71!!! 
Talk about robbing the coffin....
Grandmother, 71 weds student, 19
East African Standard | Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | Amos Kareithi and Boniface Gikandi
The 71-year-old grandmother who has married a 19-year-old Form Four student yesterday denied that she was a "cradle snatcher", saying she was following the dictates of her god. At the same time, the teenager said that no amount of threats, intimidation or raw force could force him abandon the wife God had ordered him to marry.
Investigations by the East African Standard revealed that the couple was living together in the same house about seven kilometres from Makuyu town.
The side view of Nyanginda wa Ngugis house where she now lives with her new husband James Mburu Kamau and her son Gicharu wa Ngugi, 33.
Upon learning that she had some visitors, Nyanginda wa Gicharu who was said to be asleep emerged from her bungalow without shoes. She, however, explained her predicament: "I have been suffering from a very severe bout of cold. I am just from my bed."
She was closely followed by James Mburu Kamau who came out in a T-shirt and sandals and started an unsuccessful hide-and-seek game with the cameras.
It took hours of searching for journalists to come face to face with the ailing grandmother responsible for luring the boy out of school.
Nyanginda wa Gicharu the woman who has in the recent weeks become a pariah for marrying James Mburu Kamau however, defended herself: "What God has ordered, no man can change."
Her home is just a few metres from the rural home of Embakasi MP David Mwenje.
The woman, whose five children are all married, said she was happy that Mburu had chosen her "following the will of God" .
She said she has been giving her new husband odd jobs to sustain himself. "God had ruled that one should only eat if he works," she said.
Mburu was, however, economical with words and kept referring to his prophetic vision which had driven him out of class into the arms of a woman older than his biological mother.
"I am not going back to school. Never. I discovered that I have been living a lie all my life. Now I have discovered God and happiness," said Mburu with finality.
And to show that he was through with education, he confirmed that he had written a letter to the Kenya National Examinations Council withdrawing his KCSE candidature.
The letter dated June 10 this year was addressed to the Secretary Kenya National Examination Council, the DEO Maragwa and the Principal, Gathungururu Secondary School.
At Gathungururu Secondary School in Makuyu, Maragwa, teachers and students were all united in their loss of their star student.
His Form Four classmates were also in deep shock, with some vowing they were ready to "deal with the old woman to get their colleague back".
"The students and the teachers are mourning. He was our only hope .We expected him to get grade B in this year's KCSE. Now he is gone. He has never been a problem to the school," the principal said.
According to the school's principal, Miss Beth Githaiga, the behaviour change in Mburu was noted after he stopped attending Christian fellowship preferring to travel eight kilometres to Kaharati.
The head said during the school's prize giving day on July 9, Mburu was expected to scoop a trophy for best student who had never been punished since he joined Form One.
Before dropping out of school, Mburu at one time was beaten by his father after he refused to be sent to buy cigarettes in the nearby Makuyu trading centre, said the head, adding that previously he belonged to PCEFA church before joining "Arata a roho" church.
Mrs Isabella Kamau, Mburu's mother said she had no right to discuss her son as he wrote a letter to the teacher indicating his wish.
Isabella, a former primary school teacher at the nearby Gathungururu Primary School referred to her new daughter-in-law as a true friend that she knew many years ago.
But John Kamau, Mburu's father, is bitter with his son for dropping out of school.
Kamau a former Mitumbiri location chief said: " My wish is my son to go back to school and sit for his KCSE as am ready to pay for his fees."
Mburu's father, who is also a member of the school's Parents Teachers Association representing Form Four parents said:
"I belong to the Catholic church and I do not know the church my wife and son belong to as they have embarrassed me. I do not know what will happen if I will ever come to meet her," he said of his daughter-in-law.
Talk about robbing the coffin....
Grandmother, 71 weds student, 19
East African Standard | Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | Amos Kareithi and Boniface Gikandi
The 71-year-old grandmother who has married a 19-year-old Form Four student yesterday denied that she was a "cradle snatcher", saying she was following the dictates of her god. At the same time, the teenager said that no amount of threats, intimidation or raw force could force him abandon the wife God had ordered him to marry.
Investigations by the East African Standard revealed that the couple was living together in the same house about seven kilometres from Makuyu town.
The side view of Nyanginda wa Ngugis house where she now lives with her new husband James Mburu Kamau and her son Gicharu wa Ngugi, 33.
Upon learning that she had some visitors, Nyanginda wa Gicharu who was said to be asleep emerged from her bungalow without shoes. She, however, explained her predicament: "I have been suffering from a very severe bout of cold. I am just from my bed."
She was closely followed by James Mburu Kamau who came out in a T-shirt and sandals and started an unsuccessful hide-and-seek game with the cameras.
It took hours of searching for journalists to come face to face with the ailing grandmother responsible for luring the boy out of school.
Nyanginda wa Gicharu the woman who has in the recent weeks become a pariah for marrying James Mburu Kamau however, defended herself: "What God has ordered, no man can change."
Her home is just a few metres from the rural home of Embakasi MP David Mwenje.
The woman, whose five children are all married, said she was happy that Mburu had chosen her "following the will of God" .
She said she has been giving her new husband odd jobs to sustain himself. "God had ruled that one should only eat if he works," she said.
Mburu was, however, economical with words and kept referring to his prophetic vision which had driven him out of class into the arms of a woman older than his biological mother.
"I am not going back to school. Never. I discovered that I have been living a lie all my life. Now I have discovered God and happiness," said Mburu with finality.
And to show that he was through with education, he confirmed that he had written a letter to the Kenya National Examinations Council withdrawing his KCSE candidature.
The letter dated June 10 this year was addressed to the Secretary Kenya National Examination Council, the DEO Maragwa and the Principal, Gathungururu Secondary School.
At Gathungururu Secondary School in Makuyu, Maragwa, teachers and students were all united in their loss of their star student.
His Form Four classmates were also in deep shock, with some vowing they were ready to "deal with the old woman to get their colleague back".
"The students and the teachers are mourning. He was our only hope .We expected him to get grade B in this year's KCSE. Now he is gone. He has never been a problem to the school," the principal said.
According to the school's principal, Miss Beth Githaiga, the behaviour change in Mburu was noted after he stopped attending Christian fellowship preferring to travel eight kilometres to Kaharati.
The head said during the school's prize giving day on July 9, Mburu was expected to scoop a trophy for best student who had never been punished since he joined Form One.
Before dropping out of school, Mburu at one time was beaten by his father after he refused to be sent to buy cigarettes in the nearby Makuyu trading centre, said the head, adding that previously he belonged to PCEFA church before joining "Arata a roho" church.
Mrs Isabella Kamau, Mburu's mother said she had no right to discuss her son as he wrote a letter to the teacher indicating his wish.
Isabella, a former primary school teacher at the nearby Gathungururu Primary School referred to her new daughter-in-law as a true friend that she knew many years ago.
But John Kamau, Mburu's father, is bitter with his son for dropping out of school.
Kamau a former Mitumbiri location chief said: " My wish is my son to go back to school and sit for his KCSE as am ready to pay for his fees."
Mburu's father, who is also a member of the school's Parents Teachers Association representing Form Four parents said:
"I belong to the Catholic church and I do not know the church my wife and son belong to as they have embarrassed me. I do not know what will happen if I will ever come to meet her," he said of his daughter-in-law.
