The kiss of life that killed Catholic nun

Sometime in October 1930, a villager by the name Gaitho, who had travelled far and wide to seek employment, returned home in Gikondi, Mukurweini, Nyeri County.

Unfortunately, the man was not as fit as he was when he left the village in pursuit of greener pastures. He was sick and and the strange disease made his health to deteriorate fast.

When he heard the man had returned home sickly, Mzee Burugu Ngari, a member of Gaitho's extended family invited him to his home so that he could take care of him. Burugu, an elderly man, was polygamous and was married to Wacu and Mary Waithiegeni.

But the good act of the family offering to nurse Gaitho ended up tragically.

bacterial disease

Unbeknown to the host family, Gaitho suffered from bubonic plague, a highly communicable bacterial disease that is transmitted by fleas.

That one act of kindness, Alexander Maina Ngari, a member of the family, told The Standard yesterday caused the family unspeakable pain. The huge family was hit by a chain of deaths.

"All our family members contracted the disease and we were only left to grieve," said Maina.

One of the family members who succumbed to the plague was Julius Ngari, a teacher at the nearby Gathukimundu Primary School and choir master at Gikondi Catholic Parish.

Ngari is believed to be the man who infected Sister Irene Stefani "Nyaatha" with bubonic plague, which he caught from Gaitho.

It is no wonder then that as the world descends on Gikondi to witness the beatification of the nun who died in 1930, 15 years after she arrived in Gikondi and started teaching, treating and baptising locals, Ngari's name is also back on the lips of locals.

Currently, Gikondi, Mukurweini and Nyeri and the country as a whole is looking forward to Friday's beatification of Sister Irene, a Catholic nun who devotedly served the people of Gikondi.

Ngari was an intelligent teacher who was fluent in English and was also a good games master.

Because of this, Nyaatha was close to him as he was an organised man and was able to curb truancy in the school.

John Baiye, 95, a resident of Gikondi, says Ngari was initially a Protestant and a critic of Nyaatha, but after attending catechism classes she administered in the school, he became a Catholic.

Ngari was born in 1892 in Kahumbu village within Mbari ya Ndumbi clan in Gikondi. He was the first child of Burugu Ngari and Wacu, Burugu's first wife.

He joined a mission school in Mathari and later became a teacher at Gathukimundu.

Due to the high death toll from the disease, when Nyaatha noticed Ngari's absence from school, she became concerned.

"She came to our home in the evening and found Ngari seriously ill. He was almost unconscious and Sister Nyaatha administered a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," said Stephen Wang'ondu, Ngari's nephew.

The villagers had warned Nyaatha against coming into contact with the sick, since the disease was highly contagious.

"But Sister Nyaatha refused to heed the advice and in our uncle's case, she went ahead to give him a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," said Wang'ondu.

On October 22, 1930, after several days of illness, Ngari sent two young men at night to go and call Nyaatha so that she could administer the Holy Communion to him, after suspecting he was going to die.

gentle care

A book titled Blessed Irene 'Nyatha', which is authored by John Luciano says although the nun was also sick, she jumped out of bed and with help of a lantern, traced her way to Ngari's home.

"She took gentle care of him propping him up, bending over him, comforting him. He was the son of her soul, the one that had cost her years of patient work, prayer and sacrifice," says the book.

Nyaatha spent the whole night at his bedside, and Ngari was happy because he had received the Holy Communion. He died in her arms at dawn.

"She still remained to watch over the body till it was lowered into the grave. It is only then that she realised she was very tired and shivering from fever," adds the book.

During a visit to the home, we discovered the family had identified Ngari's grave. A wooden cross on the tomb reads: "Julius Ngari Burugu, Died 23.10.1930".