical perspectives and importance. Gikuyu and Mumbi were real people.  It is also true that the Gikuyu people did migrate like other people in the world. But of more interest to me is that Mururu did settle in our present home from where a whole community grew and prospered and then moved away in all the four directions of the wind.

Great Men Always Leave a Landmark Behind: Great men have many things in common. Jacob lived 4,000 years ago (around 1800 BC) and we still talk about him today. First, the modern nation of Israel got its name from him. The second reason which has relevance to my ancestor is that Jacob dug a well and bequeathed it to his future generations. The well is mentioned only once in the Bible, about 1,800 years after his death. According to the Gospel according to John Chapter 4:5-6; and I quote:

Now He (Jesus) had to go through Samaria, so he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well…

In verses 10-12, Jesus engages a Samaritan woman in a conversation and asks her to give him some water. In verse 12, the Samaritan woman asks Jesus: Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself as did his livestock?

My relatives reading this book are likely to have drunk water from a well which is known as KiaMururu. If they did not, then their parents or grandparents or great grand parents did. The name of the well infers as belonging to Mururu. It was and still is Mururu’s well. I drank water from the well for most of my early life and so did my siblings and my relatives and my father’s animals. This well was dug by Mururu around 1770 AD when he settled in the area. He carved an area of his land to provide space for animals to rest after they had been watered. I recall that during the second land adjudication in 1966, the government carved a smaller part of what was my father’s land to become what we now know as KiaMururu Public Well. Hundreds of thousands of people have drunk from this well over a quarter millennium. This public land bears my ancestor’s name because, Mururu, like all great men and women took responsibility to create a legacy that has benefited generations to a level we can only imagine today. Second, Mururu carved his name on the hearts of his descendants and this legacy is etched in our minds and the minds of those who will read this book.

If you are reading this book and you do not want to be forgotten as soon as you die, do one or both of the following; write something worth reading and/or do something worth writing about.

My Genealogy: The Traditional Gikuyu community is polygamous. It is believed that Mururu had several wives and one of them bore him a son whom he named Kabiro. Kabiro was given this name as his skin was darker than the skins of his siblings. The name Kabiro is derived from the Gikuyu word Mbiro; soot in English. It is assumed that he was named Kabiro and not Mbiro or Kibiro because he was smaller than an average newly born baby at birth, thus the name signified a small body. If he was a big baby at birth, he would probably have been named Kibiro. I am a direct descendant of Kabiro who is the apical ancestor of the Agaciku-A-Mbari ya Kabiro sub-Clan.

The following is my Family’s Genealogy:

Kabiro was born to Mururu around 1800 AD

Gaturu was born to Kabiro around 1830 AD

Gaturu, who was also known as Ngare was circumcised in 1851 and his Age Group was Njoroge ya Munyunguro

Gaturu had three sons; Wagaca, Ikua and Njuguna.

Wagaca was born around 1865 AD

Wagaca was circumcised in 1887 AD and his Age Group was Mburu

Wagaca had two wives and one of them, Njoki bore him a son in 1910. He named him after his father and as was the custom called him Njoroge, his father’s age group.

Njoki had two other children, both girls. Wathoni and Njeri (Wakahunyu) who were older than Njoroge

Njoroge’s parents died when he was a child and he was brought up by his older step brother, also called Njoroge but fondly known as Kariamburi. I was told that Kariamburi was a nickname because of my uncle’s love of goat meat. Njoroge grew up being called Njoroge wa Kariamburi, a name that stuck in his entire life.

Njoroge was circumcised in 1932 and his age group was Njane Kanini.

Njoroge married Njeri wa Gitau, his first wife in 1939 and they had their first child, a girl in 1941.They named her Njoki after his mother.

Njeri gave birth to a baby girl in 1943 and named her Wanjiru but she died in infancy. Njeri could not have any other child for a number of years and as the Gikuyu customs dictated at the time, Njoroge married a second wife, Njoki wa Kahuria in 1950. Njoki gave birth to a daughter, Muthoni in 1952. She did not have any other children. At the time of writing this book, Njoki is in her mid-nineties and in very good health.

