By Raphael Tuju
“Recently, at about 4 pm, I went to visit this lady whom my mother fondly referred to as Aunt Elizabeth. She touched my mother’s life some 85 years ago, and my mother truly loved her very much. Aunt Elizabeth is today over 100 years old. She is now blind, but her mind is sharp and very clear.
Some 85 years ago, my mother may have been five or six years old. Mama was then an orphan who had lost both her parents.
Mama’s uncle, Alphonse Ndege, came back to the village and found the then very young girl, later to become our mother, walking stark naked like an animal. Her cousins of the same age had some rudimentary clothes. Because Mama was a total orphan, she had no clothes on her back.
Alphonse Ndege felt pity for her. He removed his vest and covered her nakedness with it. Mama never forgot that act of kindness from Uncle Alphonse. Having known no father, she affectionately always referred to Uncle Alphonse as Baba. At one time, in the circle of life, Mama told me this story, and that is why she insisted that I had to pay the school fees for Nyadimo Agunga.
In that same circle of life, Nyadimo Agunga lent me his Land Cruiser V8 for six months two years ago, and he has now given me that car to use again for as long as I need it, because my 20-year-old Land Cruiser recently stalled on the road and now needs major repairs. Nyadimo is a successful businessman on the coast, owning the biggest mall in Malindi, a hotel in Mombasa and several petrol stations, besides other real estate.
When I paid the small school fees for him some decades ago, I never imagined that he would become so successful that he could also bless me with a car for use when I have difficulty.
Now back to Aunt Elizabeth. She was a teacher, having been one of the first girls of her generation to receive an education from the Catholic missionaries in the 1920s. Her only brother, Father Agunga, was one of the first Kenyans to be ordained as a priest. Unfortunately, he died young in a road accident.
For a long time, my mother dedicated me to God because I was so ill at one time when I was only five years old. I was admitted to Maseno Hospital, and I remember that incident to this day. Since Mama had concluded that I was going to die, she invited Catholic priests to come and perform the final rites and prayers meant for those on their deathbed. My situation was hopeless. Miraculously, I recovered. It was then that Mama dedicated me to God and made the undertaking that she would bring me up to become a Catholic priest like her Uncle Agunga. What a big disappointment that I became a politician. At every misfortune I faced, like the plane crash that I survived, Mama always reminisced that it was because I deviated from the path of priesthood.
This would only be mitigated by the fact that she had grandchildren through me whom she loved so much. Imagine, Father Tuju guys… I would have been a disaster in that role, I think.
Now back again to Aunt Elizabeth. I went to thank her again because she had a sewing machine that she used to make Mama her very first dress. Mama never forgot, and she told me several times that I must go and see this lady with her. Unfortunately, Mama died before we could make that joint visit.
Today, I made my way there and found Aunt Elizabeth well and sitting on her veranda. I went there in tribute to what she did for my mother some 85 years ago. I went to thank her for her kindness to my mother. She prayed so much for me as she remembered the little six-year-old she made a dress for those many years ago. It may have been a small thing, but it is the story of that first dress for Mama that made me go to visit her today. Because of that dress, I traced my way there. Whatever little you can do for an orphan or a needy child, it may be the one thing that endures.”
The writer is a former Foreign Affairs Minister, accomplished journalist and philanthropist.
