The Thogoto Mission, Kikuyu

How It Begun

The year was 1891, and the serene place we know today as home to Thogoto Mission came to the attention of the Imperial British East Africa (IBEA) company. Its officers felt that the interior of the land they were working in was ripe for evangelizing. A call was sent out, and within a year, six missionaries landed in Mombasa from Scotland under the IBEA-sponsored umbrella of the East Africa Scottish Mission.

The erstwhile six found their way into East Africa via trekking and bullock cart. They settled in Kibwezi which was rife with malaria carrying mosquitoes.

After the death of most of the party the sole survivor, Reverend Thomas Watson, made the wise decision to move further inland to a less mosquito infested area. By 1898, he had settled in Kikuyu and managed to get about 30 acres of land from the son of Chief Waiyaki to set up a new mission station.

Starting A Mission

Alongside his evangelical ambitions, Watson had decided to go the family route. In 1899 a young lady by the name of Minnie Cumming made her way to Mombasa and married the young preacher. Together they returned to Kikuyu where the full reality of an ongoing smallpox epidemic met them. Thousands of people from the area fell to the disease. Many in the mission area as they came to seek a cure.

The work of the mission became twofold – evangelizing and comfort as they had insufficient medical supplies to help.

At the end of 1900 Watson died, leaving his wife to carry on the mission work. She did so in earnest.

The first major task was the procurement, transportation and installation of a pre-fabricated chapel from Scotland. The second was establishment of a health facility that would meet the needs of the people. The third; the opening of a school to provide basic education to local students. In 1907 the tuition free boarding school opened its doors to the fist students.

The mission was adopted by the Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) which also sent a new reverend to lead the growing flock and establish a mission hospital that was set upon 1908. Lastly, in 1909 the Thogoto chapel, known fondly as The House of Cedars was established after an arduous journey. It was a knocked down prefab from Scotland that arrived by rail and cart from the Mombasa port.

The mission school at Thogoto grew from strength to strength under Minnie’s stewardship. By 1920 it had over 3000 pupils attending. The school is noted in Kenyan historical studies between 1909 and 1914 for educating a young Johnstone Kamau wa Ngengi from Ichaweri.

Four Decades Later

Many have called the Thogoto mission the cradle of education in Kenya. In time the area spawned the Alliance schools and true to its original mission the Church of the Torch – in 1928.

In time the mission was absorbed into the Presbyterian Church of East Africa – PCEA. Yet the little chapel, that started it all, now known as the Watson Chapel it is a testament to a dream of faith and its accomplishment.

Read the preceding story on Khoja Mosque or find more from our #KeHistoryOfFaith series here: bit.ly/KeHistoryOfFaith