Br. Njoroge,

Umoja is a very remote place and away from “civilisation” – It is in Mpeketoni where grandmothers teach their young grandsons how to jump on bicycles. Bikes, bikes and more bikes is what you see. On arrival, we were received by a deceptively young priest. Having in mind that I was a young boy, for me to be able to tell that someone is young he must have looked very young, nonetheless I was under his tutelage.

I looked at the many pieces I wrote to pick something about him but I couldn’t tell what to pick but I came across one phrase he uttered in class while sternly looking at me. “hakuna kitu kipya hapa duniani, usidhani utafundisha dunia kitu chochote kipya, ni jina lako tu mpya juu hakujapata kuwa na jina wanyeki hapa shirikani” (now, that is a rephrased eccl. 1:9 and my name added to it). My classmates laughed. I am not sure whether they were laughing at me or not!  

Later on, I saw something new, Fr Njoroge was on a bicycle going for mass. A priest riding a bicycle? Mpeketoni is another world or is it Fr. Njoroge who is from another world of priests? That was unheard of in my world. Where I come from, priesthood and car are synonymous!.