The west brought Christianity,the east brought Islam and now the scientists have brought atheism.
Shiny eyes…
According to legend, when Ngai (God) sent Gikuyu to the land he had chosen for him, he told the man that he would identify his new home by the Mukurwe tree and the twitter of nyagathanga birds. And sure enough, when Gikuyu climbed down Kirinyaga mountain, Ngai’s abode, there in the garden was the huge tree, with the nyagathanga birds twittering their welcome.
Gikuyu and his wife, Mumbi, raised 10 daughters, nine of whom they married off, and soon the population started growing.
The people grew millet but the birds invaded their farms and the people, unable to stop them, simply gave up farming the grain. With no food, the nyagathanga flew off to the friendlier skies. Today, only a few of the birds remain at the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine, akin to the Gikuyu’s garden of Eden.
It is a freezing June afternoon when I arrive at the shrine. A security guard greets me and introduces me to three women sitting on the grass. They are the custodians of the place, as well as entertainers. One of them takes my gate pass and asks about my mission. To see the place, I say; I read about it in school.
The shrine has lost more than just the birds. Once considered a top destination for people seeking to re-connect with their roots, today Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga in Gaturi, Murang’a County, is in disrepair.
“Visitors no longer come in large numbers like they used to,” my guide, Boniface Maina, says.
We walk down a narrow trail to a group of traditional huts dedicated to Gikuyu’s and Mumbi’s 10 daughters. They are empty, unswept, the walls defaced with graffiti. The shrine’s deterioration has been occasioned by apathy, lack of finances and poor management. Most of the income is raised though gate collections and donations.
STALLED PROJECTS
Faith Mugechi, who visits the shrine on alternate days. She believes she is doing God’s work.
“I grew up here and live here but I don’t think much about the place,” Njoroge, the motorcycle rider who brought me says.
A major reason for the decay of the shrine is that it is neither listed as a heritage site nor placed under the Museums of Kenya, which would have allowed for funding.
Now some local people have taken it upon themselves to preserve their heritage.