Njeri gave birth to a girl in 1955 and named her after Njoroge’s sister, Wathoni. She and a twin brother were born premature. The boy died but Wathoni survived. She was christened, Winnie. The name has a lot of significance. The nurses who looked after her while in incubation rejoiced that she had fought through: she had won and therefore she was a winner. So, they named her Winner. This name was changed to Winnie during her infant baptism as Winnie was a more familiar Christian name.

Njoroge married a third wife, Njeri wa Njuguna in 1957. Njeri had a baby girl Nyambura whom Njoroge adopted.

In 1958, Njeri wa Gitau gave birth to a son, and finally Njoroge had a son. He named him, Mburu, after his father. Mburu was his father’s age group. That son is me.

Njeri had another child in 1961, her last child, a boy and named him after her father, Gitau wa Muhia. She named him Murigi, after her father’s age group which was Nyarigi.

Names among the Gikuyu Community: My community has a unique way of naming children. The firstborn son is always given the name of his paternal grandfather. The second son is given the name of the maternal grandfather. If the mother of the child came from a single-parent home, this might present a problem and she may name him after her own grandfather. The first daughter is given the name of her paternal grandmother and the second daughter is named after her maternal grandmother. Children who follow are similarly alternately named. What happens when a couple has more children than there are living immediate relatives? In such cases, some research is done to determine who would have been next in line if he had lived or if he or she had been born.

And there is some very good news about our child naming system. No one really dies among the Gikuyu since he or she is likely to be reincarnated in his grandchildren or brother's children. Regarding the source of names, we have a rich depository of them as explained below:

Names which originated from intra and inter cultural interaction, assimilation, beliefs and socio-cultural practices: Mugo, Njoki, Wambugu, Gathuma, Gaita, Wokabi, Mathaga, Maathai, Nyokabi, Wagana, Waigumo, Muriuki, Wangai, Cege, Kiragu, Wangombe, Kimotho, Kibuthu, Gicuhi, Ngotho,Gathii ,Murigu, Wamiti, Kahembe, Kigotho, Gaita, Gatimu and Wacuka.

Intercultural interaction between Gikuyu and Dorobo introduced the names Nguyai, Muniu and Riunge. Mugo was a medicine-man while Maathai and Nyokabi are named after Masai relatives.

Kinship relationships and social status: Nduriri, Nyakinywa, Muthoni, Kiama, Waihura, Iregi, Watene, Gitonga, Ngatha, in addition to the ten names of the Gikuyu clans. To be named Nduriri, the mother must have been from another tribe while to be named Gitonga, the person you are named after must have been a rich man.

Names representing spatial and geographical attributes: Wothaya, Wakarindi, Wagura, Watetu, Mundia, Nyagicugu, Wandia, Waruguru, Waitherero, Warugongo, Kimamo, Wakarima, Wacania, Wagaki, Wagura, Matu, Waithaka, Gathima, Ndere, Wanyiri, Wahome.

Symbolic names depicting governance practices: Wachira, Wanjama, Koigi, Munene, Ngarari. These are interesting names; Wachira is named after someone who was an arbitre; Wanjama is an organiser; Koigi is a spokesman; Munene is a leader. Lastly, Ngarari is an argumentative person.

Names which were derived from faunal attributes: Mbogo (Buffalo),Njogu(Elephant), Muruthi(Lion), Ngare(Leopard), Ngima(Monkey), Nguyo, Muriithi(Shepherd), Munyi(Buffalo), Ngatia, Wambui(Zebra), Mathenge(He goat), Nyaga(Ostrich), Gathiru, Nderi, Ndegwa(Bull), Gathirwa, Huria, Hungu (Eagle), Wang’ombe,Njau,Gacau.

These are names of animals. You are named Muruthi if you are as strong as a lion. My second son is named Muruthi but the grandfather preferred the shorter version, Ruthi. It is interesting   there are four names that are associated to a cow; Ndegwa, Wang’ombe, Njau and Gacau.

