User talk:Talk2fred

Koinange Street tagged for speedy deletion
Hi, this has been tagged for speedy deletion for lack of context. If you can expand the article with encyclopedic information, please use the tag and explain improvemetns on the discussion page.  Cheers, :) Dlohcierekim   12:06, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Chief Njiiri wa Karanja
He was 108 years when he died. He had 42 wives! Guess how many children? Over 5,000 goats, over 4000 sheep, over 2000 cows! What more! Princess Margaret, The Queens sister, once visited him in his house. 7.5 acres homestead with one gate, thousands acres of land. Armed administration police. The late President Jomo Kenyatta also visited him in his house.



Facts about Chief Njiiri

 * He had 42 wives


 * In 1930s and 40s before he bought a car he used to ride a horse.


 * He could not negotiate or sell his property directly - some by the name Andrew (wandiria) used to do on his behalf. Andrew was always updated about the current market. Again he used to change to people from all corners. Changing a note of Kshs.20 was a big problem in the old days. Only the rich would do it. People used to come from wide and far for change.


 * It was a taboo for anyone to pass anywhere else except the gate.


 * All his wives were baptized in a church. The English names given to them used to be changed because some of them they could not pronounce e.g. Jecinta = Thithinda - Justice = Njuthito.


 * A servant was assigned to account for every loss or gain in all the herds - goats, sheep, cows etc.


 * No brewing of beer in his homestead. He had a family friend assigned for that purpose (his name is Kanono or Kamau - Wagaya)


 * Several of his wives had won beauty contest before marrying them.


 * His daughters used to entertain him in the evenings with songs (nitaolewa nani mwenye mari kama baba) the song used to go.


 * He could not sit on grass - he had a servant specifically to carry the chair


 * He had a servant specifically to open and close the gate. The servant had a hut at the gate.


 * None of his wives should be outside the gate after 6.30 p.m.


 * The wives had to provide food (rwiga), firewood (ngu) and goat pastures (miriyo) every day.


 * He slaughtered a goat twice a week.


 * He had a servant sales service.


 * He had a servant to gather information in market.


 * The youngest wife is still alive and looking young.


 * In 1956 Chief Njiiri had a radio a rare commodity everywhere at that time. As he was listening to the news, the radio mentioned that Kenyatta wa Muigai is going out of the country and will never come back again. One year later, as he was listening to the news on the same radio, it said "Kenyatta is coming back". He could not hold his horse again, he took a stick and said the radio was lying to him. Liar, liar, he said. He beat the radio with a stick because it was "a liar". The old man was a right.


 * After sharing all of his land to his sons, there remained 64 acres of land, a Land Rover, a bungalow house and several other items unshared.


 * He gave out 60 acres of land for the purpose of constructing a school - this is where Njiiri's High School stands today.

Chief Njiiri as a young boy
Senior Chief Njiiri was Karanja was born in 1866. He died in 1974. During his life time he rose from a young rural boy into a dynasty of kingship in the land of the Mumbi family. I mean Kikuyu society. All the way from the slopes of the Mt. Aberdares, he came to be well known and respected in his local village to, by the colonial administration, the president and even the queen of the commonwealth. Towards the end of his reign, he contributed 60 acres of land for a school. This is where Njiiris High School stands today and it was named after him.

In 1888, when he was 12 years old. He was woken up very early in the morning by his father. His father sent him to another location to fetch a certain man by the name Mugo wa Kibiru who was a rising star as a prophet. Njiiri was accompanied by the another boy by the name Maingi. They were highly welcomed and before they explained about their mission and where they came from, the prophet Mugo wa Kibiru went to a cardboard, (mwatu) to fetch something for them to eat. Mugo offered young Njiiri a good piece of meat. He did not give Maingi. He continued talking without caring to give the young Maingi anything. Njiiri was unable to eat since his friend Maingi had nothing. He asked the old man for knife so that he could cut a piece to his friend. The prophet Mugo wa Kibiro refused and told the young Njiiri. "No you cannot cut for him for that piece of meat is meant for Kings and rulers." Mugo told the young boy. To close the gap he went again to his cardboard and brought forth 'a less valued' piece of meat and gave it to Maingi.