Syokimau was a

Kamba Kamba may refer to: *Kamba people of Kenya *Bena-Kamba, a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo *Khampa, also spelled Kamba, Tibetan people of Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in ...

medicine woman A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...

and

prophetess In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

who lived in the 1800s long before

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

became a colony. She was born and lived in Iveti Hills near the today's

Machakos Machakos, also called Masaku is a town in Kenya, southeast of Nairobi. It is the capital of the Machakos County, Kenya. Its population is rapidly growing and was 150,041 as of 2009 and Machakos County had a population of 1,421,932 as of 2019 ...

town. It is claimed that Syokimau could predict impeding attacks from other communities such as the

Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

and Gikuyu giving Kamba warriors ample time to prepare for the defense.

Overview

Syokimau is credited as the greatest prophetess among the Kamba people because she foretold the coming of the white men and the construction of the railway line. In her vision, she saw a long snake belching fire and smoke as to moved from waters to another waters. In it there were people with skin like meat who spoke unintelligibly like birds and carried fire in their pockets. Her prophecy came to pass in the 20th century after the completion of the Kenya-

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...

that ran from

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Kenya by population, third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victor ...

, the lakeside city then known as Port Florence. The people she saw were white people who spoke English and carried matchboxes in their pockets.

Legacy

Syokimau Syokimau is a residential area in the west of Machakos County, Kenya, just south of Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The place is named after the legendary Akamba medicine woman Prophetess Syokimau. Syokimau Prophesied the comin ...

, a fast-growing residential area in

Machakos County Machakos County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, which came into being because of the devolved system of governance occasioned by the 2010 constitution of Kenya. The country's first administrative headquarters are in Machakos Town, which is ...

that is close to

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Jomo Kenyatta International Airport , is an international airport in Nairobi, the capital of and largest city in Kenya. The other three important international airports in Kenya include the Kisumu International Airport, Moi International Airp ...

and where Syokimau Railway Station and the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway

Nairobi Terminus Nairobi Terminus is a railway station on the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) located in Syokimau, just south of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Two passenger trains leave the station everyday, an inter-county train that stops at all ...

are located, is named after her. Some sources claim that Syonguu wa Kathukya, a later prophetess from around

Athi River Athi River is a town outside Nairobi, Kenya in Machakos County. The town is named after the Athi River, which passes through. It is also known as Mavoko. Athi River hosts the Mavoko Municipal Council and is the headquarters of Mavoko divisio ...

renamed her territory after Syokimau because she was impressed by her work. That is how the popular residential area came to bear the name of the prophetess.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syokimau, Prophetess Kamba people Prophets Kenyan culture History of Kenya Kenyan religious leaders Traditional African medicine Year of birth missing Year of death missing