Names depicting occupational attributes : Mugwimi, Mwathi, Kibaki, Wang’ondu, Muini, Wang’ombe, Muriithi, Waciuri, Muturi, Wamugunda, Wamahiu, Wamai, Kariithi, Kimathi, Githinji, Wanguku, Wanjuki, Gicuki, Mwaniki, Muthuri, Kagiri, Kamunya, Murimi, Waigwa and Wamutitu. These names are very popular in Nyeri. Kibaki means a person who deals in tobacco either as a tobacco farmer or tobacco trader while Wamahiu and Kariithi would be herders.

Names representing behavioural attributes and appearance: Kiromo, Kimotho, Gathondu, Kirima, Murathimi, Kariamburi, Kibico, Kimondo, Kuguru, Kiara, Njeru, Kihara, Wainaina, Muthumbi, Gateru, Kiarie, Kiiru, Gacara, Gicuiri, Gitahi, Wanjohi, Waruta, Gituma, Kimemia, Githua, Nyiha, Gacanja, Muceke, Gakunga, Nderu, Gaitho, Gakere, Njeru, Gitu, Gatu, Goko, Gathenya, Wanyinyi, Riitho and Kabaco.Here are interesting names-Kiromo is a person with big lips (not very nice); Kimotho is a left hander and Kariamburi,as the man who brought up my father would be someone who loved goat meat.

Names which originated from observed routine habits, talents and activities: Mucangi, Mwangangi, Mukora, Mwendwa, Nyawira, Ndumia, Mucemi, Mihango, Githiri, Muthigani, Mwangi, Njeri and Wanjira.Some of the names found here are almost funny. Mucangi and Mwangangi are names of people who are loiterers while Muthigani is a spy.

My Father: Njoroge wa Wagacha. Also known as Njoroge wa Kariamburi: My Father was born in 1910. He belonged to the Njane Kanini age-group that was circumcised in 1932. His parents died when he was a child and he was brought up by his elder step brother, Kariamburi (also known as Njoroge).

My Father enrolled in School in 1924 in the first Primary School  in the region. The school was near Irigiro Trading Centre and I remember seeing the huge eucalyptus tree that marked the exact location of the school. I think the tree dried up or was cut down in the 1970s.  I was told that the tree had been planted by Karanja wa Kibarabara who was a member of the Fort Hall Local Native Council from 1925. The school was next to my maternal grandfather’s homestead. The school was relocated to Kabebe-ini briefly before relocating to Gakuria Hungu, the present site of Muthithi Secondary School. The school went up to Year Four. He learnt how to Read, Write and Carpentry. He left the school after sitting for the Common Entrance Examination (CEE) in 1930. The only intermediate school at the time where further education was offered was in Tumu Tumu in Nyeri. I was unable to establish why my father did not proceed to intermediate school, though it was common at the time for the majority of the pupils to complete their studies at this level. Nevertheless, the education that he got was adequate to land him a job at the Public Works Department in later years where he worked  until his retirement in early 1963.

He took care of his large family of three wives and many children for many years. He served as the spokesman of our clan, Agaciku-a-Mbari-ya-Kabiro for many years. He was a leader in our community for many years until his untimely death in 1975. He taught me many things from a very young age. He was a very clever and creative man. He died too young at the age of 65. Below is his photograph which was taken around 1960.

Njoroge wagacha 1960

My Mother: Njeri wa Njoroge: My mother was born in 1915. She was the first child of her mother and therefore she played a huge role in mentoring her brothers and sisters for many years. She was the matriarch in our family and she was much loved by the whole family, clan and the community in which she served and lived until 1994 when she went to be with the Lord.

My Mother did not go to School although the very first School in the region was next to her home. This is the school my father attended. She once told me that she wanted to enroll in the school but her father would not allow her preferring her looking after his goats. My Mother’s age group was Njane Kanini, the same age group as my father.

The photograph shown here was taken in 1985.

