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= John Kîmûrî Mwanîki = John Kîmûrî Mwanîki, aka Kîmûrî wa Mwanîki aka Voice Kîmûrî Mwanîki was a prominent Kikuyu elder, a visionary and a freedom fighter who lived in Central Kenya in the 20th Century.

Early Childhood
Kîmûrî’s childhood like those of his age mates was shaped by the coming of colonialism and changing times in the land of his ancestors. His midlife, on the other hand, would subsequently be shaped by the struggle for independence. Could a quick view of colonialism, therefore, explain many aspects of Kîmûrî’s life? At least it would make us understand Njong’i wa Mūthemba, but most importantly why he named his first son Gitau.

So why did colonialism befall the land and why would Kîmûrî and his family be so heavily involved in the struggle to rid it off the scourge?

Colonialism came to the interior of East Africa late compared to other parts of Africa which had been colonized since the 15th Century. However, It came to the region for the same reason that it had happened in the other parts of Africa; which was to secure the route to India. Our region had remained unexplored up to the 19th Century and early maps would refer to it as lower Ethiopia, the land of black people. The region hosted the home of Agikuyu, the land of Kîmûrî’s ancestors: his father Mwanîki, his Grandfather Gacugu and his great grandfather Waithanji, whose lives must have straddled most of the 19th Century.

Kîmûrî’s ancestors had been uncontaminated by the external world ever before then. They had developed strong virtues and beliefs. Wealth for these men meant ownership of large tracts of land and large herds of cattle and goats ‘mahiū’,’ augmented by marrying many women to till the land and bear many sons to graze and protect the herds.

Wealth was coveted and in the set up of the day, Mwanîki reached the epitome of success. Kîmûrî himself would not be fully spared from this concept of wealth. Every evening as the sun was going down, he would seat on a high stool as he waited for his prized herd to troop home from the grazing fields of Kagumo. As soon as he sighted the herd he would celebrate by exclaiming loudly “Wūi Voice yakwa īkūmīire!’

However, with the construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt in the mid 19th century, the British decided that in order to hold onto the canal it was necessary to control Egypt by controlling the Nile, the great river upon which Egypt’s survival depended. In order to find the source of the Nile, they sent missionaries like David Livingstone to explore hitherto unexplored regions of East Africa. Consequently, this ushered in colonialism towards, the end of the century, in the land that would later be known as Kenya.

The close of the century also saw the birth in Kikuyu land of one Kîmûrî Mwanīki, in a piece of land that had been bequeathed by Ndemi to his son Waithanjī, Kîmûrî’s great grandfather. This land would eventually be referred to as Kîawaithanjî, a name that has endured to present times. Equally, children named Ndemi are still to be found in Kîawaithanjî.

Kîmûrî’s early days were, therefore, the early days of colonialism. They brought many things alien to Agikuyu. For one, the land was was invaded by people with a strange colour, language and mannerism, who did things that bordered on magic. It is also now well known that those people were not benevolent for they took away land, cows and other things the Agikuyu valued and coveted.

Karungari, Kîmûrî's Mother
Karûngari found the proposal for marriage by Mwanîki irresistible and immediately left Gīcīra for Kīawaithanjī, leaving behind her father Kīago who by then was nursing a terrible wound. Nonetheless, she had decided the opportunity was too good to be lost. After all, Mwanîki was by this time a wealthy man, whose reputation was comparable to the most prominent in Kikuyu land. His name would be mentioned alongside those of Senior Chief Wambugu wa Mathangani and Wang’ombe wa Ihura. Surely, which girl would have resisted a marriage request from a man of such wealth and repute?

Karungari promptly joined the house of Mwanîki as his latest wife continuing the gradual swelling of the number of wives Mwanîki had which ended up becoming thirty six. Unfortunately, she was not to get a child for a long time after marrying and it was decided that a child be adopted for her. At the time, Ukambani was experiencing a big drought and many people, like a young girl Ngonyo, had sought refuge in Kikuyu land. Ngonyo was readily adopted by Karûngari, who would later be gifted with many children of her own, the first being Kîmûrî.

Karūngari had a reputation as a most hardworking woman, a characteristic she retained in her lifetime. One day she went to till her land as she had always done many years before. However, that day turned out to be different for she was later found lying dead next to her ‘mūro’ the the tilling implement she had been using. This immortalized her reputation for hard work which has since been passed on to her descendants.

It is not clear how long Ngonyo, Kîmûrî’s adopted sister, lived together with her siblings in Karungari’s household. What is known is that lived in Kîawaithanjî all her life. She had two known sons: Kanyau who rose to become a DO and Ngwīrī whose mental faculties were wanting and which made him do strange things that always made him the talk of the village.

One day, ngwiri was idling at a butchery in the shopping Centre at Kîawaithanjî, something he did often in the hope he could be given menial jobs and in return rewarded with a piece of meat. On this day, the local butcher had slaughtered a goat, prepared meat cuts and hanged them for display. The butcher was by then preparing one of the popular variants of Ndūndīro known as Ihu, which was made by stuffing the animal’s rumen with blood and thin slices of flesh from the internal organs. The stuffed rumen would be sealed then placed on the charcoal burner to roast. This was done in the open space outside the building right behind the butchery’s hall where meat cuts were displayed and sold from.

The butcher was chatting with Ngwiri as he waited for the piece to roast, when after about ten minutes, a customer came calling. He left briefly to attend to the customer and on coming back found his Ihu missing. Ngwiri was still standing next to the roster dressed in his usual long weather beaten overcoat. When asked, he categorically denied any knowledge of what had happened to the piece which by then must have been extremely hot. The butcher thought that a cat could have snatched it and started looking everywhere for the feline.

Five minutes passed and there was no cat to be found. The butcher who was now being assisted by a group of young men gave up and returned to put off the burner. As they the stood next to the burner reflecting on the loss, they heard Ngwiri hissing softly. They all, almost in unison, turned towards him to find out what the problem was. Suddenly, Ngwiri dropped the hot ihu from underneath his overcoat. It was only the they understood what had transpired and knew that Ngwiri had all along been scorching from the hot piece. He was given a thorough beating and banished from the shopping centre never to return.

Kiondo, Kîmûrî's Brother
At around twenty years younger than his eldest brother Kîmûrî, Kîondo, whose other name is Kīnyoe, was a late comer into Karūngari’s fold. It appears that he was named after the brother Mwanîki never had, who in turn would have been named after the father of Mwanîki’s mother ......... Kîondo would inevitably grow under the care of his elder siblings, and specifically his eldest sister, Nyabiū (Njeri) who by then was well known among her relatives. Always in her company the young boy began being referred to as Kîondo waa Nyabiū. With time, those who did not know the context of the name, just called him Kîondo wa Nyabiū.