Frere town is a small residential place along the Mombasa-Malindi road in Kisimani, whose history relates directly to the slave trade.
History indicates that this coastal town found in Mombasa County was named after Sir Bartle Frere, a man who played a big role in the war that ended the slave trade in the country.
Slave trade, the one that was mastered by our colonizers, ended a long time ago, and most Kenyans have or are forgetting it, but its pictures are still fresh in Frere town's residents' minds.
In a piece published by the Standard, Frere is a town with no tribe at all. People in this town are referred to as Frere town residents because they got no tribe of their own.
The town was set as a neutral place to resettle freed slaves from different countries including Malawi which was then called Nyasaland, Tanzania which wasTanganyika (Southern region) Zambia and Zimbabwe, which were then called Southern and Northern Rhodesia respectively.
For this reason, Frere town has no specific tribe, they only enjoy a common language which is Kiswahili, and most residents are Christians, who have so far assimilated Mijikenda customs.
Nation reports that the first freed slaves were resettled at this town in the year 1830, and the town remains a big history for the residents.
Another thing that reminds Frere town residents about their history is a place called 'Kengelini', which loosely translates to 'a place with a bell". At Kengelini which is near Kongowea market, stands a huge bell, which reminds residents how bells were rung to warn people whenever Arab slave ships were sighted.
Near the bell, they established a church, Emmanuel Anglican Church, which was built in the year 1875. This is one of the reasons why most residents in Frere town are Christians.
However, regardless of a huge history found in Frere town, village elder John Thoya Hari whose origin is Malawi, says he is worried the coming generation might not understand it.
“We are an historical village, but we have been sidelined. I doubt whether the rich history of the community has been recorded by the government to enable future generations to trace their roots,” Thoya said in an interview with Nation.
Frere Town has about 5,000 people, on about 50 acres of land.
Originally, it sat on 600 acres piece of land between Kengeleni, Mkomani, Nyali and Junda in Mishomoroni.