Kenyan photojournalist and human rights Boniface Mwangi has revealed the unorthodox marriage proposal he made to his wife, Hellen Njeri Mwangi.
Despite swearing to never marry a journalist, politician or a younger man (fitting Mwangi’s description), Njeri’s reservations were thrown away after Mwangi proposed to her from Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, South Africa.
While celebrating his wife on International Women’s day, he appreciated the role she has played in his life and profession.
“On July 10 2007, to celebrate my 24th birthday and the anniversary of our first date, I proposed to her. Just beforehand I had travelled to South Africa and visited Mandela’s cell on Robben Island.
I shot the video of me proposing in that cell. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 prison years confined to that small space. The floor was his bed and there was a bucket for a toilet. I proposed from the shadows of a man I had grown up celebrating and admiring.
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She wept as she watched the video and when it ended I went on my knee and proposed. This was in the presence of her parents, her close friend and my workmates, as they were celebrating my birthday with me.
Maybe the video was a sign of the direction my life would take- a determination to fighting injustice.
Incidentally, Njeri had sworn that she would never marry a journalist, a politician or a younger man. I was a journalist who wanted to join politics and slightly younger than her. On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2008 we were married. My wife is the fire that keeps me going.
Happy International women's day,” wrote Mwangi.
Mwangi and Njeri are blessed with three children, two boys and a girl.
