Surrounded by Mount Kenya and two rivers, Gitogotro is almost literally cut off from the rest of Tharaka Nithi
With two rivers on either side and Mount Kenya on the other, Gitogoto village is literally cut off from the rest of Tharaka Nithi.
It is safe to say they live inside the forest. Residents have to cross the river to venture out but their is no bridge, so they walk through the forest.
Mobile phone network is rare.
Residents have appealed to both the Thraka Nithi and national governments to build them permanent bridges across the two rivers.
They also wish the network providers could mount masts to make communication easier.
“We climb to higher grounds to talk via phones and sometimes it is a total failure. We rarely get government services. Some politicians even never visit the village as they think they Kiamuriuki is the end of where people live,” Margaret Muthoni said.
There are no roads there. The only link road does not even have murram.
Another resident who identified himself as Moris said they are also faced with landslide challenges during the rainy season.
His timber house was partly swept and destroyed by a mudslide days ago.
Walking to Gitogoto from Kiamuriuki is scaring because of the risk of encountering wild animals. The animals often stray away from the forest that has an electric fence.
Gitogoto is 12km from Kiracha on the Meru-Nairobi road.
The residents are believed to be members of the Ameru community who have their roots from Karingani, within the outcasts of Chuka town in Tharaka Nithi county.
They no longer speak their ancestral language. Their Kimeru has been incorporated with Embu language. The village is at the border of Tharaka Nithi, Meru and Embu counties.
They are surrounded by River Thuci that flows towards Runyenjes in Embu county.
Elders said 90 per cent of women married in Gitogoto are from the Embu community.
“Only those who were born before 1966 were lucky to get wives from their original tribes before migrating. We live in isolation compared to our Embu neighbours. When it rains, movement becomes difficult,” Josphat Gitari said.
Gitari was a teacher before he retired in the 1970’s.
He is the Thuita and Magumoni Njuri Ncheke Supreme Council of Elders chairman said he could not state his exact age because dates were not important when they were born.
In 1938 and 1939, locals were forcefully chased away from their land which was inside the forest, he said. The first forest line at Muutini which marked the actual border that ran along the forest joining Karingani, Magumoni, Mwimbi and Gitombani.
He said they were ressetlled in their present-day village by a white settler.
“We don’t live in the forest. It lives within us. So many people would as well claim ownership. We have been fighting to reclaim our land back but it has been unfruitful,” Gitari said.
Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki has established a state of the art, well equipped and staffed dispensary at Gitogoto in the middle of the forest.
They also have a primary school built by MP Kareke Mbiuki through the NG-CDF. They hope a secondary school will soon be constructed,. The nearest is Kiamuriuki Secondary School in Magumoni.
There is no shopping centre in Gitogoto and the few canteens do not stock all the basic goods.
They often travel for kilometers to Kathageri in Embu especially on Sundays to buy foodstuffs, clothes and their other necessities
“We do not benefit from the forest at all. Ten years ago before the electric fence was erected, it was hectic. We used to sleep with our eyes open and one leg inside the house and the other one out to make sure you are not at risk of being attacked by wild animals including elephants. They used to destroy our crops. We feel at peace now. How I wish we could be compensated,” Mzee Eustus Nyagah said.
Edited by P.O