Nyeri Heroes

Mutinda was on the floor having emptied out his school bag and looking for his sharpener.

“Eureka here it is!” Mutinda shouted as he found the sharpener at the bottom of his bag.

His mother walked over to his bedroom door to see what the excitement was about. She then urged him to sharpen his pencil and start on his homework.

“I see you are writing about Dedan Kimathi being your role model,” she said.

“Yes, he led a group of forty young men to fight for independence. I want to be that courageous, and I don’t mind his dreadlocks look either,” Mutinda replied.

His mother laughed at the dreadlock comment knowing that Mutinda wanted to get some. 

“Dreadlocks aside, Dedan Kimathi was courageous like our other greats, Blessed Nyaatha and Robert-Baden Powell.” His mother added.

“Who are those?”Mutinda asked, not recognizing the names.

Mutinda’s mother sat on his bed and explained. “Blessed Nyaatha was an Italian Missionary who served as a nurse to the carrier corps during the second world war. Robert-Baden Powell on the other hand was a British Army Officer during the Boer War, he then wrote a book titled Scouting for Boys where he writes about survival based on his personal experiences. This book led to the scouting movement worldwide. All these three greats lived in Nyeri County,” she said proudly.

“Looks like courage has different forms, I can help others in different ways.”Mutinda thought to himself as he continued his composition paper on Dedan Kimathi.

Mutinda posed in his writing and asked, “Our school tree farm is named after Wangari Maathai, was she a Nyeri county great too?

“Oh yes! She was born right here in Nyeri, at Ihithe village,” she responded. 

Mother continued to explain to Mutinda that Wangari Maathai’s courage was in protecting the environment. She was a lawyer and an activist that founded the Green Belt Movement focused on protecting the environment, especially reforestation. 

“It is important to leave this world better than you found it, Wangari Maathai staged protests and was harassed in her quest, all her efforts have made it possible for us to inherit a better world,” mother said with passion.

“Oh wow!” Mutinda gaped in awe. 

Mutinda was impressed by all these greats that worked to make the world a better place and had an idea.

“Mum, I think I want to join the scouting club,” Mutinda said.

“Mmmhh… and why is that?” Mother asked.

“Well, the scouts do really help people a lot with emergency first aid, tree planting, and garbage collection. I want to make the world a better place. My first mission can be to encourage people to plant a tree on their birthdays” He explained.

“That is brilliant, Mutinda. Ok shoo shoo go finish your composition now,” his mother said. 

Mutinda went back to his homework. As he settled down his mind was reeling with ideas of how to make the world a better place like these Nyeri county greats.