Our Clan: Over the next 100 years (1770-1870), the descendants of Mururu multiplied and moved away from Kiandugira area. My family moved south to the present day Kamahuha location and settled by the Saba Saba River in the area now known as Kianjara. This was one of the areas that had large deposits of mineral salts with several salt licks dotting the area and was therefore very suitable for their herds of cattle, goats and sheep. This is where my grandfather and my father were born. My family started a water powered Maize mill which served people across the region and which lasted for a long time until the introduction of the electric powered Maize mills in the 1960s.

A second family moved across the river Saba Saba to present day Kahumbu location. A third family moved north to Gakuria Hungu, the area around the present day Muthithi area while a fourth family moved eastwards to the present day Mungu-ini. Agaciku-a-mbari ya Kabiro clan is today spread from Gitura to the West, Kamahuha to the South, Muthithi market to the North and Nginda to the East.

In the 1950s, our sub-clan had joint investments which included land and buildings in Saba Saba township. In the 1960s, the sub-clan organized reunions which were very huge events. They were rotational and I remember two of them; the first on Independence Day on 12 December 1963 at the home of Karanja wa Njoroge (also known as Sir). The second event was around 1967 at our home. In the 1970s, the events centered mainly on occasions such as weddings and funerals but these have gradually ceased and most gatherings from around 1980s to the present time are based on families, losing one of the core attributes that held the sub-clan together; the regular networking of clan members which included introducing the young adults to the larger membership of the clan. With more young people moving to urban areas and with inter-marriages not only with the larger Kikuyu tribe but also with other communities, the concept of the sub-clan is slowly and sadly being lost. One consequence of the loss of networking is the real danger of sub-clan members inter-marrying. This practice has been a taboo from the birth of our sub-clan. I hope that by writing this book, my young relatives now and in the future will make efforts to reinvigorate our sub-clan.

Chapter Two: A Humble Beginning

My Birth: I was born in early 1958 at the Fort Hall District Hospital. Our home was in Kaharati village, one of the villages created by the British colonial government when a State of Emergency was declared in 1952. The main reason why the colonial villages were created was to control the operations of the Mau Mau, the fighters for our country’s independence. The Colonial administrators had imposed a restriction on the movement of people in Gikuyu, Embu and Meru regions and people were only allowed out of their villages for about two hours in the evening to fetch for food, water and firewood. Anyone found outside their homes after these hours would be deemed a Mau Mau sympathizer and would be arrested and detained.

The detention camps were places of torture and many detainees died there. When I was growing up, I heard stories of many people who did not come back from the detention camps. To ensure that the Mau Mau fighters did not get help from the villagers, the colonial administrators enlisted the help of paid locals such as chiefs, headmen and home-guards. These locals were perceived as collaborators and were hated and loathed by the villagers.

My Village, A Restricted Camp: I remember some details of our village from the age of three. Our house was a three roomed thatched house as were the majority of the houses. There were a few iron-corrugated sheet roofed houses and I can recall one belonged to the area Chief whose name was Hendad. Three other such houses belonged to wealthy families. These were the families of Gitau Kirunduru, Kabuti and Mungai wa Mutiti. Gitau Kirunduru had a lorry, the only one in the village. Kabuti had the first shop in the village and for many years, Kaharati trading centre was also known as Gwa Kabuti in recognition of his early investment in the shop.

There was an open-air market at the village. It covered an area of about five acres. Mikinduri trees were planted around the market and these provided shelter on market days. I think market days were held twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. Both agricultural produce and live animals were sold at the market.

To the Eastern part of the village was a water well. The well was a stone masonry structure that had two pipes that delivered water from a spring. Further east was a stream which was called Mai Meru or New Water. I am not sure why the stream bore this name but it has retained the name to the present time. Between the well and the stream run the Nairobi-Nanyuki railway line. Near the well and by the railway line was a Railway outpost. We used to call it Randi, a corruption of Landing. The trains used firewood to produce steam to fire up the steam engines and this outpost replenished the required water and firewood.

To the north of the village was another stream that emptied its waters into the larger Kagurumo stream. We called it Ranga Ranga. Further down the stream was a Soda water depository, that we called Iruri. We would mix it with lemons to make a sparkling drink which was very popular. The soda water was also used in the cooking of some kikuyu dishes. Beyond the soda water depository was the Nairobi-Muranga Road. At the junction of the Kangari road, on the side of Kaharati was a Mukuyu tree under whose shade women sold the traditional sour porridge.

