I attended Thaita Primary school, which was sponsored and managed by the Anglican Church (AC). All school students had participated in Sunday school, and those who were absent were whipped on Monday by the headmaster. They were then required to go home and come back with a parent. I was never missing. Sunday school started […]
THE COLONIAL ERA AND SUNDAY SCHOOL Read More »
I seriously took my father’s counsel that the best place to raise my children was on a farm, not in the town, Nakuru. My family lived well on the farm and flourished. When the drought-hit Kenya in the 1980s, things went wrong, and it was hard to continue life on the farm. Most families were
THE DROUGHT DYNAMIC Read More »
My mother, Cecilia Gathegu Chege visited us in the US and stayed for some time with us, and died here from illness. She died at home. As a family, we met to discuss what the next move would be. The family agreed to bury my mother here in Atlanta and one of us would take
MY MOTHER DIED IN THE USA Read More »
My mother lived for one hundred-seven years (107 years) old and died in August 2018. She was my strength. I felt like I had lost the source of my strength, the one person who kept me going. I had observed my mother’s strength, which was more evident when my father, her only daughter, and her last
MEET MY MOTHER WANJIRU MWANIKI Read More »
Over the years, I learned that I was unaware of so many things since I had not witnessed them in my family or environment. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 (NIV) describe God’s creation of the universe from the first to the seventh day, and I believe that this is a message that humans should have
GRACE: THINGS I‘VE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY Read More »
Christmas Day One day I woke up early in the morning and saw that the light in our home was on. I stood by my bed and watched my parents having breakfast around the fireplace. My father noted my presence and called me to him. He told me that it was Christmas day, and we
The Confusing Thing in Childhood Read More »
My mother took us to stay with my maternal grandmother, and I thought nothing of it at the time. When I was a bit older, I learned that the visit had a specific purpose. In the Gīkūyū tradition, when a domestic issue arises, and the couple cannot resolve it, the wife goes to her parents’
My First and Last Visit to See My Maternal Grandmother Read More »
Alcoholism has ravaged three generations in my family. My parents made and sold beer, maiyīki, to earn extra income. It seemed like their focus was on the short term benefits of earning extra income, not on the long term effects on the family, neighborhood, community, and society. I recall one type of beer gatogo incident
Grace: Issues in My Family Read More »
For the Christmas holiday, I got ready for the journey from Nakuru to Kerūgoya. I had to travel to Overland Transport Company (O. T. C.) Nakuru via Nairobi to Kerūgoya, and from there to Kiawakara by a Peugeot car (matatū) to my sister’s house. Her farm spanned Kīawakara village, where we lived during the state of
My New Year’s Gift – My Wife Read More »
With a baby was on the way, things were going well until the eighth month. My wife began experiencing backaches, and her legs swollen. I asked an older lady in the neighborhood about leg swelling, and she told me that it was typical for the portions of a pregnant mother to swell. When we went
My Father’s Wise Counsel Read More »