Nearly 50 years after Mr. & Mrs. Ngugi passed on, their legacy of love is still witnessed through family gathering.
When we met up with the family during their 50th celebration in Bahati sub-county, one of the family sons Kiragu Gichaga says the genesis can be traced to1968.
The family has been holding the annual gathering every second Saturday of August.
Gichaga says the legacy that their dad Ngugi and their mum Nyaguthii left behind is that of love which they have continued to ensure.
While noting that family gathering is a good platform for extended family members to know each other, Gichaga narrates a scenario that faced the family in which two family members almost got married.
The story has it that the two members of the family fell in love without knowing they were related until at the dowry stage.
The family had to seek the intervention of elders as per the Kikuyu culture to avoid bringing a curse to the family.
“We started the family gathering after a scenario in which cousins were almost getting married without knowing that they were related. At the dowry stage it was realized that they were related and the matter had to be addressed,” said Gichaga.
It was a difficult moment for the lovers to accept that they cannot marry each other.
The scenario forced the family to rethink a way of helping family members know each other.
He adds that it is due to the scenario that they took it paramount to the family gathering which helps to avert similar scenarios.
“My appeal is to the families to embrace gatherings as they help shape the families as far as history is concerned,” said Gichaga.
The sentiments were echoed by Gerald Mwangondu and Ngugi Mbugua, sons of the family of the late Mr and Mrs Ngugi of the Mbari Ya Muriu clan.
They say to ensure the legacy of love left by their parents, the family which has reached the 5th generation meet yearly and rotational in all the nine households of the family.
During the gatherings, they get to interact but more importantly plant trees as one way of teaching the younger generation in the family the importance of environment conservation.
During this year’s family gathering, they also launched a book titled ‘Legacy of Love Book’.
According to Gichaga, the Book has the genesis of Mbari ya Muriu clan with chapter one elaborating on the history of the family.
The following chapters focus on the nine children of the family.
To them, this is the only way to preserve their history for the future generation.
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