The Western boundary of the village was Kagurumo stream. The Colonial authorities had made a dam across it just after the bridge and introduced fish. We called the dam Siranga. This area was thorny with cactus and other bushes. The dam was surrounded by papyrus. A white District Officer (DO) used to frequent the area and rumours were circulating at the time that the area beneath the dam held oil deposits. Due to silting and little water flowing into the dam, most of it had disappeared by 1970s and the small part that remained was private property. During the land adjudication of 1966, part of the dam was allocated to a man we knew as Konde Haru. As teenagers we used to sneak to what remained of the dam to fish. We dreaded being caught by Konde Haru. He had a reputation of being a fearless litigant who used to address the Magistrates in the local courts of law in English while most local people relied on interpreters. There were reports that he made defendants cry during cross examination.

The Tyranny of The British Colonial Government: I was born at the tail end of the colonial rule and though I was not old enough to experience the atrocities committed to our people, my parents and other older people gave me a lot of information on how bad the British colonial administrators were. First, they introduced a notoriously hated Passbook that every adult was required to carry and produce when demanded by the authorities whenever one was travelling from ones recorded place of residence.

In addition to stealing land from our people including my grandfather’s land, they introduced education policies that were discriminatory to our people to ensure that our people remained uneducated and therefore incapable of challenging their (colonial) governance. I have extracted the following paragraphs from the Kenya Archives.

Discriminative education system: The European model of schooling was introduced into Kenya towards the end of the 19th century with the first school opened by the Christian Missionary Society near Mombasa in 1846. While few schools were built further inland until the turn of the century and the building of the Uganda railway, it is estimated that mission schools had been established throughout Kenya by 1910. In response to the increasing demands for education, the colonial authorities established a Department of Education in 1911 and missionary societies began to receive government grants to help fund the building of new schools. However, only those schools which adhered to the principles set out in the 1909 Fraser Report qualified for government funds. The Fraser report institutionalized discrimination against Africans. While academic education was to be given to European and Asian children, African children were to receive industrial and agricultural training only. This was done to sustain colonial rule as it was unlikely that African leaders would develop from the discriminatory education system. This was the root of the hatred towards the Europeans and the Asians by our people.

Teach them about Christ but do not teach them English: Christian teaching became compulsory and African customs and traditions were deemed barbaric. Furthermore, African children were barred from learning English until the last year of primary school. While much has been written on the influence of both the Christian missionary societies and the colonial authorities on the development of education in Kenya, less attention has focused upon the African reaction. A common interpretation of this reaction is that while African communities may have been initially suspicious, they soon recognized the importance of education and embraced it enthusiastically. However, this interpretation is not true. Following a ban on female circumcision by three missionary societies in 1929, the Kikuyu in Central Province began to boycott mission schools and demanded an end to the monopoly on education held by the missions. After failing to persuade the government to open its own secular schools free from missionary control, the Kikuyu began to open their own.

The Establishment of Independent Schools: During the early 1930s extensive fundraising activities took place. School buildings were erected and self-help groups formed. Each independent school was governed by a local committee, responsible for the recruitment and payment of teachers, the setting of school fees and other fundraising events. As independent schools became established joint meetings were organized and at a gathering in August 1934 the Kikuyu Independent Schools Association (KISA) was set up. While KISA emphasized the need to negotiate with the colonial authorities, some independent schools wanted to remain entirely free from direct European influence. A rival association, the Kikuyu Karinga Education Association (KKEA), was therefore established soon after. By 1939 there were 63 Kikuyu independent schools educating a total of 12,964 pupils.

To help meet the increasing demand for trained teachers both KISA and KKEA agreed to support the opening, in 1939, of Kenya’s first teacher-training college at Githunguri, the site of the Kikuyu’s first independent school. Originally intended to train teachers, the College soon included an elementary, primary and secondary school, with enrolments increasing to over 1,000 by 1947. It was at this independent School/College where Jomo Kenyatta would later become Principal, providing a solid base for his future campaign for the Presidency.

