Chief Wangombe wa Ihura of the Kikuyu
The Kikuyu faced Mt Kenya during prayers in the belief that God reseded there - image from Wikipedia commons Who was Wang'ombe wa Ihura of the Kikuyu? Chief Wangombe was the son of a Kikuyu man and a Maasai woman. He was born in Tetu, at Kamakwa, near present-day Nyeri Town. His father and therefore the whole family belonged to the Ambui clan of Thiukui Mbari . Mbari is a cluster of homesteads whose members of several generations can trace their origins to a single clan member. His father was a trader by the name, Ihura Karugu. He went frequently into Maasai country to trade with foodstuffs, especially during famines and cattle epidemics when the Maasai needed grain most. In one of Ihura’s business trips , in the company of the young Wangombe, he was dispatched by the Laikipiak Maasai. The young boy escaped and went to live with his relatives among the same people who had caused the demise of his father. After a period that is...