On 29th June 1902, four Italian missionaries – the Consolata missionaries – held their first mass in Tuthu, a little settlement in Murang’a. Earlier that year, they had arrived and immediately immersed themselves in the construction of a mission station. Over three decades after establishing Tuthu Mission Station, the Consolata missionaries finally opened a school in the region. By this time, the four founding missionaries had long retired and been replaced with nuns.
In 1938, under the stewardship of its first principal, Sister Zaveria Pasqualina, the newly established primary school enrolled 25 pupils. The school’s teaching staff comprised of only four nuns – including the headmistress – who continued to educate the students until 1940 when Tuthu Mission School was phased out and replaced with an intermediate school. The new name of the mission school was Gateiguru Intermediate School.
Still, in 1940, Gateiguru faced a major setback; learning activities were ground to a complete halt largely as a result of World War II, which consequentially led to the East African campaign.
The East African campaign was a war fought in East Africa by the British Empire against Italy in the colony of Italian East Africa. The Gateiguru nuns, who were of Italian descent, were deemed a security threat by the British colonial government. They were taken into custody and for the duration of the campaign, were confined in an undisclosed location in Mathari town, approximately 170 kilometers north of the administrative capital, Nairobi.
In the year that followed, Italian forces surrendered and the campaign ended. The sisters were free to resume their teaching duties and learning.
Their time in confinement must have had an impact on the Consolata sisters for when they were freed, they set up a secondary school in Mathari. In 1957, Our Lady Consolata Mugoiri Girls’ High School was officially opened. After establishing the secondary school, the Consolata Sisters decided to do away with Gateiguru Intermediate School. A year later, the intermediate school was completely phased out, and the sisters were free to focus solely on the secondary school.
In 1959, Mugoiri Girls’ High School was relocated from its Mathari location to Murang’a, the same location on which Gateiguru Intermediate School had stood. The first headmistress to lead the secondary school was Sister Christiana Sestero. After the school’s relocation, there was a facelift given to it. A stone-walled building was erected where previously stood structures made of sisal posts and timber. This new look was the final touch to the school’s potential permanent structure.
Mugoiri Girls’ High School continues to serve the community by educating and molding the young women who are fortunate enough to pass through its hands. Eighty-one years later, the fascinating story of how it came to be is still told unceasingly.