Yes, Nyeri will arise and shine even in the face of challenges

As Nyeri County bid bye to yet another governor, many have wondered what could be the matter. Some have even speculated that Nyeri might be under a curse. Indeed, prior to the swearing in of the new governor, Bishop Paul Wanjohi led the county leaders and staff in a short cleansing ceremony of the county offices, praying against the spirit of death. However, concerns about a possible bad omen over the county arise out of an apparent accumulation of several unusual happenings in the recent past.

Since 2015, Nyeri has lost close to 40 people, mostly young men, in terrorist attacks. In July 2016 Gathaithi village in Kieni East, mourned 11 quarry workers after terrorist attack in Mandera.

This came barely six months after losing 14 others from the neighbouring Gatei in a similar attack in December 2015. Six people died in yet another Mandera terror attack in November 2016. During the joint funeral service, residents expressed bitterness and wondered why Nyeri had kept losing their kin in terrorist attacks. No answers could be found.

In April, shock and panic gripped residents of Mutathi-ini village, Tetu Constituency, after a mysterious fire apparently came from out of the ground and burnt plants and trees.

Many people and animals suffered injuries after they stepped on hot soil.

Scientists and geologists sampled the soil but could not readily determine the exact cause of the fire. Some villagers, however, theorised that the fire began some 50 years ago because of a curse.

Went abuzz

In another bizarre incident, Kariki village in Othaya went abuzz with allegations that the spirit of a dead woman, who wanted to be buried with her title deeds, had returned to torment her family two years after her death.

Esther Wambui’s family feared that they could be under a curse after her body was exhumed following a court order in a land dispute, and hence was not buried according to her wishes.

But, what many may perhaps remember is the 2014 brouhaha about Nyeri women being husband batterers. Matters were made worse when the same Nyeri women took to the streets to protest at the sale of illicit brew which had rendered their men useless. Indeed, a study by the University of Nairobi revealed that many married men in the county, particularly those aged between 18 and 28 years, had become victims of excessive alcohol consumption.

Viewed from a narrow perspective, one can begin to see why some may consider Nyeri a county under a curse.

However, though these incidents may appear to form a pattern, they may be totally unrelated. The “curse” may therefore be merely the result of what is known as a “perception effect.”

Walter Johnson, in his article on perception effect, observes that the human mind cannot effectively deal with chaos. Human beings, when confronted with too many objects, often cluster them into a specific category. Thus the Nyeri “chaos” are readily categorised in the minds of many as a curse.

Nevertheless, apart from mere superstition or ordinary perception effects, evil powers affecting individuals, families, communities, or even nations are a fact and reality of life. Such forces can only be dealt with divinely – though not through witchcraft or the veneration of ancestral gods. For as Jesus said, Beelzebub cannot drive out Beelzebub.

As I grew up, my father ran a shop at a little market centre known as Aboke. Amazingly, this little centre in the middle of nowhere, boast of three bakeries, a cotton ginnery, and a coffee collection store. There was also a sisal processing plant, a castor seed collection store and, to crown it all, Aboke Soap factory. We had piped communal water supply and public telephone service, in the early seventies. But, in an inexplicable twist of fate, Aboke slowly died. So dead was this centre that by the early 90s, we had to travel several kilometres to buy bread, sugar, or salt.

However, in 2006 I hosted a team of church members at our home in Aboke. One of the evenings, as we gathered at the marketplace, I asked the people if they would like our visitors to pray for Aboke to be “resurrected.” They all answered in the affirmative.

One of the visiting pastors led in a most fervent prayer. The following day we all left for Nairobi. Six months later, when I went back home, I could not believe what had happened. In an unusual turn of events, Aboke had arisen and the shops were packed yet again – I wept. A similar, but even greater story is recorded about the rise of the country of Fiji. I believe Nyeri, yeah even Kenya, can be healed.

-The writer is the Presiding Bishop at CITAM.

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