Snow Girls of Kenya
The other day, I accidentally came across an interesting book. It was a gift to my wife by a former schoolmate of hers with now a rather long name: Prof. Wanja Thairu.
Her full name and credentials, as shown on the cover page of her book, is a mouthful. But, that's the least important thing about the book.
The cover page has a clear photo of two youthful African girls sitting on a pile of snow somewhere in the world holding mountain climbing sticks. They look like Eskimos in their military boots and goggles. This is what got my attention as my first experience with snow in a place called Banff in Canada in the winter of 1971 was not the kind of experience I care to even remember.
As I knew the author from another life, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to read the book. I can now reveal that this was my best investment in time that I have made recently. It literally took me back to my high school days when I used to read a novel every two days in addition to my regular school activities. A story for another day...
Back to Wanja
The name Wanja in the Gikuyu language means, literally, someone who is “from outside the house”. In other words, a stranger. In practical terms, it has a much deeper meaning from both a social and genetic viewpoint. In short, if you expect positive change to come to your family or community, look for someone from outside your “house”. In simple genetic terms: do not get married from your very local neighborhood.
That is a small part of her own personal story as she describes in uncanny detail the trip that she and her age mate called Hannah Njoki Kahiga decided to take up a challenge from a group of 16 boys from several high schools in central Kenya -Alliance, Thika an Jamhuri.
Their challenge was simple: To climb Mt Kenya in the month of August 1964. At the time, she was an A-Level student at Alliance Girls High School or AGHS as we used to call it in those days. She, in fact, was one of the first girls to do the Cambridge A-Levels. A good grade would assure her of a place in Makerere University in Uganda which was almost exclusively for boys in those days.
That she and Njoki actually went on to Makerere and far beyond is testimony to her tenacity and brilliance. In many ways, this is what the challenge to climb Mt Kenya really taught her: that with determination, focus and preparedness, you can achieve your life’s dreams.
On to Mt Kenya
When the offer to climb the mountain was made to her class of 12 Form 6 girl students by their famous headmistress Miss Bruce, only two of them decided immediately to accept it. Curiously, both of them came from Nyeri a district made famous by a combination of a horrific colonial past, foreign religions, the scouting movement and, ultimately, the brutal Mau Mau rebellion.
For me, the most interesting component was how just before the mountain climbing expedition during a rainy period in their area, they decided to visit Njoki’s maternal grandparents in upper Murang’a district at a place called Kamacaria. This was a very hilly place with many rivers and streams originating from the Aberdares mountain. There were very few roads in those days and crossing swollen rivers was a suicidal mission.
They somehow made it to Kiriaini after a hectic ride in a rickety bus from Fort Hall now known as Murang’a. They then spent a week helping to cultivate the grandparents’ shamba and fetching loads of firewood for the aging couple. Having accomplished that mission, they then decided to walk from the place all the way to Karima in Othaya a distance of over 21 kilometres. The option of going back to Fort Hall then taking the train to Nyeri was out as they had also to carry loads of bananas and sweet potatoes to take to their mothers, a Gikuyu tradition.
It becomes clear once you read the book that this was, in fact, ideal training for the mountain climbing that they had to undertake two weeks later. The final preparation for the expedition starting at Naro Moru where they met their youthful white teacher - obviously a very able chaperone - and the group of 16 boys and tour guides is the culmination of this amazing story of how they became the first African girls to reach Point Lenana the third highest point on Mt Kenya at 16,335 feet. Five of the boys dropped out which baffled the girls who couldn’t understand their “problem”.
Lessons from the Expedition
As I said earlier, one of the most beautiful lessons from this expedition is that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve your wildest dreams. The two young ladies made it to the top of Kenya without any formal training on mountain climbing and surviving at a low oxygen altitude.
Incidentally, the same also made them pass their A-Level examinations, proceed to Makerere, find their spouses and then proceed to highest levels of education - PhD. Talk of being “made of sterner stuff” as Shakespeare calls it.
From a literary point of view, The Snow Girls is an excellent motivational reader. Precise and not too long - only 198 pages that include lots of interesting photographs of the writer and her background. The photos give the book an authentic look. It is the kind of book that should be made mandatory reading for every high school girl in Kenya. It will show them how to overcome all odds and achieve their impossible dreams.
Without a doubt, a book that our Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) should have in its curriculum. The book was published in 2019 by Anvil Publishers Ltd and is selling at really good price of Sh 1,000. It will soon be on e-books in Kenya.
JH Kimura,
5th March 2020