Mawanga Estate is a dusty neighbourhood about two kilometres from Nakuru town off the Nakuru-Nyahururu road.
It is tucked behind the Kenya Industrial Training Institute (Kiti). In fact most of its residents are Kiti lasses – those cute girls who don short skirts.
A few families also live here as well as guys from our sister country South Sudan.
Apart from the dust that sinks your shoes as you walk towards JB, Ngomongo and Tumsifu, Mawanga is a relatively awesome place to live. Especially if you are a broke bachelor.
That aside, the history of this estate is one to write home about.
Many years ago, Mawanga was nothing but a bushy field with marauding wild animals. It was a risky ground where mugging and all other forms of crime soared. Land was cheap that it costed less than what a Nairobi tycoon sent a girl to a buy a china phone before she gave him a visit at his pent house for booze and something else.
Were it not for the courage and resilience of one lady, Mawanga would never have been born.
The lady, called Mama Wangari, bought a small piece of land, and despite constant attacks from gun-wielding gangs, Mama Wangari did not give up.
In fact, she scratched her head and decided to name her kiosk as Mawanga Shop, a short form of Mama Wangari.
Shortening personal names for businesses is a common things with people from the Mt Kenya.
That is how Mawanga wa born!