It took a lot of guts for one to join Mau Mau movement and more so a woman; but for Mama Deborah Wambui Nderitu she dined with Dedan Kimathi and was there when Gen Stanley Mathenge disappeared. She narrates her tale to PETER THATIAH on life in the forefront of the rebellion.

"I first heard about the Mau Mau when the movement was founded in 1950. But it was two years later that I would be formally introduced into the movement. A year later in 1953, while aged 17, I became an active member and moved to the Aberdares Forest with the other fighters.

Mama Deborah Wambui Nderitu at her farm in Nyandarua.

Gen Musa Mwariama, a Mau Mau fighter, with founding President Jomo Kenyatta.

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It was a decision that was forced on me by circumstances. Little did I know this was the beginning of a painful journey that would bring unspeakable anguish to our family. The fact that I would play a central role in the saga that led to the disappearance of General Stanley Mirugi Mathenge, a man I deeply liked and admired, was just a footnote in a personal tragedy that almost destroyed my family and community.

I was born in 1936 at Mahiga in Othaya. My father, Hezekiah Macharia, was a minister with the Scotland Missionary Church, the forerunner to the PCEA Church. Later, he moved to the African Independent Church as a senior minister and immediately trouble started for our family.

The colonial establishment regarded AIC as a protest movement. And to a large extent this was true. My father had a strong sense of justice and soon many men in our village and the neighbouring villages started rallying behind him as a symbol of their quest for justice. Soon, our home became the centre of oathing. I remember seeing oaths being administered in our compound as early as 1948.

My father knew the risks involved in his activities and shared his fears with us. This was occasioned by the fact that we were a family of four girls. My brother was born much later and during the Mau Mau campaign he was only a child. Thus, as the third born in the family, my father expected me to join my two elder sisters in acting as the boys of the family. What would befall him would also happen to us.

I first saw Dedan Kimathi when he visited my father in 1950. Years later, he became a regular visitor. When he was recruiting young men from our area he started living in our homestead for long periods. Sometimes he came with his wife Mukami Kimathi and they would live with us for some time. Although Kimathi would later marry a second wife, he remained fond of Mukami, who now lives in Njabini.

Natural Inspiration

Kimathi naturally inspired a lot of confidence in the young men he met. Unlike in his famous picture after capture and torture where he is seen as emaciated and dreadlocked, Kimathi was a strong and well-built man. He did not have dreadlocks then. He had been to the Second World War and he loved weapons.

The events that followed the State of Emergency of 1952 sounded a death-knell to the peace we knew in Othaya. At the beginning of 1953 my father left his job at the Church and went to live with Kimathi in the Aberdares. We instantly became a marked family.

Our homestead was the first to be torched by the home guards. They came during daylight with colonial soldiers and surrounded our house. Luckily, we had been warned about the impending raid and we hid in our relatives’ homes. I immediately joined my elder sister, Peris Wangui, and followed our father to the forest. The soldiers caught up with our elder sister, who was deaf, and beat her senseless. She never joined us.

Kimathi’s Camp

Kimathi knew about us and gladly welcomed us into his camp. My father was not there but we were informed he was in another camp, also operated by Kimathi. There were about 300 fighting men in this unit. There were other units scattered in the forest at the time and Mathenge controlled operations in some of them. Since we had all taken the oath, we knew we had cast our lot to the death.

We made makeshift dwelling places using bamboo wood and barks, where we spent our time when it rained. There were few girls and our work was mainly cooking. But Kimathi was also fond of us and insisted we must be trained in basic combat skills because we were naturally not as tough as the men. He taught me how to handle a rifle.

It was sophisticated and heavy. It gave us a hard time to load up every time it was fired. I had finally become a Mau Mau soldier. From this point onwards, my life turned upside down."