The Banning and Closure of all Independent Schools: A police investigation of the Mau Mau in early 1952 sealed the fate of the independent schools. When the government declared a state of emergency later that year, both KISA and KKEA schools were closed and then distributed to the Christian missionaries. In Kenya’s struggle against colonial rule, it was their schools which first gained independence providing the momentum for future reforms. The colonial government approach to the education of Africans led to serious suspicion of the missionary and this was the major reason that my parents did not embrace Christianity until their sunset years. I grew up hearing the following message: Gutiri Muthungu na Mubea, or in English, There is no difference between a Colonial Administrator and a Missionary. And another message that I frequently heard was: The Missionary asked us to close our eyes to pray and by the time we finished the prayers, he had stolen our land. The white settlers took thousands of acres of land belonging to my grandfather and other families to start a sisal plantation between Saba Saba and Maragwa rivers which came to be known as SAMAR. And one more indictment to Christian missions, there was common believe that the Bible came first to prepare for the Gun. It would take generations before the missionaries were accepted as the bearers of Good.

Our People Believed in God: I grew up surrounded by the Gikuyu culture and traditions. Our people believed in God who was our protector and Mount Kenya was a symbol of His existence. We had Seers who prophesied and passed God’s message to the people. One of them, Mugo wa Kibiro prophesied the construction of the Uganda Railway and the coming of the white men. And in times of distress, the Seers led in offering burnt sacrifices to God. I am not sure whether I witnessed any of the burnt sacrifices but I do remember the two places where such sacrifices had been offered. One was under a tree near Kabebe-ini and the other was under a tree opposite the present Muthithi dispensary, a site that gave the place its original name, Gakuria Hungu or the Breeding place for hawks as hawks circled the area, attracted by the smell of burning meat meant. Across our village, in Kambogo village and neighboring Wilfred Njoroge’s home was the home of Kimaru, who was our local Medicine-man. He was engaged by the local people to protect their possessions and there were physical signs where properties were under protection. There were animal horns and bones in places where they were easily visible around the farm or home. I remember having a chat with a former Chief of our location, Edward Muiruri in later years who told me that he gave permits to local Medicine-men to practice their craft because they helped in the maintenance of law and order within the communities where they lived.

For the protection of the family members from being bewitched, there were Medicine-men who administered what could be equated to modern vaccines. One of them was Kabwere Wanje. In 1967, Kabwere was a visiting our area from the Coastal Giriama community. He opened his clinic at Kaharati Trading Centre and people trooped there from far and wide. I think Kabwere was more advanced than many others as he gave his clients a badge that read Nimekunywa maji ya Kabwere (I have drunk Kabwere’s water). People would proudly wear these badges. My family was not involved in these practices but I knew many people who were. Was the Medicine effective? It is hard to say though I remember hearing from older people that those who had bewitched others started eating grass like cows and giving the names of the people they had bewitched on drinking the water. I remember hearing that one of them confessed bewitching my uncle Kariamburi over a business rivalry.

First time to hear about Jesus Christ: I learnt about Jesus Christ when I joined Muthithi Primary School in 1965. As a school sponsored by the church, we started and ended classes with prayers. The teaching of Christian religion was as important, if not more important than the teaching of other subjects such as Reading and Writing. And this continued all through Primary and Secondary Schools.

My Family: Around 1961, I became aware that the very light skinned woman who used to visit our house was my sister. My sister Njoki, got married in 1959 and up to 1961, the only sister I knew was Winnie. She lived with her husband, Daniel Kamau in another village known as Kambi, about 5 miles or so from our village on the Kaharati-Kangari road. I remember meeting him for the first time in 1961 when my mother and I visited their home. Around the same time, I also became aware that the two neighbouring houses were occupied by my step mothers. One had one daughter who was much older, Muthoni while the other one also had a daughter, the same age as my sister Winnie and her name was Nyambura. Nyambura had an infant brother, Mburu. My family had a lot of cattle, goats and sheep and I came to learn that the young man who used to join us for dinner was our herdsman. His name was Githeri wa Gicimbi.

