Like many other Kenyans, Rael Gathigia could be apprehensive about 2017 because it is an election year. But even worse for the 65-year-old resident of Kangocho village in Mathira, Nyeri County, two of her sons have joined a religious group, Church of God, which believes that the world will end in March 2017.
Gathigia has lost sleep since the younger of the two, Isaac Murimi, 30, took his belongings and went to live in the home of the group’s leader, Charles Kinaro, in Ngandu, Mathira.
Although members of the church are optimistic about living a better life after Jesus Christ returns in March 2017 — or so they believe — villagers are worried that they might resort to extremes, such as mass suicide if their highly anticipated transition to a utopian world does not materialise.
Particularly disturbing to Gathigia and other parents is the decision by the church’s members to abandon everything, to engage in endless prayer sessions.
As she speaks, Gathigia gazes into the horizon, hoping that the next knock on her gate will be that of her son.
“One of the church members told me that they are about to embark on a journey from which they will not return. This is heart-breaking news since I know that one of my sons is among those about to embark on that journey!” says the mother of 12.
Apart from Murimi, 15 other men and women from the surrounding area are now based at Kinaro’s home, engrossed in prayer as they wait for the Christ’s return. But some of the sect members come from as far as Kinangop and Mai Mahiu.
Gathigia says that two of her sons have been attending the church, but the older one, 45-year-old Joseph Mwangi, who is married with three children, usually attends the sect’s Sunday services only and returns home. But Murimi, who is single, has been living at the Kinaro home for almost nine months.
Gathigia says she even sought help from the Ngandu chief to bring back her son, but the administrator declined to do so,saying Murimi was an adult and,therefore, capable of deciding what was good or bad for him. In desperation, she went to the Kinaro homestead, but Murimi, a Form Four dropout, defied her pleas to return home, saying he would only do so if directed by God.
“I did not come here by choice. God spoke to me in a dream and asked me to come to Mr Kinaro’s home and hold prayers until he instructs me where to go next. At the moment, I am not ready to go home,” he said, adding that he was praying for God to grant him eternal life.
Also staying at the Kinaro homestead is Lydia Wambui, 40,who left her only child with his grandparents and joined the church.
When asked why, she said God meant more to her than her 20-year-old son, and that since He had ordered her to join the other church members at the Kinaro homestead, she could not defy the divine order. Wambui, who is from Kangocho village, says she has no regrets about her decision.
Also present is Janet Wambui, 32, who abandoned her weaving job in Kitengela in 2007 to live in her father’s home, holding endless prayer sessions with the other church members.
Although Githaiga says Kinaro is misleading his followers, the 62-year-old leader says he has never coerced any of the members into living in his homestead.
Interestingly, Githaiga has found support from unlikely quarters, among them 35-year-old Loise Wanjiru, one of Kinaro’s daughters, who disputes the claims of her father.
“He is misleading these young people, including his own children,” Wanjiru says, adding that her father is planning to take the church members to some unknown caves, and that they have already bought some of the things they will use during their stay there.
“I am not happy with what my father is doing and if the parents of these youths don’t come for their children now, they might never see them again,” she says.
Church members, says Wanjiru, were asked to give Sh40,000 each to enable the church to buy the items, adding that those who did not contribute were kicked out of the church; she was among them.
The ex-communicated group, however, decided to start a parallel church with the same name — Church of God — in Karatina, about 20 kilometres away.
Although Wanjiru still lives in her father’s home, she neither attends their church services nor participates in their prayer sessions. In fact, she has been isolated after being declared a traitor whose wish is to see her father’s downfall. But despite their differences, her father takes care of her, just like he does his other children. And her father is undaunted, saying he is on a divine mission.
Kinaro, a former employee of the Kenya Portland Cement Company, claims that God told him in a dream in 2004 that people would one day congregate in his home for prayers.
And after some time, he says, along came Murimi, carrying his belongings. Kinaro says Murimi told him that he had been sent by God to his home to hold prayers until he received further instructions. Kinaro allowed him to stay, but after a while, his wife (now dead) forced him to send Murimi back home.
Kinaro says he kept having the same dream until April last year, when young people started trickling into his homestead. He adds that they all joined his church voluntarily.
“I cannot turn away any person sent to my home to pray and praise God. I will make sure I provide for them until the day their God asks them to leave,” he says.
Kinaro acknowledges that they will, indeed, be going on a journey, and have already bought some of the materials needed for the trip, but denies that they will be going to live in caves.
He says they are waiting for God to tell them what to do next. Among the things they have bought are bedding, maize and wheat flour, buckets, boxes and lanterns, which have been carefully packed in sacks and are stored at the back of the church.
Kinaro, who is now a farmer, says he has not informed the authorities about the youths living in his homestead, adding that apart from Gathigia, no other parent has come for his or her child.
“These youngsters belong to this church and their work is to pray and praise God. I employ labourers to work on my farm,” he says, adding that his church believes in the Holy Bible and the Trinity but does not believe in women holding senior positions in church or praying on behalf of the congregation. In addition, women are not allowed to wear trousers; they wear long dresses and headscarves. They should should not have heels that are more than an inch high; and this, ostensibly, is to enable them to move with ease as they dance in praise of their God.
Remarkably, Kinaro says one of his daughters, Mary Nyokabi, 38, was a prophetess. He said when she sees a church member doing something bad in a dream, she gets him or her kicked out.
Kinaro, who lives on his two-and-a-half-acre farm with five of his daughters and one son, all single, says he values education.
“I believe in education and irrespective of the challenges I have encountered, I made sure all my children completed secondary school," Kinaro says.
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