Letter from Dedan Kimathi

mzeiya

mzeiya

Elder Lister
1750754525932.webp

Dedan Kimathi
C/O H.M Prison (i.e. Her Majesty’s Prison)
17th February 1957
Father Marino Catholic Mission
P.O. Box 25
Nyeri

Dear Father,
It is about one o’clock at night that I have picked up my pencil and paper so that I may remember you and your beloved friends and friends before the time is over. I am so busy and so happy preparing for heaven tomorrow, the 18th February 1957.

Only to let you know that Father Whellam came in to see me here in my prison room as soon as he received the information regarding my arrival. He is still a dear, kind person as I did not firstly expect. He visits me very often and gives me sufficient encouragement possible. He provided me with important books with more that all have set a burning light throughout my way to paradise, such as:
  1. Students Catholic Doctrine
  2. In the Likeness of Christ
  3. The New Testament
  4. How to Understand the Mass
  5. The Appearance of the Virgin at the Grotto of Lourdes
  6. Prayer Book in Kikuyu
  7. The Virgin Mary of Fatima
  8. The Cross of the Rosary, etc.
I want to make it ever memorial to you and all that only Father Whellam came to see me on Christmas Day while I had many coming on the other weeks and days. Sorry that they did not remember me during the birth of our Lord and Saviour. Pity also that they forgot me during such a merry day.

I have already discussed the matter with him and I am sure that he will inform you all.

Only a question of getting my son to school. He is far from many of your schools, but I trust that something must be done to see that he starts earlier under your care, etc.

Do not fail from seeing my mother, who is very old, and to comfort her even though she is so much sorrowful.

My wife is here. She is detained at Kamiti Prison, and I suggest that she will be released sometime. I would like her to be comforted by sisters, e.g. Sister Modester, etc., for she too feels lonely. And if by any possibility she can be near the mission, as near Mathari, so that she may be so close to the sisters and to the church.

I conclude by telling you only to do me a favour by getting education to my son.

Farewell to the world and all its belongings, I say, and best wishes I say to my friends with whom we shall not meet in this busy world.

Please pass my compliments and best wishes to all who read Wathiomo Mukinyu. Remember me too to the Fathers, Brothers and Sisters.


With good hope and best wishes,
I remain, dear Father,
Yours loving, and departing convert
D. Kimathi
 
upepo said:
Missionaries did not own land, White settlers did. The small pieces they used to build churches and schools did not count. Actually, the land they used was often donated by clans, families, or individuals.
Churches were often used to pacify the population, promising them better lives in heaven.
Click to expand...
The Archdiocese of Nyeri is the largest landowner in the county.
 
Mwalimu-G said:
The Archdiocese of Nyeri is the largest landowner in the county.
Click to expand...
The Nyeri case, and a few others, is an outlier of sorts. And if it were not for the fact that Nyeri is crowded, the 2500 acres would have hardly been noticeable for a 'community use' allocation at a time when individual settler farmers would be owning 10 000 acres on the lower end. So, they may have been viewed as silent accessories to land grabs but not the main culprits.
 
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