My First Trip out of the Village: My father was employed in the Public Works Department as a Foreman in Kiambu, Machakos and Athi River. In early 1961, I went to live with him in Ruiru. I can still remember our house on the Ruiru-Kiambu road. At any one time, my mother or one of her co-wives would be living with my father. I remember my very first visit to Ruiru with my mother. We took the train from Maragwa train station, went through Makuyu and through large expanse of grassland where I remember seeing giraffes and gazelles as the train careered towards Ruiru. A few days later, I recall being taken to a doctor to have my Kirimi(Tonsillitis) removed.

My Stay in Ruiru: I stayed in Ruiru for a few months. My father had a farm by the Ruiru river and my mother and her co-wives spent time looking after it. My father’s Boss, the Chief Engineer was a Whiteman, whom we knew as Kiruru. I think this was a corruption of his English name by my parents and probably his name was Chroe or Chris or a name that would rhyme with Kiruru. Kiruru used to drive an orange Volkswagen Beatle and would come over to pick my father as they went to inspect roads. Kiruru had a son who was about my age and I and him became friends. Sadly, I cannot remember his name but what I can recall is that we used to pick berries in their compound as they lived in a big house with many fruit trees and well-maintained grass lawns. The house was not far from our house but it would appear that it was demolished as I have not been able to locate it in my later years unlike the brown tiled roof house where I lived with my father.

My Stay in Athi River and Masaku: From Ruiru, my father was transferred to Athi River and then Machakos. Both places were very hot and I had to sleep under a mosquito net for the very first time. I remember accompanying my father in the Driver’s Cabin of the Government Tipper lorry as he and his colleagues inspected and undertook repair of roads between Machakos and Nairobi. My father had many friends and our home had visitors every weekend and since the houses were small, my father and his friends would sit under a tree in the compound talking about things that I came to realize later to have been politics of independence.

Tonya Ngurathe (Enter and I shoot you): Children can remember many things. Our home in Kaharati village was not far from the Nairobi-Nyeri Road. We could see vehicles on the road from our home and occasionally, in the company of an adult we would walk near the road to see the wonders that vehicles were! There were not many vehicles then and the number of buses that passed on this road were probably around ten in a day one way. So, we knew them by their names and where they came from. There is one Bus that everyone hated and I did not know the reason until I started researching for this book. The Bus was nicknamed Tonya Ngurathe or Enter I shoot you. The following is the story of the Bus:

The reward for the capture of Freedom Fighter, Dedan Kimathi was £11,605 or the equivalent of about KES1.53 million in 2023 money. This was a lot of money then. It was divided between the nine members of the patrol which captured Kimathi; six members receiving KES90,000 each. Tribal Policeman Ndirangu Mau, who shot and wounded Kimathi received KES540,000 for his heroic action. Njugi Ngatia who was present and assisted Ndirangu throughout the operation received KES270,000. Karundo wa Mugo, the leader of the operation patrol received KES180,000. Ndirangu Mau invested part of this money in a Bus. The Bus used the Nyeri-Nairobi route. But people hated it. Having shot the much-loved Kimathi who was then hanged by colonial government on 18February1957 after a sham trial, people had every reason to despise anything that was associated with those who betrayed Kimathi. The Bus was nicknamed Tonya Ngurathe or Enter I Shoot You. It was hated and despised by people and no one would dare enter it. The Bus, like his other investments failed miserably.

From my research, I learnt that Ndirangu lived a life of misery for 29 years after his heroic action. He had been shunned and despised by local villagers for shooting the man who held a special place in Kenya’s history. His family had lived on a small piece of land under a cloud of suspicion and shame. The community turned on him with anger and resentment, treating him as a traitor. His family bore the brunt of the society’s rage. His children were treated as outcasts in school. Ndirangu Mau died in 1986.  In my view, his tombstone should have read Here Lies the Man who betrayed Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi and Changed the Course of Kenya’s History.

