Kamirithu is a settlement in Kambu County, within

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

's former Central Province. It was one of the colonial villages established during the scramble for the

Kenyan ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

White Highlands The White Highlands is an area in the central uplands of Kenya. It was traditionally the homeland of indigenous Central Kenyan communities up to the colonial period, when it became the centre of European settlement in Kenya, and between 1902 and 19 ...

" in the early 1900s. Kamirithu is the home of Chief Kamiri and Chief Jairus. Kamirithu is best known from

Ngugi wa Thiong'o Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to: *Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright *Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer *David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya *Jo ...

's Kamirithu Educational and Cultural Center, which was an open-air theater where ''

Ngaahika Ndeenda ''Ngaahika Ndeenda'' (''I Will Marry When I Want'') is a controversial play that covers post-colonial themes of class struggle, poverty, gender, culture, religion, modernity vs. tradition, and marriage and family. The play was written by Ngũgĩ w ...

'' (''I Will Marry When I Want'') was first performed.

Location and boundaries

"'Kamirithu"' is a suburb of

Limuru Limuru is a town in central Kenya. It is also the name of a parliamentary constituency and an administrative division. The population of the town, as of 2004, was about 4,800. In a census taken in 2019 the population had increased to 159,314. Loc ...

located within the greater

Kiambu Kiambu is a town in Kiambu County, Kenya within the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. It is from the capital Nairobi. It has an population of 147,870. It is the capital of the Kiambu County, which bounds the northern border of Nairobi. Other proxi ...

district. The boundaries of Kamirithu are marked by three roads and one highway: The road to

Narok Narok (sometimes referred to as Narok Town) is a town west of Nairobi that supports Kenya's economy in south-west of the country, along the Great Rift Valley. Narok is the district capital of the Narok County and stands as the major centre of ...

to the north, the

–Mutarakwa road to the west, and the

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

–

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitant ...

highway (

A104 road This is a list of roads designated A104. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * A104 road (England), the road from Islington Green to Epping in London, England * A104 road (Kenya), the road from Nairobi, Kenya to the Ta ...

) to the east. The Manguo pond, a tourist bird-watching attraction, is located north of Kamirithu. Towards Limuru Kamirithu is the Mutambuki Quarry, a source of building stones. Toward it sunsets the beginning of the

Mau escarpment The Mau Escarpment is a fault scarp running along the western edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. The top of the escarpment reaches approximately 3000 m (10,000 ft) above sea level, and is over 1000 m higher than the floor of the ...

known as Wahinya Quarry. The village was burned down in 1955 and replaced by an emergency settlement, which was later developed into a permanent settlement. The name of Kamirithu comes from the Mirithu, which means "a flat place on which rests a pool of water defiant to drought." Kamirithu is an important place in the book Wrestling with the devil: a prison memoir, as it is the home town of its writer

. The neighborhood contains many smaller, cohesive settlements, including: *Gitogothi *Ngarariga *Manguo *Tarambana *Kamandura *Mutarakwa *Kwambira

Notable People

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Literature of Kenya, Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu language, Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English language, English. He has been described as having bee ...

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20090329040824/http://www.ngugiwathiongo.com/bio/bio-home.htm Populated places in Central Province (Kenya) {{CentralKE-geo-stub