Moving To Majoisi: In late 1961, restrictions in the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru regions were relaxed and in early 1962, my father started building three beautiful, iron corrugated sheet roofed houses for my mother and my two step-mothers on our farm in Kiandugira village, our present rural home. The relocation from the villages to the farms was known as Majoisi. Majoisi is not a Kikuyu word and I sought to know what it meant. I called Mwalimu Samuel Karanja who explained to me that the term Majoisi was referring to going back to Maganjo, the term used to describe the original homes before the establishment of the colonial villages. People rejoiced on moving back to their original homes which were areas of Joy and therefore, it would be fair to assume that Majoisi could have been a corruption of the term A Place of Joy.

I still remember how we relocated from Kaharati village in late 1962. My father hired a big lorry that was owned by Karanja wa Wambura from Kagurumo village, a colonial village close to where we were moving to. Household goods such as beds, mattresses, cupboards, cooking pots, farming implements and other personal effects were loaded onto the lorry. As for three granaries (each belonging to the one wife), these were carried each by four young men on their shoulders by using two pieces of wood planks that supported the front and back of the load. The granaries were made of thin and dry branches and were therefore light in weight. As for the herd of cattle, goats and sheep, these were driven through the same route that the young men carrying the granaries had taken but unlike the granaries, our herdsman, Githeri wa Gicimbi just directed them into the fields near our new home and drove them to their new enclosure at night fall.

Our New Home: We were the first family to move from the village to our farm. We did not have neighbors until 1963.The three houses were in one big and barbwire fenced compound. The compound had a big metallic gate for the entrance and a small gate that led to the farm. Each house had 4 rooms; a table room, a kitchen and two bedrooms; a master bedroom and a room for the children. In the kitchen and above the fire place was a storage for firewood, which was called Itara. The fire place was a traditional kikuyu three stones affair and my sister Winnie and I would fight over which stone to warm ourselves during the cold weather. In the compound were other out-buildings.

Each house had a traditional granary (ikumbi) where grains and other agricultural produce were stored. There was a large cattle enclosure, a huge bamboo enclosure where many egg laying chicken were kept. My father had a small two roomed brown roofed house which was his private accommodation. It was called his Thingira. At the far end of the compound was a pit latrine. The gate to our compound was locked at night fall. We had two dogs that were always in their kernel during the day but would be let loose at night.

My father would patrol our farm at night wearing a thick Military Overcoat and Boots while armed with a Bow and Arrows. Nobody would dare venture into any part of our farm. This appeared strange to us, young children as many people still lived in the villages where there were no boundaries and houses accommodating different families were built next to each other. My father used to wake up very early in the morning and he would sweep the whole compound clean and deposit the sweepings in a compost dump site which was situated near the cattle boma. By the time we woke up, the whole compound would be sparkling clean. The composite dump site not only provided very good compost manure but it also provided my father with the perfect environment to make his traditional brew. A solution of sugar, honey and a dry muratina fruit in a gourd buried in the compost would take about three days for the brew to mature. The decomposition of the compost produced heat that was sufficient to accelerate the fermentation process.

Children thought White People Were Cannibals: Though I was born during the Mau Mau war, I did not witness the many atrocities that were inflicted on our people; probably because I was too young to even appreciate what was happening. But towards the end of 1962 or early 1963, I had some strange encounter that would have probably been taken as a child thing but which I now believe had more to do with what I had heard about white people.  I am not sure when and where I heard it. My mother and I and my siblings were to visit our aunt, whom we fondly called Tata wa Josephat. Her place was not far from our home. I think this was my first visit to her home probably after they had moved in. We walked the short distance to the gate of the home. There was a drive-way of about 100 yards to the homestead. My Aunt’s husband, Josephat Wainaina had a car, I think the only one in the area. My Aunt had a co-wife who had two very light skinned children; Wanjiru and Ndungu. To me, they looked like white people. There was a third child, Wairimu who was dark skinned like us. So, when the three children saw us approaching, they run towards the gate to welcome us to their home. I had never seen them before and suddenly I was gripped with